Richard Briers

If all he had ever done was play self-sufficient Tom in The Good Life, a sitcom that ran for 30 episodes in the 1970s, his legacy would still be an estimable one.

As it is, Richard Briers, who died last month aged 79, chalked up other sitcom hits in Marriage Lines and Ever Decreasing Circles, the light-drama smash Monarch of the Glen, and an impressive CV of stage work.

But it was Tom Good that seared him into the public consciousness. Briers himself found the character selfish and obsessive. He could be both, of course, but Briers, a superb technician, also made him endearing and hilarious. That's why we loved him, and here, friends and colleagues describe why they did.

Felicity Kendal recalls Good Life actor Richard Briers

I try not to do regrets - I think they're such a waste of time - but I now have one. Not having kept in closer touch recently with Richard Briers, or Dickie as I used to call him, is a real sadness to me now that he has gone.

TV greats join family for Richard Briers funeral

Hundreds of people packed into a church alongside acting greats to remember "down to earth" star Richard Briers.

When Richard Briers died recently aged 79, there was a huge outpouring of affection for one of our great comic actors. Audiences felt as if they'd lost a favourite uncle.

It was John Esmonde and Bob Larbey's 1975 sitcom, which ran on BBC1 for three years, that cemented Briers's place in our hearts. He played Tom Good, an ex-City man who turned his back on his old life to set up a smallholding with wife Barbara in the London suburb of Surbiton.

As a tribute, G.O.L.D. is broadcasting back-to-back episodes, starting with episode seven of series one, followed by all of series two and ending with the final episode of series four. Age hasn't wearied a minute of it.

Penelope Keith remembers her co-star Richard Briers

"We were very close... He was kind, generous, a real gentleman and also someone to look up to as an actor"

The recent death of Richard Briers drew attention to how wretched much of the BBC's mainstream sitcom output has become. Heading Out isn't going to reverse this downward slide, but if this opener to Sue Perkins's series is a little light on laughs, it's still sharply observed and amiably performed. Perkins, in particular, is unrecognisable from her hyper-irritating turns on Supersizers.

She plays Sara, a vet grappling with the prospect of coming out to her parents as she turns 40: animals, sexuality, family, age... Classic sitcom themes all, but the vaguely autobiographical nature of Heading Out gives it a little extra frisson. The physical comedy of the set-piece netball match is awkwardly staged and among a generally strong supporting cast, Joanna Scanlan's Miriam Margolyes impression seems to come from a different show entirely. Otherwise, a promising start.

Richard Briers, Thatcherite hero

I met Richard Briers twice and he was charming, but also far brighter than you might imagine.

Ever Decreasing Circles was Richard Briers' finest

There was a very real darkness at the heart of Ever Decreasing Circles, with Martin existing in what was almost certainly a state of permanent mental anguish.

When something is rumoured as possibly the worst British film ever, there's a car crash-type need to see it. And when you spy Cliff Richard and Rolf Harris cameoing as buskers during the opening credits you know you're in for a humdinger. This remake of Ray Cooney's 'whoops, where's me trousers?' farce casts Danny Dyer - who else? - as a black cabbie whose bigamist lifestyle is threatened with exposure after a dog food-eating tramp (Judi Dench - what was she thinking?) clocks him one with a handbag. Neil Morrissey sits on a chocolate cake, Richard Briers falls into a hedge, Christopher Biggins pushes Lionel Blair bum-first through a bathroom floor - no one emerges unscathed among the cameo-packed cast that reads largely like a roll-call for Brit TV legends you'd previously suspected deceased.