Veteran actor Brian Blessed has withdrawn from a production of King Lear just over a week after collapsing on stage due to a heart condition. The booming-voiced 78-year-old initially continued with the show, in which he took the title role,  but his agent said he was now withdrawing on medical advice. He said: 'Mr Blessed's heart condition is more serious than he was aware. On the advice of his specialist, and with a broken heart, Brian has therefore been compelled to withdraw from the production of which he is so proud. Scroll down for video . Veteran actor Brian Blessed has withdrawn from a production of King Lear just over a week after collapsing on stage due to a heart condition . Blessed continued with his performance as King Lear after collapsing on stage on January 19 in Guildford after taking a break; his agent has said the actor's heart condition is 'more serious than he was aware' 'He is immensely grateful for the support he has received from The Guildford Shakespeare Company. Mr Blessed will be making no further comment at this time.' Blessed, whose career stretches back six decades, will be replaced in the role by Terence Wilton. The sold-out production marked Blessed’s first stage performance as Lear – and the first time he has appeared opposite his daughter Rosalind Blessed who played the part of Goneril. Blessed had just started delivering his lines at the start of the Shakespearean tragedy on January 19 when he fainted, toppled off a raised platform and fell heavily, his crown rolling to a halt at the front of the stage. The sold-out production marked Blessed’s first stage performance as Lear – and the first time he has appeared opposite his daughter Rosalind Blessed who played the part of Goneril; Blessed will be replaced in the role by Terence Wilton . Fellow actor Noel White, playing the Earl of Kent, announced quietly: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is not part of the play. Is there a doctor in the house?’ Indeed there was. A barely conscious Mr Blessed, flat on his back and surrounded by worried cast members including his daughter Rosalind, was examined by a local surgeon who was attending the show in Guildford. After five minutes Mr Blessed was helped off stage, the audience clapping with relief that the big-voiced sometime star of Z Cars was still alive. Blessed returned to the stage some 20-minutes later, apologetically telling the audience: 'I feel such an idiot and am not in the habit of doing this, but I have a little fibrillation.' Despite waves of dizziness and such shortness of breath that he rolled his eyes and occasionally clutched his chest, he then resumed what soon became one of the more remarkable and moving renditions of Lear of all time, wrote the Daily Mail's theatre critic Quentin Letts. During the early scenes it was far from clear he would be able to continue and his fellow actors looked terribly worried about him. But there was no stopping him. ‘Let’s keep going!’ he was heard saying, and later 'we're doing it'. When he struggled to maintain his balance during a scene with James Sobol Kelly’s Earl of Gloucester, Mr Blessed growled almost with anger: ‘No, I’m not stopping yet. Maybe Lear’s not well.’ What he meant was that his illness matched the king’s physical decline. The way he was staggering round the stage, panting hard, sitting whenever possible, did indeed fit with the condition of the crumbling monarch he was playing. At the conclusion of the play Blessed  patted his heart and gave a thumbs-up gesture.
Brian Blessed's heart condition is 'more serious than he was aware'
'On the advice' of his specialist he has pulled out of the production .
Blessed collapsed on stage during a performance in Guildford .
But after a 20-minute break he returned and completed the show .
Veteran actor Brian Blessed has withdrawn from a production of King Lear just over a week after collapsing on stage due to a heart condition. The booming-voiced 78-year-old initially continued with the show, in which he took the title role, but his agent said he was now withdrawing on medical advice. He said: 'Mr Blessed's heart condition is more serious than he was aware. On the advice of his specialist, and with a broken heart, Brian has therefore been compelled to withdraw from the production of which he is so proud. Scroll down for video . Veteran actor Brian Blessed has withdrawn from a production of King Lear just over a week after collapsing on stage due to a heart condition . Blessed continued with his performance as King Lear after collapsing on stage on January 19 in Guildford after taking a break; his agent has said the actor's heart condition is 'more serious than he was aware' 'He is immensely grateful for the support he has received from The Guildford Shakespeare Company. Mr Blessed will be making no further comment at this time.' Blessed, whose career stretches back six decades, will be replaced in the role by Terence Wilton. The sold-out production marked Blessed’s first stage performance as Lear – and the first time he has appeared opposite his daughter Rosalind Blessed who played the part of Goneril. Blessed had just started delivering his lines at the start of the Shakespearean tragedy on January 19 when he fainted, toppled off a raised platform and fell heavily, his crown rolling to a halt at the front of the stage. The sold-out production marked Blessed’s first stage performance as Lear – and the first time he has appeared opposite his daughter Rosalind Blessed who played the part of Goneril; Blessed will be replaced in the role by Terence Wilton . Fellow actor Noel White, playing the Earl of Kent, announced quietly: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is not part of the play. Is there a doctor in the house?’ Indeed there was. A barely conscious Mr Blessed, flat on his back and surrounded by worried cast members including his daughter Rosalind, was examined by a local surgeon who was attending the show in Guildford. After five minutes Mr Blessed was helped off stage, the audience clapping with relief that the big-voiced sometime star of Z Cars was still alive. Blessed returned to the stage some 20-minutes later, apologetically telling the audience: 'I feel such an idiot and am not in the habit of doing this, but I have a little fibrillation.' Despite waves of dizziness and such shortness of breath that he rolled his eyes and occasionally clutched his chest, he then resumed what soon became one of the more remarkable and moving renditions of Lear of all time, wrote the Daily Mail's theatre critic Quentin Letts. During the early scenes it was far from clear he would be able to continue and his fellow actors looked terribly worried about him. But there was no stopping him. ‘Let’s keep going!’ he was heard saying, and later 'we're doing it'. When he struggled to maintain his balance during a scene with James Sobol Kelly’s Earl of Gloucester, Mr Blessed growled almost with anger: ‘No, I’m not stopping yet. Maybe Lear’s not well.’ What he meant was that his illness matched the king’s physical decline. The way he was staggering round the stage, panting hard, sitting whenever possible, did indeed fit with the condition of the crumbling monarch he was playing. At the conclusion of the play Blessed  patted his heart and gave a thumbs-up gesture.
condition is more serious than he was aware. On the advice of his specialist, and with a broken Brian Blessed has withdrawn from a production of collapsing on stage on January 19 in Guildford actor's heart condition is 'more serious than he