Sherwood star Robert Lindsay has revealed how a friend saved his life by convincing him to get checked for prostate cancer. The actor, 76, best known for his role in My Family, was diagnosed with the disease in 2010 but has been cancer-free since 2018. He is now urging men to get tested to avoid the ordeal he endured.
Appearance on Good Morning Britain
During an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, June 2, Lindsay spoke about his diagnosis and his campaign to promote mass screening for men. He told hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls: “First of all, there’s got to be a dialogue between men, really between men. Because we do not talk as openly as you girls do with each other.”
He continued: “It seems silly! I was told by a friend, who unfortunately passed away literally a couple of years afterwards. He said, ‘Robert, please get yourself checked,’ and he saved my life. He told me about all the things that go on, and my wife talks to her friends, they discuss breast problems, smear problems, all the things they do in hospital, and men just don’t.”
Ed Balls then revealed that he himself had been urged to get tested on the same programme by Johnny Ball, and said he was glad he did.
Campaign for Less-Invasive Checks
Lindsay is now campaigning for the NHS to acquire more equipment to facilitate less-invasive checks, rather than relying on surgeries to test for prostate cancer. He previously recalled the moment he received the heartbreaking news of his diagnosis.
In an interview with The Guardian, he described a moment with his on-screen wife Zoe Wanamaker: “She said, ‘Right, OK, let’s go on and be funny, and then we can talk about it.’ I can’t remember the recording at all. It was in front of a studio audience of 500, 600 people, cameras, lines, bang, bang, bang. All I could think was, I could be dying.”
He further disclosed: “I was monitored, and it came to the point where it was getting a little near to the periphery, and they can’t help you after that. So my wife and I had to make a decision and I had it removed.”
He added: “I think my irascibility came when that was taken away. I’ve had a very healthy and sexual life. I’m very, very happy. And that whole period when it’s removed is awful.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX. For more information, visit Prostate Cancer UK.
