Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has revealed that he was recently diagnosed with testicular cancer and is now receiving treatment for the illness.

The writer shared the news on Twitter on Wednesday (June 27), saying he already had an operation to remove a testicle and that the next step would be chemotherapy.

He broke the news to explain why he cancelled his forthcoming comedy tour of Australia.

"I got a bit of bad news recently," he wrote. "A little touch of the old cancer. Luckily, ball cancer is one of the best ones to have (sorry, ladies!) and they got rid of it all pretty quickly, along with a ball. Bye, ball! I'll never forget the good times!

I got a bit of bad news recently. A little touch of the old cancer. Luckily, ball cancer is one of the best ones to have (sorry, ladies!) and they got rid of it all pretty quickly, along with a ball. Bye, ball! I'll never forget the good times! — Graham "I didnt say that, though" Linehan (@Glinner) June 27, 2018

Linehan continued: "Next up is a course of chemo to make sure it doesn't come back. Not looking forward to that, obviously, but it's better than dying."

The 50-year-old comedy writer went on to give an update about the Father Ted musical, Pope Ted.

"Pope Ted is coming along nicely. It's really making us laugh," he wrote. "I'm not sure whether I'll have to stop working on it or what, but the script (sorry, 'book') is so close to being done that I can walk away from it for a while and we're still in good shape."

Graham added: "Apologies to everyone who bought tickets to my Australian event. I'm hoping to make it back next year.

"So that's the story. I'm hoping I'll just continue to be the happy-go-lucky, beloved twitter personality you all know, but if there are moments of quiet from me, don't worry, I'm just dealing with it."

After being flooded with messages of support from his fans, he added: "Ugh, God, people are so nice. You forget sometimes. Thanks, everyone."

The writer has also worked on the popular TV series The IT Crowd, Black Books, BrassEye and The Fast Show.