Red Dwarf icon delivers devastating health update as he cancels public appearances

Red Dwarf fans were rushing to support actor Chris Barrie after he announced he is pulling out of public appearances due to "a medical situation". The actor - best known for playing Arnold Rimmer in the BBC comedy series - announced the sad news on his website yesterday (July 3).

He wrote to fans: "Hello everyone. I'm going to be brief, but over the last week I have been dealing with a medical situation which I am only just beginning to get my head around. In the light of this I shall be attending no more events over the summer and into the autumn. Updates on all this will be issued as and when.

"In the meantime I shall leave Scarborough on the itinerary for now and will look forward to returning there in the early winter. Obviously I shall miss not being with the posse in London this Sunday but I'm afraid that is the way it is. Enjoy!"

Chris is scheduled to appear at Scarborough Unleashed on November 9th, but will no longer appear at London Comic Con this weekend alongside his co-stars Robert Llewellyn, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules and Hattie Hayridge.

Fans rushed to send The Brittas Empire star their best, with one Reddit user penning: "Oh no Chris, get better fast!" Another echoed: "Hopefully it's nothing too major," while someone else agreed: "Hopefully caught early, whatever it is."

Somebody else said: "Praying for you, Chris. Hope everything works out okay."

And another fan said: "Damn, I was looking forward to meeting him. Hope he gets better soon."

Chris hasn't shared much about his health in public previously, but admitted in 2004 he struggled with being overweight until he started playing six-a-side football. He explained to the Evening Gazette: "Before I started playing football two years ago, I felt uncomfortably overweight, but have now gone from a 36ins waist to a 32ins waist and am chuffed with that."

The actor said his "general aim" was to "take better care of himself" as he gets older, explaining: "I'm more aware as I get older that I should try to take care of what I have. I try to drink the famous one litre of water a day, as well as eating fruit and vegetables and keeping fairly fit."