Tributes are being paid to former television and radio presenter Gerry Kelly, who has died at the age of 77.

Broadcaster Gloria Hunniford, who worked with Kelly, described him as “incredible” and said his personality was what made him so likeable.

“He was just a beautiful big man with a big personality, big sense of humour and everything about him was just lovable,” she added.

Kelly, whose presenting career spanned four decades, died at his home on Sunday.

The journalist and broadcaster is perhaps best known for his weekly talk show on UTV from 1989 until 2005.

He also hosted a weekly programme on BBC Radio Ulster from 2009, and recently delivered a new chat show series with students at Belfast Met.

“Gerry really was always the person you were glad to bump into, glad to talk to and that’s what made him, in many ways, a wonderful interviewer,” Hunniford told BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme.

She said people loved going to see him and be interviewed by him.

The Loose Women presenter recounted a time where Kelly lifted something and ripped his trousers while live on air.

“And he just laughed about it as we all did. He just was a great person.”

“In a way I can’t believe that that big personality is gone,” she added.

Journalist and presenter Lynda Bryans, who also worked with Kelly, said he was “such fun to be out with, you know, and he made you feel like you were very special”.

She said Kelly got his UTV gig by way of mistaken identity.

The company wanted Gerry’s brother Danny Kelly, who was a GAA player at the time, to do some reporting.

But when they called to the house it was Gerry who answered. The Head of Sport thought he was Danny and offered him the job.

“And look what that led to,” Bryans said.

Bryans said in the 1990s a lot of people “were reluctant to come to Northern Ireland, but when they heard Gerry Kelly” they all wanted to be on the show.

She said Kelly described helping the students at Belfast Met as a “closing the circle moment”.

“He was still the professional and the ultimate learning experience for the students,” Bryans added.

Former colleague and friend Michael Henderson, better known as Hendy, worked alongside Kelly on The Kelly Show.

Henderson said he was “absolutely fantastic” to work with and that it was “such a shock” when he heard about his death.

“His sense of humour was rooted in his genuine connection. He showed that a presenter doesn’t need to be heard, they simply need to care.”

Former broadcaster and current Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said Kelly was “always a star but he refused to act like one”.

“His genius was the ability to interview you as if he was just being curious, but actually he had researched you… he knew exactly where he wanted to take you.”

Nesbitt told the BBC Radio Ulster’s The Nolan Show Kelly was “the benchmark” for everyone who stood in front of a camera or mic at UTV.

He said he will remember Kelly as a “warm, genuine, authentic human being”.

Former colleague Anne Hailes said Gerry, wherever possible, would’ve helped people, and he was a “great champion of charities”, including his role as President of N.I. Children to Lapland.

Hailes added that he had a sense of humour and “never allowed anything to phase him. If it went wrong, he capitalised on it”.