The grieving family of a well-known TV actor say they had “no time to say goodbye” before his death in hospital after “straight forward” surgery.

An inquest into the death of Anthony ‘Tony’ Mathews, 81, whose career spanned five decades and who lived in Ramsgate, concluded today.

In her closing remarks, coroner Sarah Clarke said clinicians had been “perplexed” by the actor’s sudden death at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) from a bleed in his abdomen after an operation to reverse a colostomy, in December 2023.

During the hearing, lawyers for his family raised concerns that some of the evidence given by staff at East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust during the inquest went against both previous statements that were made and the findings of the serious incident report they commissioned.

Mr Mathews was born in Chichester, West Sussex in 1942 and had been living in Ramsgate before he died, leaving behind his wife of fifty years, Narissa, two sons, Kent and Eliot and four young grandchildren.

His acting career spanned more than five decades. On screen, Mr Mathews was known for his roles in some of the biggest television shows of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, including The Bill, Poirot, The Governor and Inspector Morse.

He had starring roles on stage, which included creating the part of Frederick Fellows in the first production of Noises Off at the Savoy Theatre in London’s West End.

His wife Narissa recalled her husband’s love of reading, cricket and bridge and said he “lit up all our lives – we will always miss him”.

She said the sudden circumstances of his death left his family with “no time to say goodbye”.

Mr Mathews died on December 16, 2023 at the Margate hospital following colostomy reversal surgery, which was described by a consultant surgeon during the hearing as “straight forward” operation.

The inquest, held over March 3 and March 5, heard evidence from a surgeon, a pathologist, a gastroenterologist who specialises in treating polyps, a haematologist, a biomedical scientist from the hospital laboratory and a critical care nurse.

It also heard from an expert who helped compile an independent report into the grandfather’s death for the trust. This serious incident report acknowledged that Mr Mathews should have been taken back to theatre to investigate the unresolving low blood pressure and low haemoglobin.

On Wednesday 4 March 2025, Coroner Sarah Clarke concluded that on 13 December 2023, the actor underwent an elective stoma reversal, and that the operation was uneventful. Post-surgery, he suffered an abdominal bleed known as an intraperitoneal haemorrhage.

The coroner said that the bleeding was likely exacerbated by the administration of anti-coagulant treatment, correctly given for his atrial fibrillation and that despite showing signs of improvement, Mr Mathews was found dead on 16 December, as a result of a cardiac shock.

Speaking after the inquest concluded, son Kent said it had provided some closure for his family.

He said: “My dad was a loving father, and a talented actor and painter.

“He was a sharp, funny man and his energy always lit up a room. Even at the end he was making jokes with doctors from what we now realise was his death bed.

“The family are very thankful to the court and to our lawyer for all their work to find out what happened to him and come to a conclusion about how and why he died.

“It has been a thorough investigation, and we now have some closure, which is what we hoped for.”

Frankie Rhodes, a senior associate solicitor of law firm Leigh Day, which represented the firm, said: “Tony’s family are satisfied that the coroner conducted a full investigation into his death and note that she did acknowledge he should have been transferred to the surgical ward at an earlier stage, and there was also a missed opportunity to activate the major haemorrhage protocol when he was deteriorating on the morning of 15 December.

“The coroner concluded that she could not rule out that Tony was suffering from an ongoing slow bleed. The family do have some questions about the rationale for the bleed being deemed an old bleed and why active bleeding was excluded. I was surprised to hear the pathologist say that the 3 litres of blood found in Tony’s abdomen was one of the largest collections of blood he had seen.

“It is a matter of record that some of the evidence given by staff at the trust during the inquest went against both previous statements that were made and also the findings of the serious incident report they commissioned.

“I felt very pleased to be able to support Tony’s family through the inquest process and allow them to seek some closure about what happened to lead to the unexpected death of a much-loved husband, father and grandfather.”