A STAR who featured in Inspector Morse, The Bill, and Poirot has died unexpectedly just hours after a routine surgery.
Tony Mathews, 81, has been remembered by his family for how “he lit up the room” following his death in 2023.
Tony Mathews portrayed Lord Lucan in Escape[/caption]
An inquest into his sudden death concluded on Thursday, with Coroner Sarah Clarke saying clinicians had been “perplexed” by how he died.
However, the inquest at Maidstone Coroner’s Court concluded that Tony had suffered from an abdominal bleed, known as an intraperitoneal haemorrhage.
He had gone in for an elective stoma reversal on December 13 that was “uneventful”.
However, his abdominal bleed began post-surgery and it was exacerbated by the administration of anti-coagulant treatment, the coroner said.
Although this was correctly given for his atrial fibrillation, and despite showing signs of improvement, Tony was later found dead on December 16, as a result of a cardiac shock.
In a statement, Tony’s son, Kent said: “My Dad, Tony Mathews was a loving father, and a talented actor and painter.
“He was a sharp, funny man and his energy always lit up a room. Even at the end he was making jokes with doctors from what we now realise was his death bed.
“The family are very thankful to the court and to our lawyer for all their work to find out what happened to him and come to a conclusion about how and why he died.
“It has been a thorough investigation, and we now have some closure, which is what we hoped for.
“Rest in peace, Dad.”
Tony was best known for his roles in Inspector Morse, The Bill and Poirot.
He also starred in The Duellists and played Royston Andrews in The Governor during his fruitful acting spell.
Tony was educated in Canterbury, Kent, before becoming an actor.
He appeared in numerous TV shows over two decades during a long career on the screen.
Tony first appeared in The Duellists in 1977, playing the role of Gen. Treillard’s Aide-de-Camp.
In 1980 Tony appeared in The Dogs of War as the Bank Vice President before taking on the role of Gerald Lowen in Poirot a decade later.
Popular drama Poirot aired from January 1989 to November 2013.
David Suchet starred as the the fictional private investigator and title character.
Tony then went on to play a pathologist in Inspector Morse in 1992.
The experienced actor also starred in episodes of the popular drama The Bill from 1990 until 1993.
The Bill focuses on the lives and work of one shift of police officers of all ranks.
Storylines deal with situations faced by uniformed officers working on the beat, as well as plainclothes detectives.
It was broadcast on ITV from October 16, 1984, until August 31, 2010.
Tony also played Lord Lucan in Escape and featured in Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years as Anthony Eden.
Tony Mathews died aged 81 in 2023[/caption]
