Harry Hill was convinced someone was trying to 'assassinate' him during the height of his fame: 'I was stressed, anxious and hard to live with'

Harry Hill has recalled how he was convinced someone was trying to 'assassinate' him during the height of his fame. 

The comedian's hit ITV show, TV Burp, drew in eight million viewers a week for over a decade and won three BAFTAs. 

But in 2012, the six-day-a-week show left Harry 'anxious, stressed and hard to live with'. 

The comic, 61, became increasingly paranoid from being in the spotlight. After he found a hole in his windscreen, he believed someone was trying to assassinate him. 

'The whole red carpet celebrity thing has never been me and, well, I did not respond well to stress,' he told The Times. 

Harry - who has been married to artist Magda Archer since 1996 and has three daughters; Kitty, 28, Winifred, 27, and Frederica, 21 - said he felt 'constantly stressed and anxious' due to intense filming schedule. 

He said: 'Every comedian needs a relationship with someone honest and real who provides perspective, doing TV Burp I was very hard to live with - constantly stressed and anxious - and around that time Madga did a painting called My Life Is C**p, which I was worried was because of me. But she is the one who grounds me'. 

Daily Mail has contacted ITV for comment.  

Harry also admitted narrating You've Been Framed for 13 series for the money after Good Life actor Richard Briers told him: "Go for the f*****g money every time, Harry". 

Elsewhere in the interview, Harry recalled Madga's terrifying health scare in 2018. 

The artist was diagnosed with a depleted lung function after she developed a cough and became severely short of breath. 

Harry, who is a qualified doctor, said: 'As a doctor I can be a bit blasé and Magda can be a bit of a hypochondriac , but she was short of breath ever in her sleep, so finally I made her see a specialist. 

'It took quite a lot of steroids to bring her back, afterwards the doctor said to me "When I first looked at her scan I thought, she's f****g. And when I look, I agreed.'

Harry admitted he 'couldn't bear to tell the children' the severity of her illness, until she turned a corner. 

Thankfully, Madga made a recovery and Harry decided to turn down the millions offered to renew TV Burp. 

Harry joked 'we'd be here all day' if he talked about his failed projects which included a West End musical I Can't Sing that closed after six weeks and Stars In Their Eyes in 2015, which lasted just six episodes. 

The comedian is now funding his own podcast, The Harry Hill Show, which costs him £3,000 per episode to record and it is streaming now. 

Harry believes his future is online as he has more 'freedom to do what I find funny'.