msc

Living PM? As long as it's not Bob Hawke (and googling your hint suggests it's not)...

That only leaves Lois Baxter, Tom Baker and John Leeson from that serial. It is one that I really enjoy and watch repeatedly. "A hamster with a blunt penknife could do it quicker!" It is a good one, possessing the greatest last line for any villain. Peter Jeffrey, seeing he is defeated, jumps into the moat and swims off, yelling behind him: "Next time, Doctor, I shall not be so lenient!" Always raises a good cheer.

Michael Sheard would have been in here, only he's been sadly dead for over a decade. That's my knowledge of Grange Hill used up.

Probably mean spirited, but the wrong British Bulldog died in 2002. Dynamite will sod on as usual.

Welcome! Of your list, the following are the most likely to show up on future Deathlists, I'd think: Carter, Marks, Jimmy Hill, Gorbachev, the former Pope. Maybe not 2016 in the latter two cases, but they are the types of people the committee seem to like. You know, the sort of person who might get a BBC Breaking News tweet when they die. Ali, Vigoda, Van Dyke, Domino, Aznavour, Hawking, Stan Lee, Cardin, Noriega, Asner, Brooks, Tutu, Osbourne, Parsons, Bennett, Lewis, Connery, Queen Elizabeth, Brady have all been on the Deathlist in the past and so could make a return. Some of them feel more like than others (Tutu with his cancer for example), and I have a sneaking suspicion Sean Connery might make a George Cole like return from a long absence soon. Urquhart, King Michael, Fresco, Rockefeller, Raspail, Smullyan, Brand, Fritzl, Youguang, Wilson are all names unlikely to be considered. They don't tend to go for the older vaguely famous in the UK people. They'll be DDP picks. I'd say Clive Derby-Lewis is unlikely too, given his name has been in deadpooling circles for a number of years, and they haven't gone for him yet. Janner, Gaynes, Ure, Boutros-Ghali, Hefner, Harris, Forsyth, Glitter, Connolly, Cohen, Scales, Kwouk, Bacharach, Coltrane, Poitier, Wilder, Aldrin, Blessed, Glen Campbell, Mary Tyler Moore, Shatner, Manson, Corbett, Tobin, Mitchell, Reynolds, the Dalai Lama, Keith Richards, Morricone, Murdoch, Dylan, Polanski, Chirac, Eastwood, Attenborough and Roger Moore are all names I could see appearing on the Deathlist one day. Douglas Slocombe normally wouldn't, but he might sneak on next year in one of their outlier picks from time to time. Of the suggestion folk to drop, Sallis and Philips would be bad losses, and seem in much weaker health.

Well, he lasted about 24 hours on a shortlist.

Trewin wasn't on my radar, and he ought to have been. Mind you, last years personal research brought up Macnee (which everyone else knew), Milne (sold a Scott Thorson) and Villeneuve (again, mysteriously better, but at least DDT fell for that one too!). This year I am hoping the net will be cast more astutely, though Davey Jones' Locker has gone and mentioned one of my hopefuls elsewhere, and I foolishly gave another away on the forum at the turn of the year.

I'm not so keen on the cancer mums (for lack of a better term) being picked myself. (Although other posters would tell me that deadpooling ethics are a bit of an oxymoron!) Hill is the only real one of these hits for the top 3 - the rest were all famous in their fields before ill health to the best of my knowledge. So you could make up the 20 odd points (for Spade's joker) with some judicious local knowledge: those US politicians the Mail loves, the likes of a Dave Benton, and so on.

That is good news but I bet he still gets picked for a few teams next year because he still looks really bad. Didn't realise pancreatic could be cured. The most famous example I can think of is Chris Rea, who had surgery for pancreatic cancer in August 2000, and is driving home for Christmas each year. Mind you, he probably told the old pancreatic cancer it was fool if you think its over now.

Heenan will be around for a while yet. He beat his cancer into remission around 2008, and his frail looking appearance since is due to not having a working jaw.

Sorry to hear that.

After a long career in the movies, Ray Milland did a 30 year stint doing mostly TV work. Another candidate would be Gareth Thomas. Anthony Hopkins? He started in TV.

Depending, DDT, you may have just won me a DP on this DougStanhope bullshit site. They have 24 hours to approve his celebrity status Forgive the stupid question, but is that DP actually run by Doug Stanhope? Oh I don't believe that for a second Me neither, though the thought does amuse. Most on the DDP using pseudonyms and then there would be Stanhope going "Fuck yeah, I'm Doug Stanhope, here's my deadpool!"

Depending, DDT, you may have just won me a DP on this DougStanhope bullshit site. They have 24 hours to approve his celebrity status Forgive the stupid question, but is that DP actually run by Doug Stanhope?

Ruth Ginsburg might be a better choice there, given Steve Jobs, you know, died from cancer. If true, this is brilliant news. There will be lots more options for hits next year, so better we keep one of the all time greats who can still go that little bit longer, in my view.

I wouldn't worry: nine out of ten by-elections come entirely out of the blue. I mention Jim Dobbin again, because no one had ever heard of him, until he died one night during a foreign junket, overdosing on Polish absinthe!

I don't watch Babylon 5, but apparently it is. He's fairly recognisable. Most of the actors are Irish ones, so obscure outwith the show. Otherwise, Vernon Dobtcheff is the casino owner who Jaws kills in The Spy Who Loved Me, the Scientist in the Doctor Who story The War Games, and thousands of other roles. Richard Wilson is Victor Meldrew. Gerard Murphy was in Silver Nemesis and Denys Hawthorne in Terror of the Vervoids (both Dr Who). Peter Caffrey was in Ballykissangel, Clare Grogan is a former pop star (Altered Images) who was in Gregory's Girl, and Graham Norton and Tommy Tiernan are now internationally renowned comics...somehow. Oh, and Declan Mulhullond was a drunk who once played Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars. Father Ted is great, one of the finest sitcoms ever made. And entirely accurate too.

Oh, this is a follow up to the Liberal one from May by the looks of it. Which narrows things considerably, at a guess. It would have kept an innocent family friend in the frame too if the Reaper hadn't removed him from suspicion earlier this year, in a manner of speaking.

Here's a completely amateur list to start you off then. I didn't go for all the extras in the background, because feck it, life is too short. Priests Dermot Morgan 1952-98 Frank Kelly b. 1938 Ardal O’Hanlon b.1965 Michael Redmond (Fr Stone) b. 1950 Arthur Mathews (Fr Kerrigan, Fr Ben, Fr Clarke) b. 1959 Derrick Branche (Fr Jose Fernandez) b. 1947 Jim Norton b. 1938 Maurice O’Donoghue (Fr Dick Byrne) b. 1950 Don Wycherley (Fr Cyril McDuff) b. 1967 Chris Curran (Fr Jim Johnson) before 1945-1996 Fergus O’Kelly (Fr Barty Dunne) before 1949 Paul Woodfull (Fr Harry Coyle) b. 1958 Tommy Duggan (Fr Paul Cleary) 1909-98 Jimmy Keogh (Fr Fintan Fay) -2003 Shay Gorman (Fr Jim Sutton) 1923-99 Tony Guilfoyle (Fr Larry Duff) b. 1960 Graham Norton (Fr Noel Furlong) b. 1963 James Benson (Fr Liam Finnegan) before 1961 Gerry O’Brien (Fr Billy O’Dwyer) before 1955 Ben Keaton (Fr Austin Purcell) b. 1957 Kevin Moore (Bishop O’Neill) before 1940 Denys Hawthorne (Bishop Facks) 1932-2009 Paddy Ward (Bishop Jordan) circa. 1933 Joe Rooney (Fr Damien Lennon) before 1975 Rio Fanning (Fr Frost) b. 1931 James Rymer (Fr Brendan) ? Dermot Crowley (Fr Liam) b. 1947 Brendan Grace (Fr Fintan Stack) b. 1952 Fred Ridgeway (Fr Ken Dillon) 1953-2012 Noel Slattery (Fr Rory Shanahan) before 1969 Larry O’Brien (Fr Walton) ? Paddy Joyce (Shouting Priest in New Jack City) 1923-2000 Declan Mulhullond (Shouting Priest) 1931-99 Ultan Ely O’Carroll (Another Credited Shouting Priest) ? Desmond Jordan (Posh Priest in New Jack City) 1926-2009 Paul Hickey (Fr O’Shea) before 1974 Patrick Duggan (Fr Joe Briefly) before 1936 Liam O’Carroll (Blind priest) before 1976 Jonathan White (Fr Flynn) before 1955 Graham Lineham (Fr Gallagher) b. 1968 Kevin Gildea (Fr Cave) before 1976 Gerald McSorley (Fr Todd Unctious) b. 1950 Sean Barrett (Fr Fitzgerald) b. 1940 Donncha Crowley (Fr Billy) before 1967 Colum Gallivan (Fr Reilly) before 1963 Neil McCaul (Fr Terry) before 1955 Kevin McKidd (Fr Deegan) b. 1973 Joe Taylor (Fr Cleary) before 1971 Andrew McCulloch (Bishop Tom Mcccaskell) b. 1945 Brendan Dempsey (Fr Dick Mayo) before 1976 Patrick Kavanagh (Fr Seamus Fitzpatrick) 1931-2015 Des Keogh (Dublin Fr Jack) before 1947 Simon Nelson (Dublin Fr Dougal) b. 1968 Eamon Morrissey (Fr Beeching) b. 1943 Stephen Brennan (Fr Niall Haverty) before 1958 Birdy Sweeney (Fr Cullen) 1931-1999 Charles Simon (Fr Jim) 1909-2002 Conor Evans (Fr Romeo Sensini) before 1945 Ian Fitzgibbon (Fr Jessup) b. 1962 Tommy Tiernan (Fr Kevin) b. 1969 Jeff Harding (Fr Buzz Cagney) before 1960 Mark Doherty (Fr Alan) before 1976 Notable Non-Priests Pauline McLynn b. 1962 Pat Shortt b. 1966 Patrick Drury born before 1956 Rynagh O’Grady b. 1954 Niall Buggy (Henry Sellers) b. 1948 Rosemary Henderson (Sister Assumpta) before 1966 Mairead McKinley (Sister Monica) before 1975 Peter Caffrey (Charles Hedges) 1949-2008 Jon Kenny (Fred Rickwood) b. 1957 Clare Grogan (Niamh Connolly) b. 1962 Irene Warren (Singing Nun on Telephone) ? Nuala Walsh (Sister Mary Gondola) before 1976 Vass Anderson (Dr Sinnot) before 1953 Gerard Murphy (Plane pilot) 1948-2013 Vernon Dobtcheff (Hidden Nazi) b. 1934 Peadar Lamb (Fargo Boyle) before 1939 Peter Dineen (Giant Reid) before 1968 Pat McGrath (Hud Hastings) before 1970 Priscilla (Chris the Sheep) presumed long dead Pat Laffan (Pat Mustard) before 1944 Richard Wilson b. 1936 Doreen Keogh (Mrs Dineen) b. 1926 Patrick McDonnell (Eoin McLove) before 1973

RIP Pigbin Josh.

You're History?

I'd settle for a resurgence in quality Conservative party meltdowns.

Watching Dominic Sandbrooks's Real History of Science Fiction series from last year, and Alan Ladd Jr looks and sounds like someone who has or had throat cancer. Considerably frailer than the last thing I saw him in a few years back. More of a placeholder than a "slam dunk": we need a thread for "people looking frailer than usual".

Steve Mackay becomes the latest of The Stooges to die. Feels like they're dropping like flies the last few years.

Her maudlin career is now over If only the DDP started in October sometimes!