THE ISLAND’S much loved telly legend Geoffrey Hughes is gravely ill battling cancer, The Gazette can reveal.

His loyal wife Sue has been keeping a bedside vigil in hospital since he was rushed in for emergency treatment last Thursday.

The 66 year old actor and deputy-lord-lieutenant for the Island thought he had beaten prostate cancer, but collapsed in his Newport home on Thursday Evening.

He was found by his wife Sue and was rushed by ambulance to the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Portsmouth for intense radiotherapy.

A source said: “Geoffrey is not in a very good way. He is undergoing heavy radiotherapy and is in terrible discomfort. He thought he was over the worst after his treatment last year so it was a massive shock to find out it had returned.

“He’s a fighter and he is doing his damnedest to try to beat it again. Sue is showering him with love but it is an awful situation.”