Harry Hill says his stepfather's death made him pursue comedy career

"The other part of it," Hill laughed, "is I think if I'd said to him, 'I'm 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 it's difficult even if your heart's 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 isn't good. I mean, I certainly wasn't 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. There's something about having kids that uncorks you.

"I wasn't a bad doctor," he reflected. "If I'd 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 didn't think it at the time, but that's quite a guy to take that on."

At the time, Hill said, it was unusual among his friends that his parents had divorced. "People didn't do it," he recalled. "Everyone's parents are divorced now, but back then, people just stuck it out."