Coronation Street star Paul Seed has died at the age of 78.

The actor, who previously played priest Father Harris on the ITV soap, passed away on March 7 after a battle with cancer.

Paul’s death was announced in an obituary published by The Guardian.

After rising to fame with his soap role, the star had moved into directing and worked on the smash-hit 1990 miniseries House Of Cards.

He was also a double BAFTA winner, earning Best Single Drama for A Rather English Marriage and Best Drama for Just William.

Paul was born in Bideford, Devon, before moving north to Manchester, studying drama at the University of Manchester, before graduating in 1970.

Coronation Street star Paul Seed has died at the age of 78

His first TV roles included Z Cars, Softly Softly, Doctor Who and Coronation Street.

On the soap, he played the recurring role of priest Father Harris – sharing the screen with Gail Tilsley for the baptism of her son Nick.

After completing the BBC directors’ course in the late 1970s, Seed went on to direct glossy dramas including Across the Water, Inappropriate Behaviour, A Rather English Marriage and Ready When You Are, Mr McGill.

He also appeared in the Victoria Wood play Nearly a Happy Ending in 1980, appearing alongside Julie Walters in the show.

On stage, he also appeared in productions of The Merchant of Venice, The Birthday Party, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Hamlet, among others.

In an obituary penned by actor Sir Tom Courtenay, he paid tribute to Paul’s work while recalling the words of star Roger O’Neill, who appeared in his acclaimed adaptation of House Of Cards.

He wrote: ‘Paul’s big breakthrough had come with House of Cards – adapted by Andrew Davies from Michael Dobbs’s novel, with Ian Richardson as the scheming politician Francis Urquhart – followed by the second part of the trilogy, To Play the King (1993).

‘The actor Miles Anderson, who played Roger O’Neill, the cocaine-snorting PR man, recalled: ”On the first day of filming I remember Paul saying to Ian, ”Why don’t you try looking directly into camera for your asides?”’

The actor, who previously played priest Father Harris on the ITV soap, passed away on March 7 after a battle with cancer (seen centre)

”A stroke of genius, breaking the fourth wall in a British TV drama that led to the familiar phrase ”You might think that, but I couldn’t possibly comment” being used everywhere, especially in the halls of Westminster.”

‘He loved what he did, and this love communicated itself to his actors. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who thought the world of him.’

Paul met his wife Liz while working on Z Cars, and they went on to have two sons, Jack and Sean.

The couple settled in north Devon in later years, where he pursued a passion for photography.