Stars join to celebrate Wicker Man star Edward Woodward

STARS including Barbara Windsor, Simon Pegg and June Whitfield gathered yesterday to celebrate the life of Wicker Man star Edward Woodward.

Clips from some of Woodward's best-known roles, in smash hit TV series The Equalizer, occult classic The Wicker Man and Pegg's recent police movie send-up, Hot Fuzz, were shown to Woodward's family, friends and fans.

The veteran actor, who clocked up more than 2,000 television appearances, died in November at the age of 79.

His widow, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em actress Michele Dotrice, organised the commemoration at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London. She told the audience: "This isn't goodbye from me, and it isn't goodbye from Edward either.

"We hold the ones we love in our hearts and they live forever, as long as we do."

The event was compered by Ms Dotrice's father, actor Roy Dotrice, who described his son-in-law as "a real workhorse".

Despite Woodward's tough-guy image on screen, his son, Peter Woodward, said: "He was never a hard man.

"He could not exist in the same room as a spider. He would look away when you swatted a fly."

Describing Woodward in his acting heyday, he said: "He was the most popular actor in Britain, one of the most famous men in the country."