PRESENTER Kaye Adams has led the tributes to her television colleague Lynda Bellingham, who died in her husband's arms only two months after deciding to end her cancer treatment.

Ms Adams, who worked with Ms Bellingham on ITV show Loose Women, said the actress was "an incredibly courageous person".

Ms Bellingham 66, best known for her long-running role as a mother in the Oxo TV adverts, had been diagnosed last July with colon cancer, which later spread to her lungs and liver.

The actress, whose career highlights included long-running TV series All Creatures Great And Small, said last month she had decided on August 13 to end her treatment to limit the amount of suffering her family would witness. She died peacefully in hospital.

Husband Michael Pattemore said: "I just want her to be remembered as an actress more than anything - not as a celebrity or one of the Loose Women. She started her career as an actress and never thought of herself as a celebrity. She's always been an actress."

He added: "I can tell you now the words on her gravestone will be, 'The curtain went up on May 31, 1948, and the final curtain went down on October 19, 2014'."

Ms Bellingham's career included the title role in sitcom Faith In The Future and regular stage roles. She also took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2009.

The star, whose sister Barbara died from lung cancer, had filmed a special farewell episode of Loose Women, which will air tomorrow, in which she received a standing ovation.

Ms Adams said: "She just had such an energy and a dynamism and you were just always pleased to see her and always felt she was pleased to see you, which is a fabulous thing to be able to do.

"She always left you feeling better about life."

She added: "I think a lot of people will be thinking of her so fondly this morning and thinking 'God, Lynda, you are incredible'."

Ms Bellingham, who was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours list for her charity work, was asked recently how she would like to be remembered and said she wanted to be thought of as an honest person.

Ms Adams said: "That's one of the many ways she will be remembered - honest, generous, kind, courageous, intelligent, thoughtful, all of those things."

Other stars who paid tribute to the actress were Christopher Timothy, Simon Pegg and Nadia Sawalha.

Timothy, Bellingham's co-star in All Creatures Great And Small, said: "She was funny, she was loyal, she was talented, that's without doubt. She was a great mum, she was a real friend and on-set she was 'one of the boys' really. "

Pegg, who starred with her in Faith In The Future, said she was his "first TV mother figure and a treasured friend," while Ms Sawalha, Loose Women co-presenter, said: "She would come into a room and light the place up."