Ian McKellen: I'm too scared to leave the house since I fell off stage

SIR Ian McKellen says he is too scared to leave his home since falling off a West End but the veteran star credits his padded costume for preventing even more serious injures.

- Frances Millar

The Lord of The Rings actor said he chipped vertebrae and fractured a wrist when he plunged into the audience.

In his first interview since the June fall, the 85-year-old said he had caught his foot on a chair, slipped on a newspaper and "screamed" as he hit the front row of the Noel Coward theatre.

Sir Ian said he has been left with agonising pain and that puts him, off going outside in case someone barges into him.

He questioned if he was "too old to act" after the fall but admitted that the fat suit he wore to play John Falstaff saved him from worse harm.