Remembering 'Friday Night Dinner' and 'Chernobyl' Star Paul Ritter

The month of April has been a tough one for Anglophiles. Of course, we all just witnessed the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh over the weekend. Last week, we got the heartbreaking news that actress Helen McCrory had died after a battle with cancer at the age of just 52.

And earlier this month on April 5, another British actor in his prime, Paul Ritter, passed away from a brain tumor at the age of 54. The name may not be as familiar, but you’ve seen his brilliance on-screen (or if you’re lucky, on stage) somewhere.

Mr. Ritter was best known for his roles as Martin Goodman, the often shirtless, always hapless husband and father in the Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner. On the other end of the spectrum, Ritter received acclaim for his performance as Anatoly Dyatlov, the ill-fated engineer who contributed to a nuclear disaster in the award-winning HBO drama Chernobyl.