TRIBUTES have been paid to Mike Reid, a comic and TV personality well-known to theatre and nightspot audiences in Kent, who has died suddenly at the age of 67.

Mr Reid suffered a suspected heart attack in Spain where he had lived for some years.

During the latter part of his career Mr Reid was perhaps best known as playing the role of Frank Butcher in the BBC soap, EastEnders.

His agent David Hahn told the BBC his death came as a great shock as he had been in very good health.

He said: "Mike was in fine fettle. In fact only a couple of weeks ago we were having dinner over here.

"Mike that particular day went to see his consultant and had a full medical - and they gave him a clean bill of health."

Mr Hahn described Mr Reid as "a very, very, very, funny" man. And he added: "He would see the funny side of any situation, no matter how black it was. Even now I'm sure he's laughing."

Fellow comic Frank Carson, a close friend, told BBC News 24 Mr Reid's death was "absolutely devastating". He added: "We have just lost our friend Bernard Manning a fortnight ago. I just can't realise... this is devastating news."

Actor and comedian Russ Abbot, who appeared on 1970s ITV show The Comedians alongside Mr Reid, said his former co-star was "a natural entertainer".

Another fellow comedian, Mike McCabe, said Reid had been a "larger than life" character with a "great, great sense of humour".

"He was a jack-the-lad, very funny with a great cockney way of putting things together," he added. "He was one of the lads. The blokes loved him, the women loved him. I admired the man."

Before entering the comedy scene and winning a place in The Comedians in 1973, Mr Reid began his career as a stuntman.

He worked on films including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines and Spartacus. He had also been a stunt double for Roger Moore in The Saint.

John Yorke, controller of BBC drama series, said the skill with which Reid played the EastEnders character made Frank Butcher one of the soap's most popular.

He stressed: "Mike's genius was to capture the heart of that flawed dreamer and make generations of viewers love him.

"Albert Square - and British television - will be a far poorer place without him, as will the lives of those who loved and worked with him throughout his extraordinary career."