Actor who was 'a joy' to work with

Magill had two spells on the soap, leaving in 2001 and again in 2005

Former Emmerdale star Ronald Magill has died at 87, having held the role of pub landlord Amos Brearly for much of the long-running soap's history.

Clive Hornby joined the programme in 1980, becoming the third person to play Jack Sugden.

He has fond memories of his fellow actor, with whom he worked on the show for 12 years.

I am very sad at the news, and it is a sad day on set.

I knew him very well and grew very fond of him over the years, as we all did.

When I started out on Emmerdale, I was completely in awe of him, as I was with the rest of the cast.

He was a joy to work with. He was always very, very professional.

We would have a week, say, where we would be working in the pub and he and Arthur Pentelow [who played Henry Wilks] would have 40+ scenes to do, and you would never see a script on set.

Hornby says he has "lovely memories" of his former colleague

They knew their words perfectly and it used to drive us all mad! They were very, very professional.

I learned from him how to be professional. I think that's what got to me the most, and his sense of humour and the kindness he showed to new people who joined the show.

He was quite, quite different from Amos. Ronnie was very theatrical and loved to regale the rest of the cast with his theatrical stories about other actors.

He loved his crosswords, and you would see him and Arthur spending hours doing their crossword and smoking their pipes on set. Lovely memories.

Now, Emmerdale is a very different kind of programme to those days, and his legacy is really those early days of Emmerdale.

You can't explain why the public loved him, they just did. I suppose Ronnie made the character his own, so it's all down to him.

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