Comedy legend Dawn French is back to performing with no pain after knee replacement

Thanks to a knee replacement at Fortius Clinic at the end of last year actor, comedian and writer Dawn French is seen dancing in her latest Christmas TV ad.

Dawn, who is 67 years old, had suffered for years from pain in her arthritic left knee until Consultant Knee Surgeon Mr David Houlihan-Burne performed a robotic assisted knee replacement at Fortius Clinic London in December 2023.

She had originally injured her knee while recreating a Vicar of Dibley scene on The Paul O'Grady show in 2009.

She said: “I desperately needed the surgery and it has been a great success. I’m so grateful to David and the team at Fortius for the fantastic care I received. It has made a huge difference to my quality of life and has allowed me to get on with normal activities, including performing on stage and walking the dog, with no pain.”

Dawn was originally seen in 2017 when the pain in her knee became unbearable. She was given steroid injections to manage her knee for a number of years until David and Dawn agreed the next step was surgery.

David said: “Dawn’s knee was causing her a lot of pain and affecting her work – she had to cancel part of her tour after a flare up. We therefore agreed to go ahead with the Mako robotic assisted knee replacement. The recovery time with robotic assisted surgery tends to be quicker than traditional surgery, so following physiotherapy Dawn was getting back to normal activities after only a few weeks, and able to re-commence her hugely successful tour.  It’s great to see her back to dancing in tv ads."