Russell Watson in tears as doctor who treated him for brain tumour surprises him on TV
The singer has had two brain tumours
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What did you miss?
Russell Watson broke down in tears on The One Show as he was surprised with a video message from the doctor who treated him when he had a brain tumour.
The opera singer has had two brain tumours, one in 2006 and one in 2007, and opens up about his experience in his new book Encore: My Journey Back to Centre Stage. He went on the BBC show on Monday (16 September) to discuss it, when hosts Alex Jones and Roman Kemp told him that his consultant had recorded a special message.
Watson looked stunned as the doctor appeared on the screen, with tears coming to his eyes as he said he would be "eternally grateful" to him.
What, how and why?
The singer had been talking about the "massive impact" his illness had on him, when the presenters told him his doctor had been tracked down. The consultant then appeared on screen, where he reflected on the "awful" night that Watson had been taken to hospital and said he felt "so proud" of his progress.
His words reduced Watson to tears and he jokingly said to the presenters: "Thank you, why did you do that?"
"What a man," he went on, wiping his eyes with a tissue. "And so lovely as well, so down to Earth, just a beautiful human being and I will be eternally grateful to him."
Watson also talked about his illness and how it has had a big impact on his life.
"On the second tumour in particular, where I went to bed one night and I didn't wake up the next morning because I had haemorrhaged," he said. "My temperature, I think had gone up to around 44 degrees. I was unconscious in the morning, thankfully my assistant found me and I was carted out of the house by two paramedics... Subsequently then 25 treatments of radiotherapy.
"That was 2008 so it was a long time ago now, but the impact is still there. To be honest with you, the operation, the illness, it didn't take such a long time, but the remnants of what happened stayed with me for a very long time and I went through a depressive stage.
"There was a point I remember, I'd gone to see my endocrinologist as I have to be checked up every six months... it was a couple of years after and I said to her, 'It's lovely to actually finally go to bed in the evening and not think about death' and she went, 'What?'... She went, 'Is that how you felt for two years?' and I said, 'Yeah'."
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Watson said his book is "not just about poor me, I had this wrong with me and that wrong with me".
"It's about how I dealt with it, how I processed it and how I came out the other side," he explained. "And I’m singing better than I’ve ever sung and just loving life!"
What else happened on The One Show?
Hollywood star Will Ferrell was also a guest on The One Show, and at one point he and Watson performed a little duet.
Jones and Kemp had been talking about how Ferrell has done some singing in his movies, including a rendition of Por Ti Volare in the film Step Brothers, and the actor launched into it with a comical expression on his face.
Watson then joined in and gave a powerful performance as Ferrell joked about and made panicked faces. The segment tickled viewers, with one writing on X: "Will Ferrell and Russell Watson singing opera on The One Show has made my day... no no my year."
The One Show airs nightly on BBC One at 7pm.
