Harry Hill says his stepfathers death made him pursue comedy career

Comedian Harry Hill has said his stepfathers death at a young age was what inspired him to quit his job in medicine and pursue a career in entertainment.

The 60-year-old, best known for shows such as Harry Hills TV Burp and Youve Been Framed, studied at St Georges Medical School and worked as a doctor before pivoting to comedy in the early 1990s.

He told BBC Radio 4s Desert Island Discs: "It had been a long time coming, and then my stepfather died of cancer.

"And I thought, heres a man whos worked all his life. And they [my stepfather and mother] had always talked about what they were going to do in retirement. And how old was he? Maybe 54. And I thought, I dont want that to be me."

"The other part of it," Hill laughed, "is I think if Id said to him, Im giving up to be a comedian, he would have been quite disapproving.

"So it probably kind of set me free a little bit from that. But really, I was kind of at the end of my tether with [medicine]."

Hill qualified as a doctor in 1988, and began his medical career working in orthopaedics. But, he explained, he was not passionate about the job and felt he did not have the right temperament.

"I think its difficult even if your hearts in it," he told presenter Lauren Laverne. "In the first six months, I had to break the news to this bloke whose wife had died in this operation, unexpectedly, and they had young children, and I was completely out of my depth.

"I told him, he started crying, and then I started crying, and I thought, this isnt good. I mean, I certainly wasnt a very emotional [person]. Actually what it makes you do is bottle up your emotions."

Asked how long he continued bottling his emotions for, Hill replied: "Until I had kids, I think. Theres something about having kids that uncorks you.

"I wasnt a bad doctor," he reflected. "If Id stuck at it, I probably would have ended up as a GP."

After having doubts about his suitability, Hill had a discussion with his consultant about his career, before telling his mother he was going to have a year off to try comedy.

When leaving his job, Hill said: "I remember getting in the car, and this sounds impossible, driving out of the hospital car park, I turned on the radio, and the tune that came on was Eric Burdon and the Animals, with We Gotta Get Out of This Place.

"I remember driving away, weight lifted, and I thought, wow, this is really exciting, and it was, and terrifying in equal measure."

Hill explained his stepfather, Tony, had met his mother in an amateur dramatics group, and often wrote pantomimes and starred in them as the dame.

"He inherited four kids when he married my mum," Hill explained. "And I didnt think it at the time, but thats quite a guy to take that on."

At the time, Hill said, it was unusual among his friends that his parents had divorced. "People didnt do it," he recalled. "Everyones parents are divorced now, but back then, people just stuck it out."

Hill has presented a variety of TV programmes since leaving medicine, including Harry Hills Tea Time, Harry Hills Alien Fun Capsule, Harry Hills World of TV and a revival of Stars in Their Eyes.

Since 2019, he has hosted the Great British Bake Off childrens spin-off, Junior Bake Off, on Channel 4.

But his best known programme was Harry Hills TV Burp, a satirical review of the previous weeks television. It ran on ITV for 11 series, airing its final episode in 2012.

Hill has previously indicated he would not revive TV Burp because of the intensive workload, a position he reiterated to Laverne.

"I made a lot of TV shows, and most of them have been a lot less successful than TV Burp, but I dont look back at those years particularly fondly because of that stress," he said.

"I would start the week with no show, knowing that on Saturday morning Id have to sit down and write a show. Wed work one week in advance, off preview tapes, so Id sit down with a blank page on a Saturday, and at the end of that day Id have to email it to the producer."

While the episode was being pulled together, Hill said he and his team "would watch TV all day long, there were no shortcuts, you did actually have to watch the full two-and-a-half hours of Emmerdale".

"The best day was the recording day," he said, "but if you ask my wife, every time I came back from a recording, Id go upstairs, shed be in bed, and Id say Ive got to get out of this. It was bad.

"But then Id watch it on the Saturday and think it was great, I did really enjoy watching it."

Hill also co-wrote 2021s Tony! (A Tony Blair Rock Opera), and the X Factor musical I Cant Sing, which closed in 2014 after six weeks at the London Palladium.

Reflecting on its failure, Hill said: "It became clear to me, that people who like the X Factor dont really go to musicals, and people who go to musicals dont really like the X Factor. It was just a really bad idea."

But he added: "You cant be heartbroken, youd be a complete baby if you got upset about a professional failure."

Desert Island Discs is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 10:00 BST on Sunday, and is then available on BBC Sounds.

BBC News used AI to help write the summary at the top of this article. It was edited by BBC journalists. Find out more.