Vegas added: “Elsie touched and guided so many careers and crammed more into her 89 years than anyone else I’ve known in this profession.
“When not giggling poolside, she was in her hotel room, putting together her next musical line-up for many a Liverpool theatrical production.
“Elsie made going into work a true joy, in fact, it was more like playtime, and our time together, something to truly treasure.”
Litten posted on X that Kelly’s “acting abilities and comic genius were taken for granted”, adding she was one of the show’s “best-loved characters” and “certainly one of the most beloved cast members”.
He revealed she originally auditioned for another part but her “personality and natural warmth” encouraged him to build up Noreen from a few lines in the early episodes to “many episodes and series culminating in her playing Noreen’s own twin Doreen”.
First aired in 2007, the show told of a group of British holidaymakers at the fictional Solana Hotel in the Spanish resort.