Actor and star of Grange Hill.

Born: September 29, 1964;

Found dead: May 22, 2015.

Terry Sue Patt, who has been found dead in his London flat aged 50, was familiar to a generation of younger viewers as Benny Green, the mischievous, little black schoolboy on Grange Hill in the late 1970s.

The series brought a new realism to children's teatime drama and was a huge success. Patt later recalled being chased down the street by teenaged female fans, an experience he found deeply unnerving.

He went on acting after Grange Hill, playing a football hooligan in the Gary Oldman film The Firm in 1989 and he had a recurring role as a nurse in Cardiac Arrest in the mid-1990s.

But he never found another role to rival that of Benny and struggled with alcohol and debt, particularly after the death of his younger brother Michael in a car crash in 1989. Patt was a passenger in the car.

His body was found in his flat on Friday, after a friend reported that no one had seen him for weeks. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances, although no cause of death has been revealed.

Patt was born into a large immigrant family in London in 1964. His surname was Sue-Patt, though he would later drop the hyphen. His ancestors were mainly African, although he also had a Chinese grandfather.

His greatest passion was football - he played in the same Camden schools team as John Barnes. But his parents also enrolled him in a local drama group. "My parents thought it would be a good place to meet people and stay off the streets," he said.

In 1973 he featured in a scary public information film about the dangers of playing near water, with actor Donald Pleasence providing the voice of "The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water". He also appeared in pop videos with Bob Marley and Pink Floyd.

By chance Grange Hill's original director Colin Cant saw Patt playing keepie-uppie before meeting him at the audition. Benny was the first pupil seen in the first episode, turning up for school with his beloved football and soon getting into trouble for kicking it against the wall.

Patt appeared in the first five series of Grange Hill, between 1978 and 1982, though the show itself continued till 2008 and explored many serious social issues, including drug addiction and teen pregnancy.

Although Patt continued acting after Grange Hill, his career stalled in the 1990s. He also became a stencil artist and had work was exhibited.

He kept in touch with his co-stars, who were shocked by news of his death. Lee MacDonald, who played the character Zammo, said: "I just can't understand what happened. He was always a very private person. I believe he had a partner, but Terry never spoke about relationships."

BRIAN PENDREIGH