John Savident: Coronation Street actor who played Fred Elliott dies at 86

The legendary actor was known for his booming voice while playing butcher Fred Elliott on the ITV soap.

A statement from his agent to the PA news agency said: "We are sad to announce the death of the actor John Savident who died on Wednesday February 21.

He was a much-loved husband and father of two and will be sorely missed by all who knew him."

The actor was a familiar face through the years in Blackpool, particularly when the resort launched its World of Coronation Street attraction.

In 1994, Savident arrived on the cobbles and quickly became a fan favourite.

His character was a bumbling, booming and often stroppy butcher and he played the role from 1994 to 2006.

Fred - full name Frederick Handel Elliott - had a habit of repeating both what he and others had just said, so his inadvertent catchphrases became "I said" and "I say". His storylines involved his disastrous love life, including three marriages and several failed proposals.

A secret son, Ashley Peacock (Steven Arnold), also arrived on the show and the two later developed a close bond as they worked as butchers together.

Savident's character was killed off in 2006, suffering a stroke on the day he was supposed to marry Bev Unwin (Susie Blake).

Elliott's death also saw Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) confess that she still loved him following her turning down his proposal of marriage years previously.

The butcher's previous wives also include Maureen Holdsworth (Sherrie Hewson) and barmaid Eve Sykes (Melanie Kilburn).

Outside Coronation Street, Savident was in political comedy Yes, Minister, Stanley Kubrick's dystopian thriller A Clockwork Orange, biopic Gandhi, war film Battle Of Britain, science fiction series Doctor Who and period dramas The Remains Of The Day and Middlemarch.

He was in the first staging of the musical Phantom Of The Opera, in October 1986 at Her Majesty's Theatre in Haymarket, London, as the opera house owner Monsieur Firmin.

He returned to play the character in 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall concert film.

After leaving his soap work, Savident appeared on stage in productions of panto Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs and Harold Brighouse's Hobson's Choice.

Savident was married to theatre director Rona Hopkinson and they had two children.