Richard Bacon placed in medically induced coma as he battles suspected pneumonia, say family

Presenter revealed last week he had been hospitalised after being taken ill on flight

Bacon had tweeted last week doctors believed he was suffering from double pneumonia (Getty)

Television and radio presenter Richard Bacon has been placed in a medically-induced coma as he battles with suspected double pneumonia, his family have said.

The 42-year-old revealed last week he had been admitted to hospital after being taken ill on a flight from the United States to the UK.

He had been well enough to post messages on social media, writing: “Thank God I got ill in Britain (actually on the way to Britain, was taken off the plane in a wheelchair),” on Twitter.

However, the former Blue Peter star’s condition appears to have worsened, with his sister, Juliet Bacon, revealing in an Instagram post on Thursday he had been placed in a coma by doctors a week ago.

“This is my seventh day visiting my brother who’s been in an induced coma since last Thursday, just so grateful to the NHS,” she said.

In now-deleted tweets, Bacon had said earlier this week doctors believed he was suffering from double pneumonia.

Asked how he was by BBC News presenter Rachael Bland on Twitter, he responded: “Basically pneumonia. But across two lungs. I’ll be here a few days.”

Bacon began his career at BBC Radio Nottingham, before rising to national prominence in 1997 as a presenter on long-running children’s television show Blue Peter.

He has since gone on to present various TV shows, including the Big Breakfast and Top of the Pops, and broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live.

In recent years he and his family had relocated to Los Angeles, where he was presenting his own current affairs show on Fox TV.

Bacon has always openly discussed his health, revealing last year he had been diagnosed with ADHD in his forties.

“Mental health problems are usually not something you can physically see, so you might assume that ADHD is purely psychological, not something which shows up on a scan,” he tweeted.

“But the type I have can actually be seen. I have lower blood flow to the front of the brain, the part called the pre-frontal cortex.”

BBC Radio Nottingham presenter Dean Jackson, who had helped launch Bacon’s career, said he was keeping in touch with the presenter’s family.

“He is being kept in the coma to get more oxygen into his system but they are hoping to reduce the sedative soon so hopefully there will be good news,” he told BBC News.