Hughes provided the voice of Paul McCartney in the animated film Yellow Submarine (1968), and rose to fame for portraying bin man Eddie Yeats in the long-running British soap opera Coronation Street from 1974 to 1983, making a return to the show in 1987.

He started his acting career in repertory at the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent and soon made his West End debut in the Lionel Bart and Alun Owen musical Maggie May.

His other West End productions included the stage version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Say Goodnight to Grandma, The Secret Life of Cartoons and several series of Run For Your Wife.

Hughes' film credits included Smashing Time (1967), The Bofors Gun (1968), Till Death Us Do Part (1969), The Virgin Soldiers (1969), The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1970), Revenge (1971), Carry On at Your Convenience (1971), Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1973), Tiffany Jones (1973), Confessions of a Driving Instructor (1976), Nijinsky (1980), and Flick (2008).

Among his many other appearances on television are: An Arrow for Little Audrey; The Saint;[4] Shadows of Fear; Z-Cars; Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased); Flying Lady; Making Out; Coasting; Doctor Who; Spender; and Boon.

He played Trinculo in a version of The Tempest for the BBC and Squire Clodpoll in Good Friday 1663, one of Channel Four's new avant-garde operas.

His comedy appearances on TV include The Likely Lads, Please Sir!, Dad's Army,[4] Curry and Chips, No, Honestly, and The Upper Hand.

In 1997 he and Judy Cornwell reprised their roles as Onslow and Daisy in a special compilation programme called The Memoirs of Hyacinth Bucket which was subsequently released on VHS.

[5] He appeared on That Antony Cotton Show on 6 September 2007, in which he spoke about his role in a short film called Expresso, which also starred Sir Norman Wisdom.