Grey's Anatomy has aired a poignant tribute to former castmember Eric Dane following his death last week

The 60-second tribute was set to the sound of Snow Patrol track Chasing Cars and covered the actor's most memorable moments from his character's introduction to his death in a plane crash in season nine.

The footage was posted on the Grey's Anatomy Instagram page with the caption: "In loving memory of Eric Dane".

It comes after Eric's former co-star Patrick Dempsey opened up about the tragedy and revealed Eric would have been "so happy to know" how much he meant to people.

Speaking to News Talk FM, Patrick said: "It's very hard when you lose a family member. I lost my father very young, and my mother has passed.

"And now several friends in the last year I've lost.

"Eric was so beloved, and I think he would really be so happy to know - and I know a lot of people reached out to him before his passing to keep track - that he was so beloved and is deeply missed."

Patrick previously spoke out about Eric's last few weeks before his death, revealing his friend was "starting to lose his ability to speak" as his quality of life had begun to deteriorate "rapidly".

Speaking to Chris Evans on Virgin Radio, Patrick explained: "I feel really so sad for his children. I was corresponding with him, we were texting, so I spoke to him about a week ago and some friends of ours went in to see him and he was really starting to lose his ability to speak.

"He was bedridden and it was very hard for him to swallow, so the quality of his life was deteriorating so rapidly.

"He was the funniest man - he was such a joy to work with and I want to just remember him in that spirit because any time he was on set, he brought so much fun to it.

"He had a great sense of humour. He was easy to work with, we got along instantly,. First scene was him, you know, in all his glory, coming out of the bathroom with the towel on looking amazing, making you feel completely out of shape and insignificant."