Miranda Hart has spoken about feeling "very emotional" as she returned to television after nearly a decade away from the public eye while battling illness.
The comedian and actor, who appears in the second series of The Celebrity Traitors, has been living with Lyme disease for almost 10 years. According to the NHS, Lyme disease is a bacterial infection spread to humans through the bites of infected ticks.
Body 'a bit shocked' during filming
Speaking about her illness on This Morning, Hart said her body felt "a bit shocked" while taking part in the BBC series, which involves many physical challenges.
"A lot of people who are watching the show didn't know that I'd been for 10 years kind of really quite unwell," she said. "It was my first television back since feeling better and so there were times it was very emotional," she added, explaining that there have been periods in her life when she was bed-bound for months.
Chronic illness and memoir
The condition can be difficult to diagnose because it shares similar symptoms with other illnesses. Hart documented her experience of living with the chronic illness in her 2024 memoir, I Haven't Been Entirely Honest With You.
She has explained that she contracted a tick-borne illness from a bite she sustained as a teenager in Virginia, US.
Emotional moment on the show
During the series, the 53-year-old became emotional when comedian Joe Lycett was banished from the castle. "I got particularly emotional with Joe leaving because we'd had such a good time together, and we'd played and connected, and that's a lot of what was in my memoir: the important things that help us thrive even when we're suffering," she said.
"It was just great because I didn't think I'd maybe walk round my park at one point even. I couldn't leave the house or get out of bed for months." Hart described her time on the show as like "a cross between boarding school, Outward Bound and a murder mystery weekend", adding: "I'm like, fine, I'm all in. But my body was a bit shocked."
