Gary Barlow has recalled the moment he got a stark warning from a doctor treating Howard Donald after he was hospitalised.

Speaking on the Take That: This Life podcast, the former X Factor judge, 52, said he and his fellow bandmates were able to see Howard, 55, but under one condition.

He said: “We turned up at the hospital and the doctor went, ‘Listen guys, you can go in and see him, no problem at all but do me a favour, do not make him laugh’.”

However, Gary went on to admit that the group refused to pay attention to the doctor’s orders.

“So we thought, ‘Oh god, okay’, and we went in there and spent the first five minutes laughing,” he exclaimed.

Mark Owen, 51, jumped in and said they went in wearing doctors’ outfits to make the situation even funnier.

Gary continued: “And then your dinner arrived, apple crumble and custard and after an hour or so, I got bored so we left you to it.”

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Howard was hospitalised after his lungs collapsed while performing on stage in Vienna.

The singer did his signature backflip during the band’s sold-out gig and it led to him seriously hurting himself.

Despite being in a tremendous level of pain, he continued the set before heading to the doctors in Vienna.

The doctors took an X-ray and told the star his lungs had collapsed, which left Howard feeling “like my body had failed me”.

He said: “At that moment in time, I felt like a failure because I thought I’d let everyone down here because I’m gonna be in hospital now for like three or four days.”

Take That originally featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams, alongside Gary, Mark and Howard, but Robbie chose to leave the band back in 1995.

Jason quit the band in 2014 and since then, the three have moved forward as a trio.