Tim Healy briefly died during filming for 'Benidorm'.
Tim Healy as Lesley in Benidorm
The 65-year-old actor, who stars as a cross-dresser called Lesley in the ITV comedy, spent a month in intensive care in Spain after contracting a mystery illness in April 2016 and he even died for a brief moment.
Derren Litten, the show's writer, said: "They operated on Tim and it didn't go well at all.
"He died. He flat lined. They had to resuscitate him. He was in intensive care for a month."
Tim subsequently spent time recovering at home in Manchester, once doctors determined he was well enough to fly back to the UK.
But Derren has now revealed just how close the actor came to losing his life because of the mystery illness.
He told Cool FM Spain: "He was incredibly unwell. We had shot about three episodes with Tim.
"I got a phone call from Tim's wife, Joan, at the hotel and she said he was unwell, doubled up in pain and can't move.
"I jumped into my car and went down there. He was in a pretty bad way."
Meanwhile, actress Janine Duvitski, who stars alongside Tim in 'Still Open All Hours', previously said he is working his way back towards full health.
Speaking in September, she shared: "So I saw him last week and he's lost a lot of weight.
"He was really poorly. He said it's not a good way of losing a lot of weight but he's back working now."
Tim's health troubles meant his character Lesley was written out of series nine of the hit ITV show.
However, he is poised to return to the programme for its tenth series, after making significant progress in his recovery.
Tagged in Tim Healy