Hook, line and thinkers

STRICTLY between you and me, I’ve been known to nod off in front of Friday night telly.And no, I don’t mean as the clock nears midnight. I mean about half way through Gardeners’ World, at roughly that point where Monty Don is somewhat optimistically issuing us with a list of jobs we ought to be doing over the weekend.

The pruning, watering and what-have-you. See below for this week’s specifics.

It doesn’t particularly bother me if I do, though. Nod off, that is. There are certain programmes – on certain channels, at certain times

– that seem designed almost with the express intention of inducing a profound sense of calm, of lowering stress levels, of bringing down our heart rates.

And other than Monty’s thing, I can’t think of a finer example – or indeed a more appropriate one, given the recent medical history of its participants – than MORTIMER

&WHITEHOUSE: GONE

FISHING (BBC2, 8pm), returning for a richly deserved second series and this time going out in its ideal slot.

Tone and content-wise, there are no great changes from series one, and nor would you want there to be.

It’s just two old comedy pals in their early 60s, enjoying each other’s company, grateful to be alive, what with their dodgy tickers, pootling from one beautiful location to the next, in no great hurry – one of them (Paul) the seasoned angler, the other his eager if occasionally hapless pupil (“You’re fishing with a buffoon, aren’t you?” Bob remarks at one point tonight, after getting in something of a tangle).

As before, their rapport (I’ve programmed my computer’s keyboard to self-destruct if ever I write the word “banter”) consists primarily of gentle, affectionate teasing.

“I did check out David Baddiel’s availability,” remarks Paul, “but apparently not. So it’s you again.”

On top of that, there’s the unusual sprinkling of slightly more reflective stuff.

Oh, and those bits where Paul actually explains things about fishing.

Tonight we find them inWales, wading into the River Usk in search of any wild brown trout who fancy 15 minutes of fame. It’s where Paul caught his very first fish, aged seven.

That was Paul’s age, I mean, not the fish’s.

Elsewhere, widowed neighbours Phil and Edith (John Cleese and Alison Steadman) are still hoping to jet off to a new life together as HOLD THE SUNSET (BBC1, 9pm) returns for its second

series.

Since this is the first of half a dozen new episodes, it’s fair to assume this dream will continue to be comedically thwarted until at least Friday September 6.