Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick Entertainment has announced the death of Mark Hall, who lost a battle with cancer on Friday. He died at his home in Manchester, surrounded by his family.

Hall and his business partner Brian Cosgrove, set up the production company Stop Frame in the late 1960s, before forming Cosgrave Hall Films. A string of cartoons brought them international fame and fortune, including Count Duckula, Jamie and the Magic Torch and Cockleshell Bay, but Hall will be best remembered for the character Danger Mouse - voiced by Only Fools and Horses actor David Jason – who together with his bumbling sidekick Penfold battled to defeat the evil Baron Greenback.

Adrian Wilkins, the company's Operations Director, paid tribute to Hall’s "lifetime of achievement" in the world of animation, describing him as “one of life's gentlemen".

In 2006, the 25th anniversary year of Danger Mouse, Hall told the BBC that the programme had succeeded because of the strange scenarios the pair found themselves in.

"Adults watched because of that kind of anarchy," he said, "and kids watched because they just loved the stories and the absolutely stupid gags." Danger Mouse, who lived inside a postbox in London's Baker Street, was "a cross between James Bond and all sorts of other things", he added.

The cartoon has been screened in more than 80 countries since its debut on ITV in the UK, and attracted average audiences of around 3.5 million when it was first shown Britain.

Cosgrove and Hall came out of retirement earlier this year to join forces with Francis Fitzpatrick (creator of Jakers!) and formed Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick Entertainment (CHF).