Bill Turnbull sadly confesses he doesn’t know how long he’s got left to live after cancer diagnosis

News anchor Bill Turnbull was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017, and has recently spoken about his battle ahead of a new documentary.

His documentary Bill Turnbull: Staying Alive aired on Channel 4, and followed him as he explains how he’s been coping with the disease, which he was diagnosed with back in 2018.

Despite the severity of Bill’s cancer, he said that he’s ‘not dying yet’, adding, “I just don’t feel that way. I understand that I may succumb to the disease eventually and that’s a very real possibility, a probability. But not for some time.”

He also revealed that he has a place at home where he ‘shouts at his cancer’, saying, “So every day I go down the bottom of my garden, usually at night-time, and I shout at my cancer and tell it to get stuffed. I use much stronger language.

“I also say, ‘Not today. In a couple of weeks time I might not feel so good. But right now you’re not having me’."

So far Bill has had nine rounds of chemotherapy and is currently having injections of a tumour bursting radioactive substance called Radium 223.

Bill added, "You can stay on top of it or it can get on top of you — and that's not a good place to be. I believe that how much time you have left depends on you, on the way you view it.”

Last month, Bill appeared on Prostate Cancer UK's Twitter account to offer support for Jeff Stelling, who was doing a challenge in aid of the charity. He frequently shares updates from the charity via his own account.

Bill Turnbull also revealed that he’s willing to try other remedies outside of mainstream medicines. One of these is smoking cannabis, a treatment which is still illegal in the UK, and various extreme diets.

Speaking about the use of cannabis, he admitted he felt ‘embarrassed’, adding, "I felt embarrassed about it. But if it helps other people in my situation then it's worth doing.

"Of course, I've tried it before. I was a teenager in the seventies, most of my generation did.”

However, he doesn’t want to continue using the drug at the moment because he’s unsure how it’ll benefit him. He said, “If it got to a stage where I thought all else had failed then I’d probably go for it in a more concentrated way.”

Bill is trying to remain as positive as he can, still working as a DJ on Classic FM and commentating on his football team Wycombe Wanderers. He left BBC Breakfast after 15 years in 2016.