One of the actors from the popular children's television show Teletubbies died last week, according to a post from the show's Facebook page. Actor Simon Shelton passed away in the town of Ampthill in Bedfordshire on Jan. 17 at the age of 52, BBC News reported.

Shelton, who also went by the last name Barnes, played the character Tinky Winky on the show from 1998 until 2001, according to IMDB.

The actress Emily Atack posted a photo of the actor to her Instagram account following his death that said, "My wonderful uncle Simon Barnes has been taken from us all so suddenly. The kindest and most talented man you could ever wish to meet. Loved by all who knew him, and will be forever. X"

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Shelton was a dancer and choreographer, according to the BBC, and was hesitant to take on the role of Tinky Winky at first. In an interview with BBC from 2008 he said, he didn't know how big the show would get, though he knew it was something special.

Shelton's former colleague, John Simmit, who played Dipsy on the show, expressed his condolences on Twitter. "What a week ! RIP Simon Shelton aka Tinky Winky : remembering the many good times. Rest easy," he wrote to his followers about Shelton. He also replied to a follower and said, "Lots of messaging between cast & crew as we became a tight bunch over 6 years on location. We'll give him an appropriate send off in a couple of weeks. Thanks for asking."

The topic of Tinky Winky's sexuality was highly discussed when the show was still on television but Shelton didn't believe there was any reason to even discuss the matter. He noted that the character was written as a three-year-old child and said that the question of the character's sexuality was "Really quite silly," the Guardian reported.

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