House of The Dragon star Sir Simon Russell Beale has been diagnosed with colon cancer.

The 65-year-old actor - who is known for roles in films such as My Week with Marilyn, Mary Queen of Scots and The Death of Stalin as well playing Ser Simon Strong in Games of Thrones spin-off House of The Dragon, kept his health battle secret for eight months after dropping out of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production of Titus Andronicus at the Hampstead Theatre in London in September due to "ill health".

Simon has now explained he was hospitalised after finishing work on House of The Dragon and he was diagnosed with cancer. During an event at The Delaunay restaurant in London, Simon explained: "I've decided to tell everybody ... I did the run [of Titus Andronicus] in Stratford, then House of the Dragon, and then had to be taken to hospital and they found that I had colon cancer."

As reported by The Times newspaper, Simon went on to admit his health battle has been "a bore" and he's not enjoyed missing out on work projects.

He added: "The last eight months have been, well it's a bit tricky actually, it's a bore obviously, but it's also tricky dropping out of things, which I've never done before."

The actor confessed he was heartbroken to drop out of the London run of Titus Andronicus last year, but he's determined to get back to work so he's signed up to narrate a puppet show version of Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis which will be touring the UK over the summer.

He added: "It broke my heart dropping out of Titus because it was such a good show, but that's [the cancer diagnosis] why I didn't do it at Hampstead.

"At the moment I'm at that funny stage of thinking, do I dare risk it? I've decided to risk it, I'm starting again next week."

Simon dropped out of Titus Andronicus just two weeks before the curtain was due to go up at the Hampstead Theatre and he was replaced by John Hodgkinson.

A statement from the RSC and the theatre released at the time explained he was leaving the production due to "ill health" and the play's director Max Webster said: "As a company we're all so sorry that Simon Russell Beale has had to step back from his role in Titus Andronicus.

"We all want to send him our very best wishes for a speedy recovery."