Michael Elphick, star of 'Boon' and 'EastEnders', dies at 55

The actor Michael Elphick has died in hospital two days after collapsing in the street. He was 55.

Elphick, who became a household name through his starring role in the 1980s ITV series Boon, had fought a drink problem for years.

The actor, who leaves a 25-year-old daughter, Katie, reportedly collapsed outside a north London pub last week but went in on Friday to tell friends he was feeling better. On Saturday he went to hospital with chest pains.

His last role was as Harry Slater in EastEnders, which he joined last year for three months. Last night, his mother, Joan Elphick, 84, said he had died at the weekend after collapsing.

Mrs Elphick, who is living in her son's home town of Chichester in Sussex, described him as "very quiet and very kind" man who had loved his role in EastEnders.

"He wanted to be an actor from the age of 10 and was very quiet and very kind, just like his father – a very nice person," she said. An EastEnders spokeswoman said: "Everyone in the cast and crew was shocked to hear of Michael's early passing.

"He brought a wealth of talent to the show and will be sadly missed."

Elphick appeared in several films including Withnail and I, Quadrophenia and The Krays, but he made his name on television and particularly when Boon enjoyed success.

The programme ran between 1986 and 1992 and starred Elphick as Ken Boon, a former fireman who was invalided out of service and fell into running a private detective agency with a biker played by Neil Morrissey.

He followed it with a second successful series, Harry, a drama about a hard-drinking news agency journalist set in Newcastle, but he fell out of public view from the mid-1990s.

His partner of more than 32 years, Julia Alexander, died of cancer in 1996, devastating Elphick, who told interviewers he was considering killing himself. He had given up drinking but started again when Ms Alexander became ill.