Lord Julian Fellowes is "doing alright", despite his mobility issues

He told Deadline: "I've got these mobility issues, and I use a wheelchair rather more than I would like, but that's not the same as feeling ill.

"I think you can stand anything like that as long as you feel okay, and that's the position I'm in now. I have to use a wheelchair because my spine doesn't work as it used to. But in terms of feeling okay and getting on with things and working and all that stuff, I'm fine.

"There are many people much worse off than I am."

The 75-year-old writer explained in January that he had undergone surgery for spinal stenosis for a second time, but hadn't recovered as well as he had hoped to because he is much older now than when he had his first operation.

He told the Daily Mail newspaper's Eden Confidential column: "It's true that I do spend too much time in a wheelchair these days.

"About 40 years ago, I was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, probably resulting from an early slipped disc. I had an operation and, after quite a long convalescence, I was well again, dancing, riding and the rest.

"Unluckily, a couple of years ago, I was told the condition had returned and, after another operation, I was obliged to recognise that my powers of recovery at 75 were not quite what they had been at 35. Which, I suppose, is no great surprise."

But Julian doesn't feel "unlucky" because other people have "far worse" health issues to deal with.

He added: "I am not entirely immobile, but I do have to remain sitting for most of the time. I don't consider myself unlucky in this. Other people have far worse to put up with."