Comedian Harry Hill has revealed that the untimely death of his stepfather became the turning point that led him to abandon medicine for a life on stage. The entertainer, famous for his surreal humor and hit shows like TV Burp, initially trained as a doctor but found himself disillusioned with the profession.
Hill, now 60, reflected on the moment he decided to walk away from his medical career. His stepfather’s passing from cancer at just 54 made him question his own path. “He had worked his whole life, dreaming of retirement—and then he never got to enjoy it,” Hill recalled. The loss made him realize he didn’t want to spend his years in a career that didn’t fulfill him.
Though he qualified as a doctor in 1988, Hill admitted he struggled with the emotional demands of the job. One particularly harrowing experience—breaking the news of a patient’s death to her devastated husband—left him feeling overwhelmed. “I wasn’t cut out for it,” he confessed. “I ended up crying with him, and that’s when I knew I couldn’t keep bottling everything up.”
The decision to leave medicine wasn’t easy, but the moment he drove away from the hospital for the last time, fate seemed to give him a sign. As he turned on his car radio, Eric Burdon’s We Gotta Get Out of This Place blared through the speakers—a serendipitous anthem for his fresh start.
Hill’s stepfather, a lover of amateur dramatics, had unknowingly planted the seed for his future career. “He was part of a theater group, writing pantomimes and playing the dame,” Hill said. “Looking back, maybe there was always something in me that wanted to perform.”
Though he found success with TV Burp, Hill doesn’t romanticize the grind of weekly comedy writing. The pressure of scripting a new episode every week was relentless, and he has no plans to revive the show. “It was creatively rewarding, but the stress was brutal,” he admitted.
His later ventures, including a short-lived X Factor musical, proved less successful. “Turns out, fans of talent shows and theatergoers don’t overlap much,” he joked. Still, he takes setbacks in stride. “You can’t take professional failures too personally—otherwise, you’d never move forward.”
Now hosting Junior Bake Off, Hill has no regrets about his career switch. “Life’s too short to stay stuck in something that doesn’t make you happy,” he said. “Sometimes, it takes a loss to remind you of that.”
