Editing Sid James (section)

==Death==
On 26 April 1976, four days after the end of the sixth series of ''Bless This House'', James was on tour in a revival of a comedy, ''The Mating Season'', when he suffered a [[heart attack]] on stage at the [[Sunderland Empire Theatre]]. Actresses [[Olga Lowe]] and [[Audrey Jeans]] thought that he was playing a practical joke at first when he failed to reply to their dialogue. When they ad-libbed to him and he still failed to respond, they moved towards the wings to seek help.<ref>[https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/big-read-sid-james-died-audreys-arms-1049029 "Sid James died in Audrey's arms", ''The News, Portsmouth'', 8 February 2018]. Retrieved 17 January 2023</ref> The technical manager, Melvyn James (no relation), called for the curtain to close and requested a doctor, while the audience&nbsp;– who were unaware of what was happening&nbsp;– laughed, believing the events to be part of the show. An ambulance was called, and he was pronounced dead on arrival at [[Sunderland Royal Hospital|Sunderland General Hospital]]. He was 62.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Night Sid James Died On Stage |url=http://www.sunderlandecho.com/history-nostalgia/the-night-sid-james-died-on-stage-1-7712207 |access-date=3 February 2016 |website=Sunderland Echo}}</ref>

At the time of his death, negotiations were being held for a seventh and eighth series of ''Bless This House'', as well as another film adaptation, to be produced along with an hour-long television variety special featuring James, but those plans were scrapped due to his death. [[Bruce Forsyth]] ultimately replaced him in the leading role of the 1976 TV version of ''The Mating Season'' that went out on [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] in December of the same year.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sid james |url=https://archive.org/details/sidjames0000clif/page/164/ |year=1995}}</ref> James was cremated and his ashes were scattered at [[Golders Green Crematorium]].<ref>{{cite web |date=16 March 2010 |title=Famous names whose final stop was Golders Green crematorium |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/famous-names-whose-final-stop-was-golders-green-crematorium-1921813.html |access-date=1 July 2017 |website=[[The Independent]]}}</ref>