Date published: 28 September 2004

Many are shocked and saddened to hear that one of Rochdale’s most successful and popular actors has died of cancer, aged 52. Bob Mason, actor and writer since the late sixties, passed away on Tuesday 21 September while in Cambridge.

Bob was born in Rochdale in 1952 and educated at the Technical School, Balderstone Senior High and the Technical College. Many people will remember him as a member of the Youth Theatre Workshop in the late 60s before he went on to become a successful professional actor and writer.

He wrote extensively for stage and TV whilst pursuing a busy acting career, becoming quite a well-known face on the screen, making several appearances on popular series from Coronation Street, The Bill, The Lakes, to Juliet Bravo, etc, and some memorable adverts!

He was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus just one year ago and was told then it was incurable. His brother Phil said, “He showed great courage and strength in facing up to this and retained his positive outlook, and his sense of humour till the end.”

The funeral will be Friday 1 October at 10:30 am at the Cambridge Crematorium, West Chapel, on the A14 just outside Cambridge on the Huntingdon road.

Mr. Mason’s stage career was a great success, there are many recognisable highlights of his stage career. Bob played many parts in TV shows such as Strangers, Crown Court (GTV); Warship and Play For Today (BBC) and appeared on stage at The Liverpool Everyman (Zack; The Western Kirkby Cowboy Show) and The Half Moon in London (Dracula; Elizabeth: Almost By Chance A Woman).

In 1981 he joined the Coronation Street scriptwriting team - the only regular cast member to have done this. He stayed until 1989 writing 36 episodes. Whilst at Granada he wrote half of the rock and roll series Studio and episodes of The Practice and had many plays produced in repertory theatres and on the London fringe.

In the nineties he turned to acting again dividing his energies between theatre (Bolton Octagon; West Yorkshire Playhouse; Bristol Old Vic; Sheffield Crucible) and TV (Once Upon A Time In The North; Between The Lines; Men Of The World; Slap; Sgt Eddie Slater in The Lakes 1 & 2; The Thing About Vince) possible achieving his greatest notoriety to date shouting 'Mother, you're covered!' in the Direct Line Home Insurance commercial.

His other stage work includes The Beggars Opera at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre, Ghosts at the Shaw Theatre, Stitched Up, Eight Miles High and Noman Conquests at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton and Stone Free and Midsummer Nights Dream at the Bristol Old Vic. More recently he has appeared in Suicide at the Bolton Octagon Theatre and in The Messiah and The Government Inspector at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

His film work includes The Royal College of Art's film The Last Man Out, Thin Man Films Untitled (1995) and the role of Coroner Eisler in Fatherland and a policeman in Mary Reilly.

He has also had TV appearances in Lyndsay, Light, Soldiers Talking Cleanly, Warship, The Permissive Society, Anglo-Saxon Attitudes; Men of The World; Officer Carey in The Bill, Noel Le Sage in Wings, DI Young in Back Up, Joe in The Missing Postman and DS Clarke in Beyond Fear. He appeared with Pam Ferris and Sarah Lancashire in the nursing drama Where The Heart Is as Colin Butler and played Arthur Bowney in Dalziel and Pascoe. More recently Bob has played Gordon Dodsworth in Slap and John Bannerman in Peak Practice.

A man of extreme talent and ambition, Bob Mason will be remembered by us all.