Stephen Fry might commit suicide one day

In a TV interview, which will be screened tonight, the 53-year-old discusses his battle with bipolar disorder.

Fry, who suffered a nervous breakdown in 1995 and is said to have previously thought about killing himself, tries to keep his illness under control, but fears he may one day lose the will to fight his depression.

Speaking on Sky Arts show In Confidence, he said: 'The fact that I am lucky enough not to have it so seriously doesn't mean I won't one day kill myself - I may well.'

Stephen added: 'It is exhausting knowing that most of the time the phone rings, most of the time there's an email, most of the time there's a letter, someone wants something of you. They want to touch the hem of the fame, not the hem of the person.

'I feel I would love to close down for a number of years in some way and just be in the country making pork pies and chutneys and never have to poke my head out of the parapet.'