Ken Campbell, who died suddenly on Sunday aged 66, was an astounding catalyst and a genuine nutter in the very best and most laudable senses of the word. Wander down any weird and wonderful byway of British drama over the past 40 years, and you could be confident Campbell had been there before you and left his curious mark.

After growing up in Ilford, Essex, and training at Rada, his early career included a tour as stooge to the comedian Dick Emery and a stint as director of the Bournemouth Aqua Shows ("the shallow-end acting bit," he specified) before joining Colchester Rep as Warren Mitchell's understudy. His association with Mitchell was to last for decades, with Campbell appearing as Alf Garnett (Mitchell)'s neighbour Fred Johnson in the TV series In Sickness And In Health in the mid-1980s and the pair of them joining John Fortune in one of the West End casts of Yasmina Reza's play Art in the 1990s.