Adam Thomas has spoken about the moment he tried to save his dad's life. Dougie James, a much-loved Manchester music promoter and lead singer of the 1970s band Dougie James and the Soul Train, died in November 2020, aged 72.
The tragic death came after Dougie joined Adam, his twin brother Scott and older brother Ryan on a trip to India to explore their heritage, which was filmed for ITV document Mancs in Mumbai.
Tributes poured in for the Wythenshawe-raised music star when his death was announced on November 28, 2020, and his sons also shared their heartbreaking messages.
But speaking on the new series of their podcast series, Mancs on the Mic, former Emmerdale star Adam has revealed how he was the first to get to his dad after Scott's cleaner alerted them that something was wrong.
The 33-year-old, who starred as Adam Barton in the ITV soap, said: "I remember getting out of the car and running upstairs in Scott's house, and just seeing him there laying on the sofa. I just thought 'I've got to try and help him so I'm taking him off the couch and I'm trying to resuscitate him, I don't know whether I'm doing it right or whether I'm doing it wrong.
"I remember just thinking 'wow, this is just not how I expected it to go'. I'm crying my eyes out going 'come on, dad'. I'm jumping up and down on my dad, trying to save him..."
As Adam, who is set to reprise his role in BBC One school series Waterloo Road this year, could be heard breaking down in tears, PR director and former Love Island star Scott said: "You've got this, bro."
Adam continued: "It's just so hard, because you don't really talk about it that much and that's the one thing that I regret, that that's the last memory of my dad." But Adam also recalled a comical moment among the terrifying and devastating situation he found himself in. "I'm jumping up and down on my dad, trying to save his life, and his phone starts to ring, someone's calling him," he recalled.
"And it's my dad singing Kung Foo Fighting, and I'm just like 'what is going on?' I'm thinking 'my dad's in the room right now just watching me trying to save his life, laughing his a*** off'."
Last summer, Adam spoke about how he broke down in tears as he had to tell someone his dad had died. The Manchester actor and restaurateur was caught by surprise by a friend of Dougie's who didn't know that musician had died. He had to tell him that the 70s soul singer had passed after the stranger told him he needed to 'bring him over' for a visit.
