IT’S THE REEL DEAL!

Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse’s sublime and surreal fishing trips have become one of TV’s unlikeliest hits

Two middle-aged fellas sit by the river fishing, exchanging banter about whatever comes to mind. Every now and then one of their lines stirs, and sometimes they even catch a fish. It’s not a prospect likely to leave you breathless with excitement but that, in essence, sums up one of the more unlikely hits of recent years – the angling show that’s got millions of us absolutely hooked.

The secret, of course, is that it’s not just any old fellas, nor any old banter: Bob Mortimer and Paul

Whitehouse are two of Britain’s most gifted and best-loved comedians. Now back for a third season, Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing is a rare gem of simple pleasure born out of a friendship forged in extreme circumstances. In 2015 Mortimer was diagnosed with severe heart problems and had to have a triple bypass. Experienced angler Whitehouse had also suffered cardiac issues that required him to be given stents, and as Mortimer recovered from surgery he suggested introducing his pal to the sedate hobby as a relaxing form of rehabilitation.

With cameras on hand to catch the duo on riverbanks up and down the most scenic parts of the country, the result was a beautiful bromance in the making, peppered with quips of warm-hearted irony.

Each episode has had a prize catch as its target, at least nominally – there’s been tench in Norfolk and rainbow trout in Derbyshire – but whether they net their prize (invariably returned to the water) or come out emptyhanded seems to have made little difference to their enjoyment of each other’s company.

Still, there’s one angling score to be settled in the new series: can Mortimer at last catch a Scottish salmon? So in this week’s opening episode it’s off to the River Tweed, where they idle the time away sharing thoughts on their favourite artists (Mortimer disdains the expected painters and instead nominates himself for a free kick he once took) and favourite jams (‘Cherry? Nah, too acidic’). Also, Whitehouse makes an attempt to croon Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, only to elicit the response: ‘I’d rather listen to a washing machine.’

Along the way, somehow they grapple with their sense of mortality without being mawkish. If you’re looking for gently life-affirming television, this is the reel deal.