Andrew Marr to undergo surgery for kidney tumour

BBC broadcaster and former Scotsman reporter Andrew Marr will go into hospital this week to have an operation to remove a malignant tumour on his kidney.
BBC broadcaster Andrew Marr is to undergo surgery for a kidney tumour. Picture: PA WireBBC broadcaster Andrew Marr is to undergo surgery for a kidney tumour. Picture: PA Wire
BBC broadcaster Andrew Marr is to undergo surgery for a kidney tumour. Picture: PA Wire

A statement from Marr’s agent Mary Greenham said he was “expected to make a full recovery and will be returning to the airwaves soon”.

Ms Greenham added: “He and his family have asked for privacy at this difficult time.”

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Marr, 58, will step down from hosting his weekly Sunday programme The Andrew Marr Show while recuperating. He told viewers at the end of today’s show: “I am going to be away for a couple of weeks or so.

“I’m having a small hospital operation and I will be back as soon as I possibly can, so be kind please to whoever is sitting in this chair next week.”

The surgery comes five years after Marr – the BBC’s former political editor – suffered a stroke. Marr spent two months in hospital and underwent extensive physiotherapy to help him walk following the stroke in January 2013.

He returned to hosting The Andrew Marr Show in September of that year.

Marr recounted his recovery, investigated the workings of the brain and trialed experimental US treatment in his 2017 documentary Andrew Marr: My Brain And Me. A BBC spokeswoman said: “Andrew is taking a period of time off for medical reasons.

“We wish him well and look forward to welcoming him back on our screens soon.”

Glasgow-born Marr began his career in journalism at the Scotsman as a trainee and junior business reporter in 1981 before moving to London in 1984.

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The announcement of his surgery comes less than two months after BBC newsreader George Alagiah confirmed his bowel cancer had returned.

Mr Alagiah said at the time the disease could have been caught earlier if the screening programme in England was the same as in Scotland.

The 62-year-old was first treated in April 2014 and returned to the screen after 18 months, but he confirmed the stage four cancer had come back in 2017. Screening is automatically offered from the age of 50 in Scotland, but only from 60 in England.

The Sri Lanka-born presenter was originally diagnosed with the disease after noticing blood in his stools