Sir Paul McCartney says making his album in lockdown "saved" him.

The Beatles singer released a new solo album during the coronavirus pandemic and admitted it kept him going during the tough few months, which saw people being forced to stay at home.

He told Zane Lowe on his Apple Music 1 show: "It was really good to be able to play music, and make up music, and put your thoughts and your fears and your hopes and your love into the music. It kind of saved me, I must say, for about the three or four months it took to make it."

Meanwhile, Paul previously revealed he is keen to have the coronavirus vaccine.

The 78-year-old musician said: "I know we’ll come through this. It is great news about the vaccine. I’ll have it as soon as I’m allowed. I’m a grandad and you don’t want grandad to collapse. You’ve got to stay strong, that’s all you can do, or you go under."

Paul - who is married to third wife Nancy Shevell - spent much of lockdown in the UK with his daughter Mary and her family, and he was "a little worried" about telling people he'd been enjoying isolation because he was aware so many others had found things tough.

He added: "A lot of friends were saying, ‘Wow, I’ve never spent so much time with my wife!’ And it was great because I got to spend time with my daughter Mary and her family. So that meant I had four of my grandkids together, which was really nice. Great family, very loving and we’re in the countryside so, if we went out to get a breath of fresh air, we didn’t meet anyone. I was a little worried about telling anyone I was having a good time because I knew so many people weren’t but most people I talked to said, ‘Oh yeah, there’s a silver lining.'"