Every night during their 35 years together, Brian Murphy and Linda Regan loved to sing to one another before drifting off to sleep. The couple’s sweet bedtime ritual began soon after Brian – the star of Seventies sitcoms Man About The House, and George and Mildred – and Hi-de-Hi! actress Linda started their courtship in 1990.

Appearing opposite each other as husband and wife in the play Wife Begins at 40, their mutual attraction was instant but as true professionals it was only after the run ended that Linda plucked up the courage to ask Brian to her house for tea. He accepted and from that night on, he stayed at the cottage in Kent where they lived a happy life until his death from bone cancer aged 92 in February.

Recalling their special love in her first interview since Brian’s death, Linda says: “It was always the same two songs – Let Me Call You Sweetheart and When I Grow Too Old To Love You, to which he taught me the words. We dueted every night until his pitch perfect voice was reduced to a murmur in the background as I tried to hold the note for both of us.”

Now with only treasured memories to cling to, Linda is admittedly struggling to come to terms with losing her “soulmate” Brian who received his aggressive bone cancer diagnosis in January, just one month before his death.

Today, she has invited the Sunday Express into the home the couple shared for so long. A delightful mix of quintessential English charm and eccentricity, every nook and cranny of its bright and well-loved interior is filled with photos, mementos and trinkets from a long marriage made in heaven.

The couple had been planning a romantic getaway to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary last month until learning of Brian’s health battle.

Linda’s grief is palpable. “Brian was everything to me, we were so happy together,” she says, tears streaming down her cheeks throughout our conversation.

By her side is 11-year-old Friendy, the dog she and Brian named for being their loyal best friend. “I couldn’t have got through these last few weeks without her,” Linda explains. “She’s a Tibetan terrier and they were originally bred by monks and have a serenity that helped Brian through his illness and is helping me now too.”

I ask her if she is ready to talk about her loss. “Oh yes, I must. I don’t want people to forget him,” she says, resolutely. “I want everyone to know how wonderful and kind he was and how he made the world smile. I really want to talk about him.”

Brian, who had two sons from his first marriage, was a sitcom legend who found fame as henpecked George Roper opposite Yootha Joyce in Man About The House in 1973. Running for three years, its popularity produced the spin-off George and Mildred between 1976 and 1979.

Brian also starred in episodes of Holby City, Benidorm and Last of the Summer Wine, in which he played the neighbour of Nora Batty.

Linda shares Brian’s love of performing: He loved everything he did, but was thrilled to be in last of the Summer Wine and get to work alongside many of his friends. Old Mother Riley was acstandout in his career as he was nominated for a BAFTA for it and it was a very different part to the kind he was known for.

A true star of stage and screen who started his career in Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop, he worked right up until he received his out-of-the-blue diagnosis. “I slept on the floor next to his bed until the time came to say goodbye,” says Linda. “In his final moments he interrupted our song to try and tell me he loved me, I hushed him gently and begged him to save his breath, “I already know” I told him and tried to keep singing, he turned over and was gone, he was out of pain at last and mine had just begun.”

She only managed to sing again at Brian’s funeral when they laid him in the ground. “I had to do it. Mother theatre took over and I put my emotions to one side to give him the send off he deserved. I also gave him our teddy bear Patch, which he bought for me when we first got together. I couldn’t bear to think of him alone,” she says.

Brian’s unforgettable broad smile, piercing blue eyes and neatly groomed moustache helped him become a household name, although his faultless acting did on one occasion belie worrying times for him and wife Linda who fought a secret battle with cancer while he made his debut in Last of the Summer Wine.

She explains: “I was the victim of an attempted kidnap in 2005, a man sneaked into the back of my car while I stopped at lights. He threatened me with a knife and it was only that I had the presence of mind to jump out when the car slowed that I managed to get away.”

The terrifying incident shook Linda so badly that she attributes it to the lung cancer she developed a year later, despite being a non-smoker. “It was such an awful time. I had to have chemotherapy and it began on the day Brian started filming Last of the Summer Wine – it tore him apart not to be with me but he came home every week to sit by my bed and sing to me until I was well again,” she says. “I couldn’t have got through it without him.”

The couple spent many days in domestic bliss, cooking for one another and watching classic Buster Keaton or Laurel and Hardy films. They also enjoyed occasional visits to their favourite Italian restaurant, across the road from the Old Vic in London where Brian always had “spaghetti bolognese with a glass of ‘good’ red wine.” Entertaining friends including the late Richard Briars was also a source of great happiness for the welcoming couple.

Quietly gazing out at the neat lawn in the garden Linda is reminded of a new visitor that has been calling. “A little robin keeps popping up – I know some people believe they are angels and I believe it’s Brian coming to check on me,” she smiles. “Brian spent his last weeks in a bed next to the patio doors so he could see the squirrels and birds in the garden. They don’t seem to come so often now. Nothing will ever be the same now he has gone.”

Taking a deep breath, she continues: “We were so happy just watching a film with a Chinese takeaway followed by some chocolate.”

She adds that their mutual respect and adoration for each other was the cornerstone of their success. Linda often surprised Brian with meaningful gestures on special occasions. “I knew Brian had never learned to swim as he had been too scared to try as a child so it just passed him by. I decided for his 80th birthday to give him a course of lessons – and he did it, he learned to swim aged 80 and had been going weekly ever since. Such an incredible achievement.

“We went on many trips on British Pullman trains and once on the Orient Express; they are times I will cherish forever.”

Some moments have proved particularly difficult since his passing. “We were huge Eastenders fans, we never missed an episode and would sit with our tea on a tray and eat while we watched with delight. Now I just can’t bring myself to watch it alone, not yet.”

She admits it’s the same thing with another cherished pastime, baking. “I have no desire to make anything, it doesn’t seem right to carry on with the things that were part of our life as husband and wife. Thank heavens I have Friendy, she really keeps me going when it gets too much.”

Linda and Brian chose not to travel abroad over the last 11 years for fear of missing their beloved dog too much. They had a particular affection for the Isle of Wight, where Brian was born. These staycations allowed their furry companion to join them at holiday camps. “I once got told off by a security guard for letting Friendy walk on the grass,” she giggles. “When I told Brian he thought it was hilarious… he always saw the funny side.”

Brian’s shock diagnosis came after he suffered a bad back at Christmas. Doctors treated it with pain relief gel but his symptoms worsened. When he could no longer make it upstairs, they paid for a private scan and received the devastating news he had bone cancer early into the new year.

Linda says: “I have been through cancer so while it was a shock. I kept asking, ‘Does he need chemo or radiotherapy? We can fight this, or so I thought. No one ever gave me a straight answer. It was only when we had a visit from the local hospice, St Christopher’s, about arranging for him to have a bed downstairs that I heard the word ‘palliative care’. My world came crashing down but I had to keep a brave face for Brian – he was on morphine but later that same evening he did ask me, “Am I just going to fade away?”

Holding back the tears Linda replied in the best way she could: “Not if I can help it.” But she knew this was the one time love wasn't going to be enough to save him.

In just a few short weeks that Brian has gone, Linda now tries to find comfort in the love she has lost. “Not everyone is lucky enough to find the love of their life and for that I will always be grateful,” she smiles through her tears. “We truly had the love affair of the century.”