For decades he was one of the biggest stars on television. And no wonder. A gifted mimic, comedian and actor, Stanley Baxter, who has died at the age of 99, commanded audiences of 20 million with his shows for both ITV and the BBC during the 1970s and 80s.

In the end, TV executives pulled the plug on them - in a changing world they simply became too expensive to produce.

But those standalone extravaganzas, which saw Stanley spoof everything from Dallas and Upstairs, Downstairs to the Queen’s Christmas message, stand as a reminder of a different age when the nation sat down together to be entertained.

Yesterday, as tributes poured in for the Glasgow-born star, who died on Thursday at a London care home for entertainment figures, his friend and biographer Brian Beacom described

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