Peter Adamson - Work After Coronation Street

Work After Coronation Street

Adamson starred in a West End production of Dial M for Murder from November 1983 to March 1984. In the spring of 1985, he played the leading role of an actor-manager of a troupe of music-hall entertainers on the eve of the First World War in Empires by J. B. Priestley. After some stage work in Canada, he returned to the UK and played Sir Tunbelly Clumsy in a revival of The Relapse at the Mermaid Theatre in 1988, but his drinking and reputation meant that acting roles became increasingly rare after that. He developed osteoarthritis and had surgery for bowel cancer in 1990. He was forced to sell his homes as his debts increased. In 1991 he was declared bankrupt with debts of £32,000. Left penniless, the press occasionally visited him at his rented flat in Welton in Lincolnshire, detailing his fall from fame as he was seen shuffling to his local shops in slippers, buying cut-price food to save cash, and hoarding away £5 a week towards his funeral.

Adamson died from stomach cancer in Lincoln County Hospital in January 2002.