Strictly Come Dancing star Alex Kingston has revealed that she underwent a hysterectomy last year, after receiving a devastating cancer diagnosis that saw her haemorrhage on stage.  

Womb cancer continues to be on the rise, with cases doubling over the last 20 years—but too many women still don't know the tell-tale signs of the disease, experts have warned. 

One in five women in the UK have never heard of womb cancer, while over a third wrongly believe the disease can be detected via smear tests, resulting in a shockingly high number of women going undiagnosed until it is too late.

According to Cath Kennedy, a clinical specialist at Peaches Womb Cancer trust, spotting the signs early can be lifesaving, due to the dramatic discrepancy in survival times between those diagnosed at early and late stages. 

For instance, over 90 per cent of women who catch their cancer early will live for at least five years after their diagnosis.

But for those who don't know what to look out for, the prognosis is much bleaker with just 15 per cent of women diagnosed at stage three or later surviving the five year mark. 

Now, Kingston, 62, is using her voice to raise awareness for the widely overlooked disease, urging women to listen to their bodies and think twice before dismissing any changes as 'just hormones.' 

'Your body does try to warn you. It just depends on whether you can read the warning signs,' the Doctor Who actress told The Independent. 

 'I had assumed the way I was feeling was old age, and I just sort of accepted it.

'I thought "okay, this is what it's like to be in my sixties." But a lot of how I was feeling was to do with my illness.' 

Commonly referred to as endometrial or uterine cancer, womb cancer starts in the uterus, typically in the lining of the womb. 

In rarer cases, the cancer can develop in the muscle of the womb, where it is harder to treat, known as uterine sarcoma.  

The most common symptom of this type of cancer is abnormal bleeding—especially in post-meonpausal women who no longer have periods. 

Other common symptoms include bleeding that is unusually heavy between periods, abnormal vaginal discharge that may appear pink or brown in colour, and bleeding after the menopause. 

'If there is any bleeding between periods or of the periods are prolonged or heavier, this needs to be taken seriously and investigated,' Dr Sangeeta Khinder added, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at London Gynaecology. 

Whilst heavy bleeding is a common symptom of many other conditions, such as endometriosis and fibroids, Dr Khinder says it is crucial to get any new symptoms checked—even if your smear test comes back clear. 

Recalling her own cancer journey, Kingston said: 'I never went down the cancer road in my head. It was a shock, because I have a very positive outlook on life in general. 

'Even though my body was telling me there was something very seriously wrong, I kept thinking it was a bad UTI or fibroids.'

Whilst both womb cancer and fibroids are caused by an overgrowth of cells in and around the womb, often in response to high levels of oestrogen, fibroids are relatively harmless and do not need to be treated if they are not causing symptoms. 

But womb cancer can be life-threatening, with the risk getting higher the longer it's left undetected. 

The risk of womb cancer also increases with age, with most women diagnosed having been through the menopause. 

But other factors like obesity, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and oestrogen-only hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can also increase the risk, Dr Khinder says. 

She added: 'Peak incidence is after menopause in 50s and 60s, hence it's important for women in the menopause to be aware of the signs and symptoms.'

Recalling the night she hemorrhaged on stage, Kingston said: 'That was really shocking. I just knocked my knees together and prayed that it would soak everything up.' 

She was then advised to wait until the six-week run of the play was over before undergoing further tests at her hospital back home—but she knew her body was telling her that something very serious was wrong. 

After a barrage of tests confirmed the shock diagnosis, like most women, Kingston opted for surgery to have her womb removed to stop the cancer from returning—known as a hysterectomy. 

In younger women, the procedure will trigger the menopause.  

The actress, who is now through to round three of Strictly Come Dancing, also underwent radiotherapy to kill the cancer cells, and reduce the risk of it coming back. 

Whilst widely effective, the therapy can cause a number of gruelling side effects including vaginal bleeding, nausea, bladder inflammation, incontinence and fatigue. 

'But, despite having gone through all of that—and any cancer is really tough to accept, to steel yourself to go through all of the necessary procedures to get back into health—the minute I had the operation, I suddenly felt like myself again,' Kingston said, enabling her to fulfil her dream of competing on Strictly. 

Gynaecological cancers—including ovarian, cervical, womb, vaginal and vulval—kill 21 women every day on average, or 8,000 women a year.

These cancers start in a woman's reproductive system and can affect women of any age, though they are more common in women over 50, especially those who have gone through the menopause.

Cervical cancer, found anywhere in the cervix—the opening between the vagina and the womb (uterus)—however is most common in women aged between 30 and 35.

On average, two women in the UK die every day from the disease, dubbed a silent killer because its symptoms can be easily overlooked for a less serious condition.

Currently women aged 25 to 49 in the UK are invited for a cervical screening check at their GP surgery every three years.