Christopher Biggins is having pain-killing injections to get him through panto season.
The star needs knee replacement surgery but will wait until January – having steroid injections so he doesn't let anyone down.
TV star Biggins, 70, who has arthritis , said: "It’s my left knee. It's been giving me pain since Easter.
"When I went to the physio at first they thought I'd been bitten by something and there was an infection that was making it swell."
Biggins, who is playing Widow Twankey in Aladdin in Bromley, South London, this Christmas, discovered his knee issues after several falls.
He added: "The trouble is, since I've a knee thing I've had four falls, which has been very bad. One was out-side the stage door at the Old Vic."
Biggins is also on a diet so he will be lighter when he treads the boards, but also for his operation.
He said: "I am being good about losing weight. It's handy that as you get older you eat less, so I very rarely finish a meal. I've lost a stone."
* You can see Biggins appearing in Aladdin at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley, December 7 to January 5.
