The ITV actor, who portrays Ross Barton in the show, said he was left bedridden when he crushed a nerve and badly injured a disc in his lower back while working out at the gym.

After being found delirious in his hotel room, he was rushed to the hospital for suspected Legionnaires' disease, losing around 20lb over a four-day period.

"To go from that to where I am now seems like a miracle."

Discussing the pain associated with his back injury, the ITV actor added: "It was terrifying; it was by far the worst pain I've felt in my entire life. The injury froze me and I couldn't move.

"I was permanently in bed and bent over. It even impacted my breathing.

"My immediate thought was that I was going to be like that for the rest of my life."

He said that the "panic really set in" after he was left unable to walk for weeks, impacting his career and personal life.

After being found delirious in his hotel room while filming alongside Bollywood A-listers for a new movie in India, he was rushed to hospital for suspected Legionnaires' disease.

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He said: "I dropped about 20lb in four days and my cheekbones were starting to protrude."

He added: "I'd been in my room hallucinating for four days. I didn't know what was going on. I was delirious. I'm a massive chess player and I was so out of it I kept thinking I was a chess piece."

Massively dehydrated, doctors gave the actor electrolytes that made him sick and put him on a drip.

He said: "Being taken to hospital in a foreign country is always scary, but especially when you can't communicate with the doctors."