JOHN AXONTelevision actor John Axon died on 25 October, 2008, from a suspected heart attack near his home in Stockport aged just 48.He was best known for his leading role in the ITV series The Royal.He played Nigel Harper - a hapless administrator at the eponymous hospital in the Heartbeat spin-off - between 2003 and 2005.During an acting career which began in the early 1990s, he had also appeared in series such as Peak Practice, Emmerdale, Casualty, The Bill, Life on Mars and Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights.Mr Axon originally worked as a graphic artist before becoming an actor. He had also appeared on the stage in Manchester.His agent Tim Scott paid tribute to him, saying: "Aside from being really talented, he was a really funny, jovial man who always had a smile on his face. No-one ever had a bad word to say about him."A spokesman for the Channel 4 series Shameless, for which John had been due to start filming at the time of his death, said: "It is a tragic loss for the industry to lose such a fine actor as John and all of us at Shameless are so sad that we did not have the opportunity to continue to work with him, before his untimely death. He had been a delight to work with during rehearsals with the cast and had been due to start filming this week on the series in Manchester."John's grandfather, for whom he was named, was the modern folk hero John Axon who was awarded the George Cross for his heroics in trying to stop a runaway train in 1957, bravery which cost him his life.
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