back from his range and choose safer roles. In 1981 Lowe reprised his role as Captain Mainwaring for the pilot episode of It Sticks Out Half a Mile, a radio sequel to Dad's Army. At Christmas that year he and Joan appeared in the pantomime Mother Goose at Victoria Palace, London. In January 1982, Richard Burton had his private aeroplane fly Lowe to Venice to film a cameo role in the television miniseries Wagner. Death and last released works On 14 April 1982, Lowe gave a live televised interview on Pebble Mill at One. At just after 6 p.m. the same day, he collapsed from the onset of a stroke in his dressing room at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham. This was before a performance of Home at Seven in which he was due to appear with his wife, Joan. He was taken, unconscious, to Birmingham General Hospital, where he died at about 5 a.m, at the age of 66. Lowe was cremated and his ashes were scattered at Sutton Coldfield Crematorium, following a small funeral of which few people were notified and fewer than a dozen attended. Joan did not attend, as she refused to miss a performance of Home at Seven and was appearing in Belfast at the time. According to her friend Phyllis Bateman, the couple had a pact that neither would go to the other's funeral. Stephen said his parents were not sentimental or religious and Joan's coping mechanism was summed up in the adage, "the show must go on". A memorial service was held on 24 May 1982 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, attended by Lowe's wife and family, former colleagues and many friends. Lowe's final film and television performances premiered after his death. His last feature film was Lindsay Anderson's Britannia Hospital (1982). In his final sitcom, (1982), he starred as a boys' preparatory school master. Wagner was Lowe's last screen role, released in December 1983. Recognition Tom Cole wrote in the Radio Times: "There are few actors who charmed viewers both young and old with such ease, and fewer still who could be trusted with the task of bringing classic literary characters like Charles Pooter and A.J. Wentworth to life." Graham Lord wrote, in his 2002 biography, that "almost every actor who worked with Arthur considered him to be outstanding". He gave as an exception Martin Benson, who said Lowe did not have a lot of