The wife of comedian Ronnie Corbett has dismissed claims that an illness could end his career in showbusiness.

The 83-year-old underwent tests for several days last week after reportedly being taken to hospital in south London with chest pains and nausea.

But his wife Anne said he is feeling "fine", and that his hospital visit was for a check-up.

She told one tabloid: "It's all lies, he wasn't rushed to hospital at all. He went if for tests, that's all."

She had been quoted in one Sunday paper as saying Corbett "won't be doing any more TV", but yesterday she denied saying "anything of the sort".

She said: "I had my elderly sister on the phone asking, 'Is Ronnie okay?' because she read about it in the paper and I said, 'Yes, he's fine, he brought me a cup of tea this morning'.

"We didn't know what was wrong. He was feeling sick in his stomach and he wasn't well. The hospital ran lots of tests. He was in there for several days."

Corbett was discharged in time to attend the memorial of close friend Sir David Frost at Westminster Abbey on Thursday, where he read a prayer.

It was on Sir David's 1960s show The Frost Report that Corbett rose to fame and he met fellow comedian Ronnie Barker.

The pair went on to forge one of Britain's best-loved TV partnerships in their long-running sketch show The Two Ronnies.