A MUCH-LOVED dog who starred in a popular television programme has died.

Boots, 15, took up acting a decade ago after a search by the producers from the long-running hit show Heartbeat for a replacement for Alfred, the lurcher owned by Claude Greengrass.

Friends of Carole and Tom Brannan, Boots' owners from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, were at the same dog show as the producers who were showing photographs of the original Alfred in the hope of finding a similar-looking dog.

The couple's friends thought Alfred looked a lot like the Brannans' dog Rosie, a Bedlington Cross whippet greyhound, and put the producers in touch with the family.

"We never applied," said Mrs Brannan. "We had been away in the South on a holiday and when we got home my son said there had been a phone call. We thought it was a wind up. We didn't believe it at first."

Rosie originally replaced Tramp, the first dog to play Alfred, but she did not get on with actor Bill Maynard who played Greengrass.

It was a different story with Boots, who replaced his sister. According to Mrs Brannan the moment Boots was introduced to Mr Maynard the pair "fell in love".

Despite having no formal training Boots took to acting like a duck to water, appearing in numerous episodes.

Then, after eight years, his fans were left shocked and saddened at his convincing portrayal of Alfred's death in October 2005.

Millions watched with tears in their eyes as Alfred suffered heart failure in the arms of his second on-screen owner, character David Stockwell, played by David Lonsdale.

"He had gone deaf," said Mrs Brannan. "He was all right with regards to walking, but they couldn't have a dog on set that was deaf because they couldn't give him commands anymore."

Boots' health declined over the last year and shortly before his death he had developed a tumour on his leg.

Mrs Brannan eventually had to make the heartbreaking decision to have him put down and he died in her arms yesterday.

"He had such a brilliant life and lived it to the full," she said. "Considering I didn't chose this, it was an amazing thing to happen. A lot of people would die for an opportunity like that. It came to me on a plate.

"He loved it and everybody loved him. He was just a natural."

A spokesman from Yorkshire Television said: "Boots was a true star. He had a real bond with David Lonsdale.