The Final Act shows Freddie Mercury’s bravery amid the Aids epidemic

“Darling, when I can’t sing anymore then I’ll die, I’ll drop dead,” Freddie Mercury told Brian May’s wife, actor Anita Dobson.

The Queen frontman was true to his word. “When he’d sung all he could sing, he withdrew, and he got ready to die,” Dobson says in the BBC’s new documentary, Freddie Mercury: The Final Act. Almost 30 years ago to the day, Mercury died from complications of Aids, having refused further medication. He retired to his home in Kensington, where he lived the rest of his days surrounded by close friends.