Sir Ian McKellen won't return to the stage "for another year"

Asked how he'll know when the time is right, he told Simon Mayo on the 'Greatest Hits Radio Drivetime Show': "That's a good point - I think I'll know because the contract says I have to turn up at a particular time!

"I'm not proposing to work on stage for another year and I think by then this will all be alright."

The 'Lord of the Rings' icon admitted the focus of his recovery is from "a mental disturbance" rather than the physical side.

Sir Ian was wearing a fat suit at the time when his foot got caught in a chair during a battle scene, and as he shook it loose, he slipped on a newspaper scattered on the stage.

He suffered a chipped vertebra and a fractured wrist, bue he thought it was worse in the moment.

He explained: "What I've been left with is not so much a physical injury, but a mental disturbance because I thought it was much more serious at the time that it was.

"I think I thought I was about to die, I thought I'd broken my neck I'd forgotten but apparently, I'd said, 'I've broken my neck, I am dying' and if I said it, I must have thought that I was.

"And I've just got to deal with that. I'm not dying, not just yet and I hope I'll get back to acting again on stage."

Sir Ian recently opened up on the fall, which saw him land on a member of the audience in the front row.

Chuckling, he told ITV's 'This Morning': "I don't remember exactly what happened.

"I finally found out who she was, and so I've been in contact with her. But I hope she's alright!"