Ian McKellen reveals ‘nasty’ injuries in first TV interview since 3ft stage fall

Ian McKellen says Shakespeare fat suit saved him during stage fallSource: BBC Breakfast

Transcript

00:00It was a nasty fall. It was a shock initially, but I fractured my wrist.

00:07It's what every kid does when it falls off his bike.

00:11And chipped a vertebrae.

00:13I am moving about, got my foot caught in the remains of a chair,

00:19which I tried to kick off, and in doing that I propelled myself forward

00:23as it were on a skateboard on the newspaper, shiny surface,

00:28down to the fourth stage, and then off the stage, which is a three-foot drop,

00:33partly broken by a member of the audience on the front row.

00:37I was extremely lucky in that I was wearing a padded suit,

00:41because full-staff, the part I was playing, is fat.

00:45It wasn't that I'd got dizzy or anything like that.

00:48It was a pure accident.

00:51So I count myself lucky that it's beginning to be a distant memory.

00:57But it didn't mean that I couldn't do the tour.

01:00So if there's a chance for me to apologise to the audiences in Bristol, Birmingham,

01:05Norwich and Newcastle, I'm sorry I wasn't there, but I'll be back.