The Stage

Actor and writer Al Hunter Ashton dies aged 49

Published Friday 4 May 2007 at 18:10 by Matthew Hemley

London’s Burning actor Al Hunter Ashton has died after suffering heart failure at the age of 49.

The actor, most famous for playing Pitbull in the ITV series, died last Friday at his home in High Wycombe.

Ashton, who also appeared in shows such as Holby City and Crossroads, had just completed filming a new BBC series called Jekyll, due to go out later this year.

He was also a prolific writer, having written for EastEnders, and had a number of new projects in the pipeline.

Tributes have now started pouring in for the actor on an online condolence book set up via his website.

Contributors include fellow EastEnders’ writer Tony Jordan, who described Ashton as “something of a rarity in this industry”.

He said: “He told you what he was thinking. This put people’s noses out of joint sometimes, they just wanted him to do as he was told and stop going on, but he never did, not Al. He was a writer with a voice. There aren’t too many left and I’ll miss him.”

His agent, Richard Ireson, wrote: “We had such great plans for the future - both with Al’s writing and acting. He was literally a one-off. You couldn’t invent a character like him. We’ll talk Al stories long into the night, and quite right too.”