Stephen Fry has revealed that he attempted suicide in 2012 while he was filming abroad saying it was 'a close run thing'.

Fry, who was saved by his producer, made his revelation to the shocked audience during recording for comedian Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, transcribed on the British Comedy Guide website.

He said on his Twitter feed that the conversation with Herring was "intimate". "He somehow made me open up," he added.

He told Herring "It was a close run thing. I took a huge number of pills and a huge [amount] of vodka and the mixture of them made my body convulse so much that I broke four ribs, but I was still unconscious. And, fortunately, the producer I was filming with at the time came into the hotel room and I was found in a sort of unconscious state and taken back to England and looked after."

Fry, 55, who is president of the mental health charity Mind, has spoken openly about his struggle with bipolar disorder. Sufferers are prone to drastic mood swings which can see them veering from hyperactive positivity to deep depression.

The actor, writer and comedian told Herring "I am the victim of my own moods, more than most people are perhaps, in as much as I have a condition which requires me to take medication so that I don't get either too hyper or too depressed to the point of suicide."

Speaking about the suicide attempt, he added "This is the first time I've said this in public, but I might as well. I'm president of Mind, and the whole point in my role, as I see it, is not to be shy and forthcoming about the morbidity and genuine nature of the likelihood of death amongst people certain mood disorders."

In an attack on the stigma of mental health problems, Fry attempted to convey to non-sufferers the lack of reasoning behind depression.

He explained "There is no 'why', it's not the right question. There's no reason. If there were a reason for it, you could reason someone out of it, and you could tell them why they shouldn't take their own life."

Fry previously attempted suicide after walking out of the West End play 'Cell Mates' in 1995 - an event he recounted in a documentary for BBC2 called 'The Secret Life Of The Manic Depressive'.

The Samaritans provide 24-hour support to anyone struggling to cope, and can be contacted on 1850-60-90-90