British sitcom favourite Richard O’Sullivan has died aged 82, the Royal Variety Charity confirmed on Friday. Close family were with him at Brinsworth House in Twickenham, west London, where he had lived since a stroke in 2003.
ITV viewers of a certain age still know him as Robin Tripp, the trainee chef who shared a London flat with two women in Man About the House and later ran a bistro in Robin’s Nest. Saturday teatime kids knew him as highwayman Dick Turpin. Those shows pulled in audiences of well over 10 million in their heyday.
Son thanks Brinsworth after 23 years of care
James O’Sullivan said his father was “as funny and charming in real life as he appeared on our TV screens”. He called him kind-spirited, good-humoured, a doting grandfather and a wonderful dad. “I will miss him dearly.”
James was born after much of that TV work had already been done. He said he still got to watch the reruns that made his dad so loved. Staff at Brinsworth, he added, had given “love, kindness and care” for more than two decades and “will always hold a special place in my heart.”
Giles Cooper, life-president of the Royal Variety Charity, described O’Sullivan as “a master of effortless charm and impeccable comic timing” who brought “pure warmth, wit, and unforgettable joy to millions of living rooms”. Cooper said he would be sorely missed at the charity.
I am absolutely gutted to hear the news of the passing of Richard O’Sullivan. Growing up, there was nobody on television I looked forward to watching more, and he was a constant source of joy.
Richard possessed that rare ability to make audiences feel as though they knew him… pic.twitter.com/XovlMoq4dX
— James Hogg (@JamesAHogg2) September 4, 2026
Child actor who grew into a household name
Born in Chiswick on 7 May 1944, O’Sullivan was already on a film set at eight, singing in the Sunday school scene of The Yellow Balloon. Cliff Richard pictures The Young Ones and Wonderful Life followed, plus a turn as Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII opposite Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra.
Sitcom work then made him a fixture. He played Dr Lawrence Bingham in Doctor at Large and Doctor in Charge before Man About the House (1973–76) and its spin-off Robin’s Nest (1977–81). Dick Turpin ran from 1979 to 1982. Me and My Girl, with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Joan Sanderson, kept him on screen through the mid-1980s. His last acting job was the 1996 golf satire Holed with Tony Robinson.
Fellow Man About the House landlord Brian Murphy died last year. Yootha Joyce, who played Mildred, passed away in 1980. Paula Wilcox and Sally Thomsett, who shared the flat as Chrissy and Jo, had kept in touch and visited him at Brinsworth.
Colleagues and fans remember comic timing
Actor Robin Askwith wrote on X that the news “hurts”. He called O’Sullivan “the greatest actor of his generation”, someone who made comedy look simple and drama look effortless. “He was a rascal, and I loved him… I’ll just say….sausage rolls…….!”
Anyone who knows anything about me knows this hurts
He was the greatest actor of his generation,making comedy look simple and solid drama even more effortless
He was a rascal and I loved him…
Richard O’ Sullivan
RIP
I’ll just say….sausage rolls…….! pic.twitter.com/281n50nCFv— Robin Askwith (@Robin_Askwith) September 4, 2026
Talking Pictures TV, which still screens Dick Turpin, remembered him as “a talented actor of both stage and screen”. Radio Times writer Mark Braxton said he “just knew what to do with comedy” and was “a terrific leading man”.
Brinsworth House is the same Twickenham home where impressionist Mike Yarwood spent his final years. O’Sullivan largely left public life after the stroke, though he recorded a Carry On Teacher DVD commentary in 2006 and appeared on This Is Your Life for co-star George Layton in 1999.
For a generation of British expats who grew up on Thames and LWT sitcoms, Robin Tripp and Dick Turpin were Saturday-night furniture. James O’Sullivan’s note is the one that will linger: the man on the box was, he said, just as warm off it.
Read the full article here
