Mike Reid, who died on 29 July 2007 aged 67, was a stand-up comedian by trade who will be best remembered for playing the EastEnders resident wheeler-dealer Frank Butcher.

After joining the cast in 1987, Mr Reid turned lovable used car salesman and sometime pub landlord Frank into one of the long-running soap's most popular characters and was to play him on and off for nearly two decades.

But it was as a comedian that the cockney star first came to prominence, as one of the stable of stand-ups who got their big break on ITV's hit 70s show "The Comedians" alongside the likes of Bernard Manning , Frank Carson, Jim Bowen and Charlie Williams.

He will also be remembered by TV viewers of a certain age for hosting the often chaotic ITV children's game show Runaround in the 1970s, which is still spoken fondly of by people in their 30s and 40s.

Despite his broad cockney accent, Mike Reid was not quite a genuine EastEnder, having been born a few miles to the north of the fictional Albert Square in Tottenham, in 1940.

He married for a first time in 1958 and then again in 1967, and had two sons and a daughter.

He began his showbusiness career in the 1960s as a stunt double for Roger Moore in The Saint before becoming a stand-up comic in clubs and ocean liners, leading eventually to a slot on The Comedians.

As well as hosting Runaround, his success on The Comedians led to a one-off novelty hit record, a version of The Ugly Duckling.

But his star had faded somewhat when, at the age of 47, he was asked to join the cast of EastEnders in the pivotal role of Frank, who was destined to succeed the legendary "Dirty Den" Watts behind the bar of the Queen Vic.

The character quickly became a fixture in the programme, and the scripwriters married him off to his long-lost sweetheart Pat Wicks, played by Pam St Clement.

Mr Reid's genius was to capture the essence of a flawed character who, although a perennial loser and occasional small-time crook, never let go of his dreams and was always looking to pick himself up and start all over again.

He made his last appearance as Frank Butcher in December 2005 when his long relationship with Pat finally came to an end.

His co-star Pam St Clement said: "It has come as a terrible shock - somebody larger than life as Mike was in person and character - he seemed indestructible."

Actor Adam Woodyat, who plays Ian Beale, said Mr Reid "used to brighten up long filming days keeping the cast and crew laughing".

Frank Carson, a close friend who met Mr Reid on The Comedians 30 years ago, said the news was "absolutely devastating" coming so soon after the death of Bernard Manning.

Mr Reid had been living in Spain at the time of his death.