The question

How close have you come to death?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Others on this question

View all 216 →
Sofia Helin Swedish actress
When I had a bicycle accident when I was 24. I was on a bridge going down; the bicycle broke and I smashed to the ground, face first. I broke my jaw and my teeth, and had to have plastic surgery. It all took half a year and then, funnily enough, I got my first big job – a TV series – with what I thought of then as this big, ugly scar.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 September 2020 source ↗
Aidan Gillen Irish actor
Last year, driving in California, I found myself on the wrong side of the road. I was 30 seconds away from hitting two cars coming the other way.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 May 2017 source ↗
My parents died within four days of each other. I was engulfed as I ran from one bedside to another.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 July 2026 source ↗
Martin Clunes English actor
Abseiling down a cliff for Doc Martin in a suit, carrying a medical bag.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 September 2018 source ↗

More from Omid Djalili

View profile →

More on death & what remains

Also answered this

Martin Clunes, Martin Kemp, Stephen Graham, Tom Ellis, Peter Capaldi, Bertie Carvel

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer