Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘The first days are the darkest’: Former BBC Breakfast host Bill Turnbull on his prostate cancer battle

Bill Turnbull
Bill Turnbull

BILL TURNBULL has said his energy levels are up after finishing nine rounds of chemotherapy – but he has “an awfully long way to go”.

The 62-year-old former BBC Breakfast host was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the end of last year, after long-term aches and pains which he had put down to “old age” were no longer being alleviated with pills.

Both he and Stephen Fry have been praised for raising awareness through their experiences with the disease.

Turnbull told BBC Breakfast that the first few days following his diagnosis were the “darkest”.

“I did nine rounds of chemotherapy, which is a bit of a grind to be honest. That finished a few weeks ago,” the presenter said.

“The effects of the chemo have been wearing off, which means my energy levels are back up and I feel a lot better in that respect.

“I’ve still got the disease and we’ve got an awfully long way to go, but for the moment I’m feeling OK.”

He described being diagnosed, as he was recording The Great Celebrity Bake Off For Stand Up To Cancer on Channel 4, as a “bombshell” moment.

Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry (Yui Mok/PA)

“It’s one of the hardest things that you’ll face in your life. It will happen to hundreds of people today, when they’re told, not just that they’ve got prostate cancer but other types of cancer.

“You have to push through it really. It’s a really numbing, shocking moment.

“The consolation is the first days are the darkest days. If you get through those and have people around you, after that you can start putting things into context.

“It’s not great. It’s a constant thing on your mind, but if you get through that first week or so it will get a little better.”

Turnbull said it had been “gratifying” to raise awareness.

“As soon as I went public there was an enormous response on Twitter … to wish me well, but also men saying they had been made by their wives and family to get a test because they had been putting it off”, he said.

“It wasn’t my intention originally. I just wanted to make people aware it can happen to you at a certain age and if you feel the warnings signs – problems with your waterworks, unexplained aches and pains that won’t go away – for heaven’s sake go and get yourself tested.

“If you catch it early, that’s much better than finding out too late.”

The Classic FM host said he had received “wonderful treatment” at the Royal Marsden Hospital and that he has “been told over and over again that there are new treatments coming out all the time…”

Turnbull, who had been given the all-clear when he had been tested at the ages of 40 and 50 and had not seen a GP for four years, said: “A diagnosis of cancer today is not a death sentence by any means.

“Many, many people survive. Other people are now surviving for much longer than they would have a decade or two ago. So getting a diagnosis is not the end of the world.”

And he joked of the “Turnbull and Fry effect”: “A song and dance routine just occasionally might be a good idea.”

Fry revealed his diagnosis in February.