Harry Potter actor and comedian Jim Tavare is back on stage to tell story of surviving head-on crash

IT’S often said your whole life flashes before your eyes in the seconds before a traumatic accident.

But for Harry Potter actor Jim Tavare, there was only darkness.

And that darkness remained for the next 10 days as he lay in a coma with a catastrophic list of injuries, after his car was in a head-on collision with a truck in his adopted home of California last year.

The stand-up comedian and Bafta award winner, who played Tom the Innkeeper in Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, miraculously survived the carnage.

Rather than let the trauma define him, the 55-year-old from Essex has used it as the basis for a new show – which he says is part storytelling and part comedy – and is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time in 20 years next month to perform From Deadpan To Bedpan.

Jim, who co-wrote and starred in ITV’s hit series The Sketch Show, said: “I’ve had to put together the details of what happened from hearsay, because I don’t remember any of it.

“I had been making a chicken coop in the garden and needed more wire, so I chose a place about an hour away because it was cheaper.

“On my return journey, the sat-nav told me it had found another route 10 minutes faster, so I followed that, and on a blind corner I collided with a massive truck.”

Jim suffered more than 30 broken bones, including 14 ribs and his neck, as well as punctured lungs that later collapsed, blunt force trauma to his head and chest, and a hand that detached from the wrist.

He was literally broken from head to toe.

“After waking up, I thought I had been crushed by the steering wheel but it was actually the air bag that caused many of the injuries. I would have been crushed in half by the steering wheel. So actually I was squashed by a giant balloon,” he smiled.

Jim spent five weeks in hospital, but the long road back to some semblance of normality was only beginning.

“My wife had to give up her job to become my carer. It was like bringing home a giant baby from the maternity hospital but without any of the joy. We had no idea how to cope.”

As he sat at home for months, Jim realised he wanted to tell his story and began to formulate his show. “It was a form of catharsis,” he continued. “It was quite hard sitting there every day, but I had to look at it face on.

“I’ve got past the trauma of crying every day and reacting when I see a pick-up truck of the same model. I had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder counselling.”

Jim can count Prince Charles among his biggest fans, after coming to his attention thanks to a number of appearances on Royal Variety Performances.

“He asked me on a couple of private engagements. One was before the King of Greece and there were 13 kings and queens in attendance.

“I was talking to one bloke outside afterwards who turned out to be the King of Norway!”

Jim’s popularity in the industry saw many of his fellow stand-ups come together for a benefit gig, after his first medical bill came in at a whopping $652,000.

“I had insurance, but there is still a lot of it you have to pay.”

As he prepares to visit Edinburgh next month, his health is continuing to slowly improve but the reminders of the accident are constant.

“I used to play the upright bass as part of my act, but I can’t any more due to my left hand, which is only at 60%.

“My breathing still isn’t good and my lungs click when I lie down, so I have to listen to music to help me sleep.

“But I’m no longer afraid of the minutiae of life and I’ve learned to clarify priorities.

“I guess it wasn’t my time.”

Jim Tavare: From Deadpan To Bedpan, Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, August 3-26.