Celebrity Traitors star Stephen Fry left 'minutes from death' after cocaine binge

The Celebrity Traitors star Stephen Fry was said to have suffered a near-death experience after enjoying a party fueled by drink and drugs. According to his Blackadder co-star and comedian Ben Elton, the 68-year-old was rushed to the hospital in a cab after indulging in a dangerous cocktail of alcohol and cocaine. Ben revealed that doctors told him the genius former QI host was just "minutes away from permanent brain damage, and not many more minutes away from death".

Ben, 66, joked to the Mirror: "I saved the most celebrated brain in showbiz. The throbbing, cerebral epicentre of national treasure-dom has throbbed on these last three decades 'cos of me.'" This shocking revelation comes after Stephen became the 10th star to leave the star-studded Traitor's castle despite being a faithful. Ben, who co-wrote the iconic 1980s sitcom Blackadder in which Stephen portrayed Melchett, recalled the story in his new autobiography, What Have I Done?

Ben provided more context into the night and revealed that they had been out for dinner in London in 1992 before going to an after-party together at the Islington home of the late author Douglas Adams.

Stephen, who he affectionately nicknames Bing, was house-sitting for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy creator at the time and recounted how he was smoking and drinking beer with Stephen late into the night.

Ben acknowledged that the Doctor Who star didn't normally drink beer but claimed he was indulging in "some weird organic Belgian stuff" as well as cocaine.

The writer penned that he was about to call it a night when his pal started to wheeze and then collapsed in his chair, with his head rolling, which prompted him to call a taxi, which rushed them to the hospital.

Ben claimed that he dragged Stephen up the stairs to the main entrance and put him in a wheelchair. He says that the star was slumped like a sack, almost falling out of the chair, and said that his breath sounded like a death rattle.

He said that when they eventually arrived at reception, Ben realised he had to alert the doctor to his friend's cocaine habit for medical reasons, but worried that it could ruin his career due to his celebrity status and attitudes towards drugs in 1992.

The comedian penned: "A doctor told me Stephen was in the emergency room. 'Has he had much alcohol?' the doctor asked. 'Yes, a lot,' I said, 'and many cigarettes.'"

Ben recalled: "I took a deep breath. 'Also, I need to tell you that I think it's possible - quite probable, in fact, certain - that he has had cocaine.' Have you any idea how hard that was?"

He also wrote about how his friend looked like a corpse, with grey skin, almost lifeless eyes and numerous tubes and wires attached. It was then that Ben decided he had to confess that he had told the doctor that Stephen had been doing coke.

"He squeezed my hand and whispered that it was fine," Ben recalls. "'Don't worry,' he added between mercifully longer breaths. 'I'll be writing an entire book about it in 20 years.'" In his book, Ben said that he had never been into hard drugs, but Stephen has since written about his 15-year addiction to cocaine in his own 2014 memoir, More Fool Me.