Matt Lucas Quits Play After Ex Death

Little Britain star Matt Lucas has pulled out of the production of Prick Up Your Ears at the Comedy Theatre, following the apparent suicide of his ex-civil partner, Kevin McGee, who was found hanged at his Edinburgh apartment yesterday. The pair separated last October after a two-year marriage. The tabloids are predictably having a field day over this, not only because of Lucas' notoriety and the fact that this was a high-profile gay couple, but also the grisly details: what appears to be a 'suicide note' was left in the form of McGee's final Facebook update, posted just hours before his body was found, which simply read: "Kevin McGee thinks death is better than life". Lucas will be absent from the play for an unspecified period of time, and the role of Kenneth Halliwell will be played by understudy Michael Chadwick.