General Chat

Emmerdale veteran Stan Richards has died in his sleep at the age of 74. He had been suffering from pleurisy. Stan, who played moustachioed rogue Seth Armstrong for 27 years, was the longest-serving member of the cast. The father-of-six last appeared in the show two months ago. Claire King, who played Kim Tate, said: 'Stan was a true character and a lovely man.' Stan took a 15-month break after suffering a collapsed lung in 2002. Two years before that, he almost died from an abcess on the liver. But he made the effort to appear in the soap at Christmas, when he was seen sending a recorded Christmas message from Oz to partner Betty. Stan appeared in six episodes of Coronation Street before making his first appearance in Emmerdale in May 1978. He was originally offered just four weeks of work - but popular Seth was still going strong nearly three decades later. Stan is survived by five children - his youngest son died in a road accident in 2002 aged 36. He lost his wife in 1994.

EMMERDALE wont be the same without Seth RIP Stan Paul

He will be sadly missed, I was fortunate enough to meet him back in 1985/6 when I went up to where they film it, what a really nice man. Bev