Tommy Handley died suddenly on 9 January 1949; the BBC decided that he was "so much the keystone and embodiment of the actual performance" of "ITMA", that they cancelled the show immediately. Jacques later remarked that Handley was "one of the greatest radio performers we have ever known. I learned ... so much from him". Later that year Le Mesurier divorced his wife; shortly after the divorce came through, Jacques proposed to him, asking, "don't you think it's about time we got married?" The couple wed on 10 November that year, at Kensington Registrar's Office. After a week's honeymoon in Southsea, she returned to the Players' where she was engaged to appear as Marrygolda in the Christmas pantomime "Beauty and the Beast".