Paul Whitehouse “looked after” Bob Mortimer during his health crisis.
Paul Whitehouse 'looked after' Bob Mortimer during his health crisis
The 65-year-old comedian - who presents ‘Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing’ with his TV pal, 66 - had been left unable to walk due to a six-month battle with shingles in his muscles, and has now praised his co-star for all of the support he gave him during the making of the upcoming seventh series of the BBC programme.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “I wasn’t very well and it made it a bit of a struggle but, as always, Paul looked after me and pulled me through.
“For half of the season, I couldn’t walk so it was very challenging at times. When we were in Trent, I was being taken from a wheelchair to the top of the bank. You never see that but you never see me on my feet either.”
Despite his struggles, Bob insisted he was getting better, and was “reasonably sprightly” by the end of the series.
He said: “I just tried to get some muscle back, or get some to grow a bit stronger. I’m 80 per cent back and, by the end of the series, I was reasonably sprightly.”
Looking at the series itself - which returns on Sunday (29.09.24) at 9pm on BBC2 - the ‘Taskmaster’ star teased that “the first two episodes are the greatest of ‘Gone Fishing’ that have ever been made”.
He said: “I think they’re magnificent.
“Paul and I are just getting better and better at it, which sounds boastful. I think we know what the show is now and what people like. I love this series.”
Just like in previous series, the ‘Would I Lie To You?’ star oversees the food and accommodation for the duo’s travels, and revealed his favourite meal from their recent expedition was some hotdogs in a flask that the pair had in Norfolk.
He said: “It’s a lovely and nostalgic thing – two old men having hotdogs by the lake. They were absolutely delicious. It was a genius idea.”
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