Dame Deborah James to be honoured in new BBC documentary The Last Dance

Some of Dame Deborah James’ closest friends have paid tribute to the campaigner in a new BBC documentary to air following her death from bowel cancer.

Dame Deborah James: The Last Dance will air on the BBC on Thursday night at 8.30pm and is already available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

The 29-minute feature retraces the mother-of-two’s five-year battle with stage four bowel cancer, through the eyes of the friends that supported her.

Among them are cancer activist Lauren Mahon, 37, who presented BBC podcast You, Me and the Big C with Dame Deborah and their late friend Rachael Bland.

Ms Mahon can be seen breaking down as she says: “I just love her so much”.

“Having a relationship with people with cancer is really hard because you lose people,” she said.

“There’s people and there’s Deborah and I can’t help but be incredibly grateful that I had her at all.”

She added she wished the campaigner could see what she meant to “so many,” and urged people to continue donating to Dame Deborah’s Bowelbabe Fund for cancer research which has already surpassed £7m.

Also paying tribute is Scottish TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, who supported Dame Deborah’s cancer awareness campaigns and described her late friend as a “smasher”.

She recalled how her friend would always “bounce back” and said it is what made her death so “difficult” to accept.

Dame Deborah’s family confirmed she had passed away peacefully, surrounded by her loved ones, in a post shared on Instagram on Tuesday.

“We thank you for giving us time in private as a family, and we look forward to continuing Deborah’s legacy long into the future through the @bowelbabefund,” the caption of the post read.

“Thank you for playing your part in her journey, you are all incredible.

“And a few final things from Deborah… ‘find a life worth enjoying; take risks; love deeply; have no regrets; and always, always have rebellious hope. And finally, check your poo – it could just save your life.’”