Miriam Margolyes has revealed she doesn't have "long to live" after a major heart operation

She told The Times newspaper: "When you know that you haven't got long to live - and I'm probably going to die within the next five or six years, if not before, I'm loath to leave behind performing.

"It's such a joy. I yearn to play roles that don't confine me to wheelchairs, but I'm just not strong enough."

Shortly after the operation, she admitted she'd "never heard of" the procedure before, but she was glad to have got it done.

She told Jessie and Lennie Ware's 'Table Manners' podcast: "I've got a cow's heart now - well, not the whole heart. I've had an aortic valve replaced by a cow's aortic valve.

"I don't know how common it is. I'd never heard of that operation. But it saves you from having open heart surgery, which would be infinitely more invasive."

Last summer, Miriam admitted she is struggling to walk, and also confessed she regrets not making serious life changes after the 2023 procedure.

She told Closer magazine about how she is suffering spinal stenosis - a condition that puts pressure on the spinal cord and nerves: "I can't walk very well, and I'm registered disabled, so I use all kinds of assistance.

"I've got two sticks and a walker and they're such a bore, but I've just got a mobility scooter, which is a lot of fun."

Miriam added in her interview she wished she had been able to conquer her weight and considers not doing so a defeat.

She previously told the 'How to Fail' podcast: "I am a blubber mass. I am fat. And to be fat and 82 is truly pathetic."

Miriam has also shared her fears about ageing and said she is scared she will not be afford carers to look after her as her health deteriorates.

She told the Radio Times magazine: "I'm worried that I won't have enough money for carers when I finally get paralysed, or whatever it is that's going to happen to me."