A rising Northern Irish actor has revealed he is in the final stages of his life after a four-year battle with skin cancer that has spread to his liver and lungs.
Finnian Garbutt, 28, best known for playing Police Constable Ryan Power on the BBC drama “Hope Street,” shared the devastating news with followers on social media on March 1, 2026. Recent scans confirmed his melanoma had progressed rapidly throughout his body.
In his post, Garbutt explained he chose to share the news publicly rather than telling people individually. “I hope now it’s in the open then I can enjoy the time with my amazing family and friends,” he wrote.
The Bangor native first discovered a lump behind his ear toward the end of 2020, initially dismissing it as an ingrown hair. When lockdown restrictions eased and his barber noticed the lump had grown substantially, Garbutt sought medical attention. In December 2021, at just 25 years old, he received a diagnosis of Stage 3 malignant melanoma. The disease later spread to his neck, requiring a grueling 12-hour surgery in February 2022 to remove 75 lymph nodes from his face and neck.
In August 2024, just two weeks before his daughter Saoirse was born, doctors delivered the crushing news that the cancer had become terminal after spreading to his liver and lungs. Despite this, Garbutt pressed forward with his career and personal milestones—appearing in 30 episodes of “Hope Street” from 2023 to 2025 and marrying his wife Louise Agnew in September 2025.
Since his diagnosis, Garbutt has achieved remarkable milestones: 30 episodes in “Hope Street,” the lead role in a forthcoming film, buying his own house, marrying his best friend, and becoming a father to a daughter who, as he put it, “never fails to make me smile.”
The series, which has spanned five seasons, films in Donaghadee, County Down, and follows life in the fictional coastal town of Port Devine. Garbutt also starred as Raymond in the film “Housejackers,” which premiered at the Belfast Film Festival in 2025. A graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, he previously played Benvolio in “Romeo and Juliet” at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast and appeared in the BBC medical drama “Casualty.”
In the past month, Garbutt experienced increasing pain in his back and hip, prompting his cancer team to admit him for observations and scans. The results confirmed his worst fears—the disease had spread aggressively.
Following his announcement, Garbutt’s family launched a GoFundMe campaign to support his wife and daughter after his death. The fundraiser had raised over £36,000 at the time of writing.
Garbutt emphasized he was not seeking sympathy. All he wants, he wrote, is for his wife and baby to have the life they deserve—something he had hoped to provide himself. Any donations would help Louise and Saoirse navigate life without him while keeping them safe and secure in their home.
Throughout his illness, Garbutt has worked with Action Cancer and promoted the charity’s Peer Mentoring Programme, urging men to check their skin regularly and seek help early. In previous interviews, he spoke candidly about the psychological toll of his diagnosis—the constant anxiety about the cancer spreading after doctors warned him about the severity of his condition.
Despite the grim prognosis, Garbutt extended a characteristically warm invitation to friends and well-wishers: “If anyone wants to meet up for a pint, coffee or general bit of craic, please reach out and we can try and make it work.”
A BBC and Long Story TV spokesperson responded to the news with a statement praising Garbutt’s contributions. “Finnian has been such an important part of ‘Hope Street’s’ success,” the spokesperson said. “He is very much in our thoughts.”
As Garbutt faces his final days, he continues to focus on spending quality time with his wife Louise and daughter Saoirse. The actor’s courage in sharing his journey has touched people around the world, with an outpouring of support flooding his social media accounts.