Sir Ian McKellen avoids quad bike accident

Sir Ian McKellen was nearly run over by a quad bike. The 'Lord of the Rings' actor - who is currently appearing in ITV's new version of the 60s drama show 'The Prisoner' - was shooting scene's in the Namibian desert in South Africa when he decided to try driving the speedy vehicle through sand dunes, but fell off and narrowly avoided being hit by the fast-moving bike.
 
The British star said: "Coming behind me was this quad bike - it missed me by inches."
 
The 70-year-old actor fortunately escaped with only a small cut following the accident, although his co-star in the show, Ruth Wilson, was impressed with how professional he'd made the incident look.
 
She said: "It was the best stunt move I'd ever seen."
 
The veteran actor spoke last year about how he thought he was getting too old for certain aspects of filming.
 
Ian - who has played mutant villain Magneto in three of the 'X-Men' movies - admitted it was unlikely he would reprise the role for a spin-off film about the character because of his wrinkles.
 
He said: "There's meant to be a 'Magneto' script floating around, but I've not read it, so I suspect it wouldn't involve me - I think it would be about the younger Magneto, and the most I could hope for would be to top and tail that. They can't have someone whose face is as lined as mine any longer!"