Inside the Big Issue: Sir Ian McKellen on recovery, rights and finding fulfilment

Sir Ian McKellen holds up his right arm to show a red sore spot, then taps the top of his spine. “I fractured my wrist, which is getting better. I chipped my vertebrae up here, which seems to be OK,” he says.

On 17 June, he fell from the stage of the Noël Coward Theatre in the middle of a performance of Player Kings, a condensed version of Shakespeare’s Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 (still lasting well over three hours) where he was starring as Falstaff. During a fight scene, McKellen caught his foot on a chair, lost balance and landed heavily on the front row. The news was met with widespread concern and an outpouring of good wishes befitting a beloved national treasure.

“I feel like a man who’s read his own obituaries – and like most obituaries, they were overkind,” McKellen smiles.

Speaking to the Big Issue, Sir Ian McKellen is keen to reassure people that he is on the mend. To read the full interview – including the legendary actor’s reflections on recovery, rights and finding fulfilment – buy a copy from your local vendor today.

What else is in this week’s Big Issue?

The ticking Tory time bombs Labour must navigate as parliament returns

Labour must navigate a number of overlapping crises in the weeks and months to come. Some of them – as political tradition dictates – left by the previous Conservative government. This was put into focus when the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, set out to “expose the scale of what has been uncovered” with a speech in parliament on 29 July where she accused the Tories of leaving a £20 billion black hole in the UK’s finances. Here are the crises hanging over from the Tories that Labour must solve urgently.

How many people does it take to make a cup of coffee?

For many of us, a dose of caffeine is a beloved daily ritual, taking scarcely longer than the time it takes to boil a kettle or measure out a half-cup of coffee grounds. But this simple act is underpinned by a vast global network of farmers and processors. Around 125 million people worldwide depend on coffee for their livelihoods. The Big Issue spoke to some of them.

As Sherwood returns for a new series, creator James Graham talks about its parallels with our current ‘wobbly’ times.

“I hadn’t thought about how the riots would impact the frame through which people view it,” he says. “But it’s that anger and frayed social fabric again, like we had in series one of Sherwood,” Graham told the Big Issue.

“No one is excusing that behaviour, but the sense of disenfranchisement and disillusionment among the population, and how that sometimes manifests itself in quite unseen ways. Social isolation, loneliness – despairing and purposeless – sometimes that explodes into the street.”

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