Actor who played Tinky Winky dies, aged 52

The actor who played Teletubbies patriarch Tinky Winky in the roaringly popular BBC children’s series, has died just four days after his 52nd birthday.

Father-of-three Simon Shelton Barnes, who lived in the Bedfordshire Georgian market town of Ampthill trained as a ballet dancer and choreographer. The British pre-school show won multiple BAFTA awards, a single based on its theme song reached number one in 1997 and sold over 1 million copies. The original release ran from 1997 to 2001 but 60 more episodes were ordered in 2014. Barnes was the brother-in-law of Poldark actor Robbert Daws and uncle of Inbetweeners actress Emily Atack. Atack paid tribute to her uncle on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/BeIZV9xHx8t/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_ufi His Tinky Winky character once caused controversy in the States where evangelical TV minister Jerry Falwell accused him of being gay. But Simon said: “People always ask me if Tinky Winky is gay. But the character is supposed to be a three-year-old so the question is really quite silly.” Barnes once said that being in the Teletubbies was “a bit like the Beatles or Take That of television”. He added: “We used to receive a lot of fan mail from children and parents.” Relatives have asked mourners to “wear bright colours” at his funeral at Bedford Crematorium on February 7.