Sir Cliff Richard reveals prostate cancer treatment and calls out “absolutely ridiculous” screening process
"We all deserve to have the same ability to have a test and then start the treatments really early"
by Poppy Burton · NMESir Cliff Richard has revealed he is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, and has said the screening process is “absolutely ridiculous”.
The 85-year-old ‘We Don’t Talk Anymore’ hitmaker said the cancer was discovered when he had a check-up ahead of a recent tour, but that it had been caught early and had not spread.
“I was going to Australia and to New Zealand, and the promoter said, ‘Well, we need your insurance, so you need to be checked up for something’. They found that I had prostate cancer,” he said during an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
“But the good fortune was that it was not very old, and the other thing is that it had not metastasised. It hadn’t moved, nothing into bones or anything like that. And the cancer’s gone at the moment.”
Sir Cliff was speaking to journalist Dermot Murnaghan, who revealed this summer that he had stage four prostate cancer. “I don’t know whether it’s going to come back,” he continued.
“We really can’t tell with those sorts of things. But we need to, absolutely, I’m convinced, get there, get tested, get checked. I think we, as men, have got to start saying, we’ve got to be seen as human beings who may die of this thing.”
Sir Cliff said he wants to work with the King to improve cancer screening for men across the country, after the King spoke last week about his own cancer treatment and stressed the importance of routine checks to catch cancer at an early stage.
Richard said the current lack of a national screening programme was “absolutely ridiculous”.
“We all deserve to have the same ability to have a test and then start the treatments really early,” he said. “It seems to me – I’ve only been for one year now in touch with cancer, but every time I’ve talked with anybody, this has come up, and so I think our government must listen to us.”
Elsewhere, earlier this month, The Cure‘s Robert Smith has revealed a stacked line-up for his curated run of Teenage Cancer Trust gigs for 2026 – featuring the likes of Garbage, Wolf Alice, Manic Street Preachers, Chvrches, My Bloody Valentine and loads more.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Smith would be stepping up as curator of the beloved charity gig series in 2026 in the place of The Who frontman and charity patron Roger Daltrey. The Cure have long been supporters of TCT, having played now-legendary fundraising gigs for the charity back in 2006 and 2014. You can check out a full list of shows here – and find any available tickets here.