Jonathan Ross' mother has died at the age of 79.

Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Ross

The 58-year-old talk show host took to Twitter on Wednesday (30.01.19) to tell his 5.22 million followers that his beloved mum Martha has passed away and pay tribute to the "happy and vivacious" woman that she was.

He tweeted: "Today, my Family and I will gather to say goodbye to our Mum, Grandma, Great-Grandma. Martha. A wonderful, loving, glamorous, thoughtful, vivacious woman. Always smiling. Always happy. Always putting us first. We were so lucky to have her. We love you Mum x (sic)"

As well as Jonathan, Martha had four other children; radio host Paul, TV producer and actor Miles, TV producer Simon, music industry executive Adam and daughter Liza, and she was instrumental in encouraging all her kids to seek employment in the entertainment industry.

Martha was an actress and radio presenter and she appeared on 'EastEnders' for 20 years playing a stallholder on Walford's Bridge Street market, however, she lost her job in 2006 after she gave away a plot when revealing her day's filming to son Paul, who then spoke about the storyline on his LBC radio show.

Following his touching tribute, Jonathan - who is married to screenwriter Jane Goldman, with whom he has three kids - was sent messages of condolences by some of his famous friends.

'EastEnders' actor Shane Richie described Martha as a "bloody great lady" who looked after him when he first started playing Alfie Moon on the BBC One soap.

Shane posted: "What a lady, what a bloody great lady ... I remember how nervous I was on my very 1st day on Albert sq back in 2002 and she just held my hand ... she had a heart bigger than any fictional market ... thank you Martha."

Comedy star Sanjeev Bhaskar simply tweeted: "Sending love and strength to you and the family Jonathan x"


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