FORMER Emmerdale star Frazer Hines has been fighting cancer for the past 11 years, it has been reported.

Mr Hines, of Coddington, near Newark, said he kept his illness secret because he feared it would stop him being offered more TV work.

Mr Hines, 65, said he decided to speak out after doctors gave him the all-clear to convince other sufferers that the disease can be beaten.

The 65-year-old, who played farmer Joe Sugden for 22 years until 1994, told a national newspaper how at the time, he did not want fans to feel sorry for him despite being given a 25 per cent chance of survival."

"The prognosis was terrifying," he said.

Surgeons removed a large section of Mr Hines's bowel before he underwent chemotherapy.

Mr Hines, who also starred in Dr Who during the 1960s, had six-monthly check-ups until this year when a colonoscopy confirmed he was in the clear.