Comedian and actor Miles Jupp, 44, has recalled the terrifying seizure he suffered on the set of his latest TV role led to a brain tumour diagnosis.
The actor, who has starred in TV hits Rev, Balamory and The Thick Of It alongside movie blockbusters like Harry Potter and 2023’s Napoleon, was filming ITV drama Trigger Point in August 2021 when he had a seizure.
‘I was filming something, which was super lucky as it meant that I was in a city and there were set medics. I just knew something was really, really wrong,’ he told Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell podcast.
‘I just knew it to the extent that the runner said to me “you look very dizzy” and I just said to him, “I need a doctor”.
Comedian and actor Miles Jupp has recalled the terrifying seizure he suffered on the set of his latest TV role led to a brain tumour diagnosis
‘Eventually there was a sort of explosion in the vision, like a kaleidoscope and then I can remember the ground coming towards me very fast and you’re sort of in and out of consciousness for a while.’
He remembered that he didn’t feel scared at the time but after being rushed to hospital and having a scan ‘that was as absolutely scary as you would imagine.’
Miles explained how his wife Rachel, with whom he shares five children, was on a bus with their kids when a producer on Trigger Point phoned her.
‘He had to ring my wife and say your husband loves you very much, but he’s in an ambulance on his way to hospital and she was with the children. So she just said, “look, dad’s not very well, he’s probably fine.”
Miles underwent surgery a few weeks after the seizure to remove the benign tumour, but he admits the period of time between the diagnosis and surgery were calm as he and his family ‘sort of tried to get on.’
He was back to work six weeks after the operation, filming one day a week with his close friend Frankie Boyle for his weekly show New Old Order.
‘One of the things a surgeon said is “you you get back to normal by living normal life as quickly as possible,” Miles explained, adding that getting back into daily routines with his children helped his recovery immensely.
‘So actually things like people needing you, that’s good because you’re playing yourself.’
The actor, who has starred in TV hits Rev, Balamory and The Thick Of It was filming ITV drama Trigger Point in August 2021 when he had a seizure (pictured in the show)
Miles underwent surgery a few weeks after the seizure to remove the benign tumour and was back to work six weeks later (pictured in June 2023)
‘Being able to walk the children to school immediately after coming home from surgery, that was really good.’
Miles also returned to work on Trigger Point, re-voicing the scene that had been filmed an hour before his seizure, an experience he describes as ‘really surreal.’
He described how in the original scene ‘I was blinking a lot and I thought, “gosh, I wonder if that is a symptom.”
Miles’ experience is the subject of his latest stand-up show On I Bang which is currently touring the UK.
His Balamory co-star Kim Tserkezie, 50, had a sweet reunion with Miles when he took his show to her home city of Newcastle this week.
Posting a photo on X/Twitter, Kim said: ‘I adore this man so much! Joyous to catch up with the fabulous Miles Jupp. He’s on tour at the mo, go see him if you can.’
