TRIBUTES were last night paid to one of the stars of 80s sitcom Bread, who died of a suspected heart attack.

Gilly Coman, 54, played Aveline, an aspiring model and the only daughter of the Boswell family, in the seminal Liverpool sitcom.

The character’s outrageous wardrobe coupled with her flame red hair was known to millions during the show’s original run.

Ms Coman, who left the show after five series to have a baby, was replaced by actress Melanie Hill.

But she also had a successful stage and screen career outside of Bread including appearances in Open All Hours, Coronation Street, Emmerdale Farm, Brookside and Inspector Morse.

She later retired from acting to live with husband Phil, a photographer, and their four children in Caldy, Wirral.

Showbusiness was in her blood as her parents ran a ballroom dancing school off Smithdown Road.

She joined the Elliot Clarke School aged seven, where she met lifelong friend Jane Joseph, now the director of St Helens Theatre Royal.

Ms Joseph said: “It’s a great shock that this has happened. It is an untimely death.

“Gilly was a marvellous mother and a very private person and decided to put her career on hold while she brought up her children.

“I rang her a few months ago to try to tempt her back with a play called Four Girls in a Caravan which would have been perfect for her, but she said she would only consider acting when her youngest, Jess, finished her GCSEs.”