Rhod Gilbert returns to the stage after cancer treatment

Comedian Rhod Gilbert said it was wonderful to be back on stage after undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer.

The 54-year-old stand-up performed at Swansea Arena on Friday for the first time in a year.

Gilbert announced last July that he was being treated for stage four cancer.

The Swansea gig was the first in the final seven of his rescheduled Book of John tour dates.

Originally due to be performed in the summer of 2022, the tour will next see him perform in Bath before finishing in Cardiff in October.

"It is wonderful being back doing stand up again for the first time in a year," he said.

"Lovely to be here, lovely to be back in Swansea, lovely to be alive and lovely to be back on tour."

Swansea Arena said it was "thrilled to see Rhod Gilbert back doing what he does brilliantly".

After being a patron at the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff for more than 10 years, Gilbert said last July that he would be treated there.

"I know better than anyone that I am in the best possible hands," he said in a Facebook post at the time.

Gilbert said he had been struggling with a pain in his neck and throat for months and rescheduled his remaining tour dates for 2023.

"I had a sore throat and I couldn't speak and I couldn't breathe and I was postponing and cancelling tour shows and I had terrible spasms in my face and a lot of tightness in the muscles," he said.

A biopsy revealed his head and neck cancer and led to him having daily sessions ofradiotherapy and chemotherapy."

He described his treatment as "faultless" and said he was "coming back" to his former self as his facial hair was growing back, his voice was back to normal and he was regaining weight.