Harry Hill was offered old job as a doctor on coronavirus frontline

Harry Hill nearly returned to his pre-comedy career as a doctor during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

The presenter and comic, real name Matthew Hall, trained as a neurosurgeon and worked at Doncaster Royal Infirmary before quitting the profession for TV.

The 55-year-old told Radio Times he was asked if he would return to aid the NHS effort against coronavirus.

He said: “In the early days of the pandemic, it was all melting down radiators to make ventilators, the country pulling together and so on.

“I’d had a few drinks so I filled out the form and got an email back saying someone would contact me about my return to work.

“I broke out in a cold sweat.”

When Hill told the recruiter his last medical specialism had been “respiratory emergencies”, he was asked if he could start as soon as possible at the NHS Nightingale Hospital in east London.

However, he claimed he would have had travelling difficulties from the south of the city.

“In the end it came down to them saying I could maybe do ‘track and trace’ calls on the phone,” he said, although that role never materialised.

Hill is best known for his comedy show Harry Hill’s TV Burp, which ran from 2001 to 2012 on ITV, and for narrating You’ve Been Framed! since 2004.

Read the full interview in Radio Times, out now.