Billy Connolly could be farewelling television for good when his two-part BBC documentary series, Made in Scotland, comes to an end soon.
In a teaser for tomorrow’s series finale, the Scottish comedian revealed that he was losing his battle with Parkinson’s disease, which sadly meant his days were numbered.
“My Parkinson’s is not going to go away and it’s going to get worse,” Connolly said on-screen. “I am at the wrong end of the telescope of life. I am at the point where the yesteryears mean more than the yesterdays.”
In the same episode, Connolly — who six years ago was diagnosed with the neurological condition that affects body movements — openly discussed his mortality.
“My life, it’s slipping away and I can feel it, and I should,” he admitted. “I’m 75, I’m near the end. I’m a damn sight nearer the end than I am the beginning. But it doesn’t frighten me — it’s an adventure and it is quite interesting to see myself slipping away.”
Given his condition, Connolly said it was difficult to keep up with his television appearances, so he could be retiring from the spotlight for good.
“As bits slip off and leave me, talents leave and attributes leave. I don’t have the balance I used to have, I don’t have the energy I used to have. I can’t hear the way I used to hear, I can’t see as good as I used to. I can’t remember the way I used to remember. And they all came one at a time and they just slipped away, thank you,” he explained.
“It is like somebody is in charge of you and they are saying, ‘Right, I added all these bits when you were a youth, now it is time to subtract.'”
Connolly said he was also devastated after having to give up his favourite pastimes, such as playing the banjo.
“I can’t work my left hand on the banjo, it is as if I am being prepared for something. Some other adventure, which is over the hill,” he said. “I have got all this stuff to lose first and then I will be the shadowy side of the hill, doing the next episode in the spirit world.”
