28-Year-Old TV Star and Dad of 1 Emotionally Reveals He’s in the ‘Last Stages’ of Life Following Skin Cancer Diagnosis

NEED TO KNOW

• A 28-year-old actor from Northern Ireland has revealed that he is in the “last stages” of his life following an initial skin cancer diagnosis four years ago

• The actor, who starred as police constable Ryan Power in the BBC Northern Ireland police drama Hope Street from 2023 until last year, said the disease — which he was told was terminal in 2024 — had spread to his liver and his lungs

• Finnian Garbutt said he was sharing the news via social media because of the difficulty of telling people individually

An actor from Northern Ireland has said he’s in his “last stages” of his life after receiving an initial skin cancer diagnosis four years ago.

Finnian Garbutt, 28 — who starred as police constable Ryan Power in the BBC Northern Ireland police drama Hope Street from 2023 until last year — explained in a recent Instagram post that he’d been experiencing “quite a bit of pain in my back and hip” over the past month, so medics had carried out some scans.

He wrote, “My cancer team admitted me the other day for observations and to do a few scans,” adding, “Unfortunately, the scans have shown that the cancer has progressed rapidly in my body and I am now entering the last stages of my life.”

“I’m putting this out there as it is really difficult to tell people individually and I hope now it’s in the open then I can enjoy the time with my amazing family and friends,” Garbutt continued.

The actor revealed in a May 2025 Instagram post that he’d been told his cancer was terminal two weeks before his daughter, Saoirse, was born in September 2024.

Garbutt, from the city of Bangor in County Down, explained at the time that the melanoma had “spread to my liver and lungs.”

Since the initial cancer diagnosis four years ago, Garbutt said in another Instagram post that he’d “achieved so many of my life goals – 30 episodes in a TV show, being the lead in a movie (that should be out soon), buying my own house, marrying my best friend and becoming a father to the most incredible baby girl who never fails to make me smile,” referencing his wife Louise, whom he married in September, and his upcoming movie, Housejackers.

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Garbutt went on to thank everybody who had “reached out over the years and supported me and my family.”

“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. Love as always, Finnian,” the actor concluded.

A BBC and Long Story TV spokesperson said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE, “Finnian has been such an important part of Hope Street’s success. He is very much in our thoughts.”

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