Freak heart illness killed comedy genius

A BBC executive who co-wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy scripts died when he collapsed of a freak heart condition and fell under the wheels of a lorry.

Geoffrey Perkins, the former head of BBC comedy, was behind some of TV's greatest comic hits including Spitting Image, Drop the Dead Donkey, The Fast Show, The Catherine Tate Show, Father Ted and Have I Got News for You. He is also credited with inventing the Mornington Crescent quiz for Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.

An inquest was told that Mr Perkins, 55, who was married with children, was on his way to work in August last year when witnesses saw him turn pale and slump into the road in Marylebone high street. He rolled between the front and back wheels of a lorry and was hit by the rear wheels, but Westminster coroner's court heard that he was already dead or dying. A pathologist said the most probable reason was that his "normal" heart suddenly stopped.

The condition, known as channelopathies, can strike down even young people.

Verdict: natural causes.