Editing Hattie Jacques (section)

====Final appearances====
In 1974 Jacques's sons were arrested for [[Drug possession|possession of cannabis]], and her house was searched by police. In the same week that the two boys appeared in court, she received official notification of the intention to appoint her as an [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]. In order to protect her sons from further press intrusion she declined the honour.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|pp=172–73}}{{efn|Robin and Kim Le Mesurier were both fined £20 for the charge of the drugs possession.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=173}}}} Later that year, while filming the third series of ''Sykes'', she suffered a cancer scare and lost a considerable amount of weight. Despite this she refused to interrupt the busy production schedule; when filming was completed on 5 December she underwent surgery at [[Charing Cross Hospital]] for what proved to be benign tumours on her kidneys.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|pp=170–71}}

In 1976 Jacques appeared in a promotional advertising film for [[British Rail]], which pitted her against racing driver [[Jackie Stewart]] in a race to London.<ref name="SC: race" /> From 1976 onwards Sykes and Jacques appeared together in the stage play ''A Hatful of Sykes'', both in the UK and internationally.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|pp=179–95}}{{efn|The play ran intermittently from 1976 to September 1979 at various places in the UK (including seasons at Torquay, Lincoln, Blackpool and Bournemouth; a UK national tour; and an international tour that included Hong Kong (February&nbsp;– March 1977), Rhodesia (April&nbsp;– May 1978), Canada (December 1978&nbsp;– January 1979) and South Africa (February&nbsp;– March 1979).{{sfn|Merriman|2007|pp=179–95}}}} During the course of the different tours relations between the two stars became increasingly strained and Sykes altered the act several times to ensure he received more acclaim than Jacques.<ref name="D Exp: heart breaking" /> While appearing in Blackpool in 1977 Jacques's health became problematic as she suffered from [[arthritis]] and ulcerated legs, which required daily dressing. Because a dressing room was arranged that avoided her needing to use stairs, Sykes accused her of receiving special treatment.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=183}} When the show moved to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Sykes "began to behave rather strangely&nbsp;... and he even accused Hattie&nbsp;... of not being able to deliver a proper feed line".{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=191}} By the time the show appeared in Brighton in 1979 the relationship between the two "was rapidly deteriorating", and, although the pair praised each other in public, Jacques felt hurt by Sykes's treatment of her.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=199}} Despite the differences, the pair filmed the seventh series of ''Sykes'' in 1979,{{sfn|Lewisohn|1998|p=646}} and—in April 1980—the television film ''[[Rhubarb Rhubarb]]''; although her part was a small one, she looked "a little unsteady on her feet", according to Merriman.{{sfn|Merriman|2007|p=203}}{{efn|''Rhubarb Rhubarb'' was broadcast on ITV on 15 December 1980, two months after Jacques's death.<ref name="BFI: Rhubarb, Rhubarb" />}}