Paul Nicholls on his near-death experience in Thailand: 'I fell 20ft down a waterfall and was screaming in pain'

PAUL NICHOLLS TALKS ABOUT FALLING DOWN A 20FT WATERFALL AND BEING TRAPPED FOR 3 DAYS IN THAILAND

His most famous for EastEnders and more recently Ackley Bridge but Paul hit the headlines in the summer when he nearly died after a horriftic accident while on holiday in Thailand.

Paul had just escaped a pack of wild dogs when he fell over a waterfall, injurying his leg on a rock on the way down and battling to stay alive for three days as he lay in agony.

Paul had been on a scooter up a mountain in Koh Samui, but hadn't told anyone where he was going when he was confronted by a pack of wild dogs.

'I think one pack had made a kill and the blood had attracted the others,' Paul explained. 'They were fighting with each other and then they saw me. One of them grabbed on to my foot and sank his teeth in, drawing blood.'

'I pulled into the waterfall and thought the only way out of this is down. But I didn't know how much I was bleeding so as soon as my foot touched the rock [at the edge of] the waterfall I just went over,' Paul said.

Paul fell down a 20 foot drop and smashed his knee as he went.

'I hit a ledge on the way down, I remember seeing this thing and moving my head and seeing my knee hit it instead. It just looked like something just flew out of my knee - it was part of my knee cap,' Paul explained. 'I was just holding it and screaming.'

'I hit the water... I remember thinking, "Thank God the water is deep enough" as I didn't know. There were leeches coming out of holes in the walls and the rocks. I knew I couldn't stay there as if it got dark I wouldn't see [the creatures] coming.'

Paul made the decision to go over another 15 foot waterfall to get away from them and then lay on a rock screaming for help. He was only discovered after a local villager saw his abandoned motorbike three days later!

'I remember bits and bobs. I was hallucinating at one point. I thought people were opening their front doors and saying, "shut up" and "be quiet",' Paul said.

He was found semi-conscious and suffering from hypothermia as well as a tropical infection picked up from his untreated wounds and a broken leg.

Watch the video to see Paul describe the ordeal.