Actor and comedian John Sessions has died, at the age of 67.
John died at his home in South London on Monday after suffering a heart attack.
His agent said in a statement: “It is with great sadness we can confirm that on Monday, the actor John Sessions died at his home in south London.
“He will be hugely missed.”
After leaving the performing arts school RADA in the 1970s – where he studied with Sir Kenneth Branagh, a future frequent collaborator – John racked up plenty of high-profile appearances throughout his career.
This included voicing characters in the original run of Spitting Image and serving as a panellist on the radio incarnation of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
He was also one of the co-creators and stars of the surreal mockumentary Stella Street – which ran for four series – and made repeated appearances on panel shows like QI and Have I Got News For You.
In 2018, he also landed his own Radio 4 sketch series, Six Degrees Of John Sessions in 2018.
John twice played former prime ministers in films, portraying Edward Heath in the Oscar-winning film The Iron Lady, and appeared as Harold Wilson in Made In Dagenham.
In addition to this, he played former prime minister Lord John Russell in the historical ITV drama Victoria last year.
His more recent TV appearances include British shows like Skins, Friday Night Dinner and Outnumbered. His final on-screen credit was in the comedy series The Great, which aired earlier in 2020.
John repeatedly made headlines due to his political beliefs, voicing support for then-UKIP leader Nigel Farage in 2014, who he suggested spoke “more sense than the rest of the politicians put together”.
John, who was born in Scotland before moving to England at the age of three, was also critical of Scottish nationalism, and co-signed an open letter urging Scottish people to vote to remain part of the UK in 2014.