Dermot Morgan, who played C4’s Father Ted, was one of the world’s lovely men. I know, because I was privileged to spend several of his final few days with him.

He was as funny off-screen as on and a sublime mimic. One night, as we chomped our way through plates of pasta in a little Italian bistro, he “became” John Major – just for me, just to try to make me choke on my Chianti. (I did.)

He was also a man lit up with delight in his own brave new world. He had come to London from Dublin when he was pushing 40: almost unknown here, almost penniless and almost certainly too old for a showbiz break. When, by 45, he miraculously had that break, the one he had yearned for all his life, he took none of it for granted. Not for him any rudeness or head-butting of fans. Everyone who came up to him with the same joke he had heard a thousand times – “Will you hear my confession, Father?” was greeted warmly. “If you don’t like the attention,” he told me, loving it all, “you should go and sell insurance.”

Tragically, he died last weekend, too young and too soon, but I promise you this: at least he died a very, very happy man.