Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he was told by doctors he could have died after battling pneumonia.

The Grand Tour presenter fell ill earlier this month while on the Spanish island of Mallorca and has written about his time in hospital in his Sunday Times column.

He wrote that he had “three nights spent spasming in my bed” before a doctor sent him for tests at the hospital. He was then told he would have to be admitted for at least a week, which he called impossible. The doctor said: “If you don’t do as I say you will die.”

The TV presenter said: “I’m sure many of you will have found yourself in hospital, not having planned to be there. But for me it was a new experience. And a weird one. Because I was in a room with nothing on the walls except wallpaper, and most of that was coming off.”

Clarkson has now left hospital, but faces two months of recuperation. He said: “This is the problem with hospitals. People who stay in them become institutionalised and incapable of speaking about anything other than what nurse brought what drug at what time. Boredom turns them into bores.

“And when they get out, as I have, and there is nothing to do for two whole months apart from get better, things are even worse, because all I can talk about is my illness.”

Clarkson announced news of his illness last week, posting on Drivetribe that he would be “out of action for quite some time”. “It’s really, really annoying because I’ve never had one day off work since I started in 1978,” he said.

The illness comes two months after his co-host Richard Hammond was airlifted to hospital when his car crashed while filming The Grand Tour.