'I’ve lost the ability to write': Billy Connolly shares Parkinson’s heartbreak

Comedian Billy Connolly sad he has good and bad days with the disease

Billy Connolly has said he has lost the ability to write due to Parkinson's disease. 

The 78-year-old comedian, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013, said losing the ability to write "breaks my heart" because he loved writing letters. 

The Scot retired from live performances five years after his diagnosis but has continued to record programmes and make TV appearances.

Appearing on The Graham Norton Show via video-link from Florida, where he lives with his wife Pamela Stephenson, the comic said his writing "went down the Swanee" and is now totally illegible.

"I had to find a way to record everything, but then the recorder didn’t understand my accent so it kept collapsing and my family would have to sort it – it was a club effort!”

The comedian said he has “good days and bad days” when it comes to Parkinson's admitting it has crept up on him and "never let’s go." 

"I walk like a drunk man and have to have help. So, life is different, but it is good."

Other guests on the show include Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker, Olympic diver Tom Daley, actress Dame Eileen Atkins, and comedian and writer Lenny Henry, with a musical performance from Coldplay.

The Graham Norton Show airs on BBC One at 10.35pm on Friday.