Jeremy Lloyd, the writing talent behind many beloved British sitcoms such as ‘Are You Being Served?’ and ‘’Allo ‘Allo’, has died at the age of 84. He was taken to hospital on Monday evening with pneumonia and died early on Tuesday morning.

Lloyd’s agent Alexandra Cann described him as “a great wit and always a mass of original ideas. He had a wonderfully original mind and will be greatly missed.”

Actress Vicki Michelle, who played Yvette Carte-Blanche in ‘‘Allo ‘Allo’, took to Twitter to commemorate the writer: “So sad to hear of Jeremy Lloyd’s passing. Such a wonderful talent, mentor & friend. A complete joy to work with. RIP Jeremy I’ll miss you xx.”

With his writing partner David Croft, Lloyd helped to create a string of hit TV shows in Britain during the late ‘70s and throughout the ‘80s. Set in a café in Nazi-occupied France and featuring a host memorable characters, ‘’Allo ‘Allo’ was arguably his most popular creation, running for over a decade from its debut in 1982.

‘Are You Being Served?’ was another success, set in the fictional Grace Brothers store and based upon Lloyd’s real-life personal experiences of working at Simpsons of Piccadilly, and ran for thirteen years from 1972. He and Croft also had minor successes with 'Come Back Mrs Noah' and 'Oh Happy Band!'

Lloyd also had experiences in the film industry, having minor roles in two Beatles movies (Help! And A Hard Day’s Night), as well as Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines and School For Scoundrels.

Lloyd was married three times, including once to actress Joanna Lumley. The pair were married less than a year, and Lumley wrote memorably about their time together: “He was witty, tall and charming. We should have just had a raging affair.” His third marriage, to 49 year old interior designer Lizzy Moberly, took place in central London just this summer.

He was also the recipient of an OBE in 2012 for services to comedy.

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