Oscar winner Brenda Fricker is completely blind in her left eye after a freak accident.

The Irish actress tripped down a flight of stairs and hit her head, leaving her with a scar on her forehead - and her vision was also affected.

Speaking with friend Anna Friel on U.K. Tv show Living The Life, which aired in Britain on Tuesday night (06Nov12), Fricker reveals, "My eyes are beginning to fail me now, I'm completely blind in this (left) eye and this (right) eye is beginning to go.

"You can see the scars there (on forehead)... I fell down some steps and split my head open. I was sober, promise!

"I can't read books, I used to read four, five books a week... so I have a Kindle with big print. The iPad is great because... you can enlarge the print on it."