Ricky Gervais has opened up about how his recent bout of illness left him gripped with fear he was suffering liver and stomach cancer.

The self-proclaimed hypochondriac comic, 61, said he was hit by vomiting and diarrhoea in the middle of the night that was so severe he also convinced himself he could be dying. 

Ricky had told fans in a tweet on May 12 how he had been suffering from the 'worst illness of my life' when he was stricken by stomach pain over the course of eight horrendous hours.

He's now opened up about the illness, telling fans in an online Q&A: 'What happened was, it was Wednesday night, about 1am, and I had a pain in my side that woke me up – like a shooting pain. It was like "Aaaaah". That never happens.

'It was like, "Ooh, what was that?" Then it happened again. My first thought was obviously – liver cancer, right?'

Hinting he feared his daily drinking sessions had finally got to him, Ricky added: 'And in the middle of the night, you're convinced – that it is, I've blown it, you know?'

He went on: 'I got another pain, and it was, "Oh, oh God." And I felt sick. And I went to throw up and couldn't. So I thought, "Oh, maybe it's stomach cancer."

'And then I couldn't be sick – there was nothing there. Then the pain of the vomiting was incredible, there was an intensity.'

Ricky, who once said he had been drunk every day since the age of 18, added: 'You forget how bad vomiting is – you forget just how f*****g awful. 

'I mean, never mind the illness and thinking you're going to die – I can't breathe. And I think I'm going to choke. And I think I'm not going to get my breath back in between each spasm.