[from Contact Music]

British actor Sir Ian McKellen can finally relax after allowing cameras to follow him for the past year for his "reality TV debut".

The Lord of the Rings actor, 65, has allowed a camera crew from British factual show Melvyn Bragg's South Bank Show - to record his life at work, on the road and at home.

The programme will be aired next Sunday on British TV and will show McKellen talking about "coming out" as a gay man, on re-shoots for the Lord of the Rings films and behind the scenes at the Baftas and Oscars.

McKellen says, "One of the reasons I became an actor was that I'd heard you could meet queers in the British theatre. And it's true. Thank goodness."

Published June 22, 2004