Timothy West's ankle injured

Veteran British actor Timothy West, 79, is nursing a broken ankle.

He has been confined to a wheelchair after the injury, which he sustained in a fall. The "Day of the Jackal" star even underwent an operation to repair the damage.

His ankle has been set in plaster and he has been using crutches and a wheelchair to move around, reports contactmusic.com.

The actor was initially apprehensive that the injury could hamper his new job on soap opera "EastEnders". But that didn't happy.

During an appearance on Britain TV series "The Alan Titchmarsh Show", West said:

"As you see I'm on crutches which is not my permanent state - employers please note - I just happened to fall over and break my ankle...I had to...ring up the 'EastEnders' people and say, 'Look I've broken my ankle. I'm terribly sorry.'

"They said, 'Oh no that's perfectly alright... we'll write that in.' I said, 'No, you don't understand - I've had an operation, I'm in plaster.' (They said) 'That's alright that doesn't bother us'. (I said) 'I have to move about in a wheelchair' - 'Alright we can get you a wheelchair' - they were terrific."