In pictures: Mel Smith's career

(l-r) Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones — Image caption,
Mel Smith was perhaps best known for Alas Smith and Jones, a weekly sketch show which ran from 1984 to 1998. Its trademark segment featured a close-quarters chat between Smith and his comedy foil Griff Rhys Jones, in which they played dim versions of themselves engaging in absurd discussions.

(l-r) Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones with New Zealand-born comedian Pamela Stephenson (below)

The pair had previously found fame on Not the Nine O'Clock News, the first major programme showcasing the talent of the so-called alternative comedy performers.

Mel Smith, Rowan Atkinson, Pamela Stephenson and Griff Rhys Jones.

Not The Nine O’Clock News deployed flamboyant costumes and played with the medium of television, using swift editing techniques in a pioneering way.

(l-r) Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith, and Griff Rhys Jones carrying Pamela Stephenson.

The show went on to win multiple Bafta awards in 1981, with Smith's colleague Rowan Atkinson scooping the gong for best light entertainment performance. Pamela Stephenson was nominated for best actress and best light entertainment performance; Matt Boney was nominated for best video editor.

Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith in series one of Smith and Jones

Alas Smith and Jones also became known for its colourful characters.

Mel Smith appears smoking a cigar out of a window at the Assembly Halls in Edinburgh

Later in his career, during the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Smith pledged to defy the ban on smoking in public places. He was playing Churchill in the play Allegiance. But after Edinburgh City Council threatened to close the production down, his cigar remained unlit.

Smith lived with his wife Pam in the St John's Wood area of London. The pair were photographed here in 2010.

Mel Smith: 3 December 1952 - 19 July 2013.