On The Buses actor Stephen Lewis dies aged 88

Lewis' famous catch phrase as Blakey was "I 'ate you Butler". Credit: WILLIAM CONRAN / PA Archive/PA Images

Actor Stephen Lewis, best known for playing Cyril "Blakey" Blake in sitcom On the Buses, has died aged 88.

His family said he died peacefully at 1.50am on Wednesday at a nursing home in Wanstead, east London.

He was "in high spirits" right until the end, his niece Rebecca Lewis said, adding that he had been in the care home for around three years.

"He was always singing and joking," she said.

His nephew Peter Lewis said said his uncle's health had gradually declined over the past few years, but said he died "quite peacefully". He added "I'll remember him as being a funny man."

Stephen Lewis as his character Blakey in On the Buses. Credit: PA Wire

Rashid Ebrahimkhan, Cambridge Nursing Home manager, said Lewis would still deliver his famous lines from On The Buses - "I'll get you Butler" and "Get these buses out Butler".

Arriving at the National Television Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2001 Credit: Yui Mok / PA Archive/PA Images

Some of those who worked with him have paid tribute.

Lewis was a merchant seaman before taking up acting. In 1960 he wrote Sparrers Can't Sing, which was made into a film in 1963 staring Barbara Windsor, Roy Kinnear and Lewis himself.

Stephen Lewis, Reg Varney and Bob Grant on the set of from On the Buses . Credit: PA / PA Wire/Press Association Images

Between 1969 and 1973 Lewis played Blakey in ITV sitcom On The Buses, the role for which he will be best remembered. On The Buses ran for 74 half hour episodes and led to three films, On the Buses, Mutiny on the Buses and Holiday on the Buses, as well as a spin off called Don't Drink the Water where Blakey had retired to Spain.

In 1988 he took on one of his longest-running roles, playing the ironically-named Clem 'Smiler' Hemingway in BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. Lewis would pop up as Hemingway in episodes for the next 17 years, until bad health forced him to leave the series in 2007.

Lewis's funeral will take place on 25 August in Wanstead.