The comedian who appeared on Amazon Prime Video’s Last One Laughing earlier this year, previously shared he “couldn’t walk” for four episodes of the 2024 series after being left with wasted muscles due to a six-month bout of shingles.
Now, Bob has said he is still “desperately” trying to get some strength back in his legs following the difficult health battle he faced.
Gone Fishing’s Bob Mortimer issues Shingles health update
Bob shared: “I’m still suffering very much with recovering from shingles.
“I lost a lot of muscle, an awful lot of muscle in my legs, and I’m just desperately trying to get some strength back in them.
“But it doesn’t really, change my lifestyle or anything. I mean, I can’t run but I don’t do that much running these days, so it’s not a problem.”
He added: “Both me and Paul in the series are discussing the fact, quite a few times, that we’re beginning to feel our age.
“We’re not as fast, we’re not as strong, we’re forgetting things. We’re a bit more grumpy.
“We look physically a lot different from the first seasons that’s for sure. We’ve aged.”
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing returned to BBC Two and iPlayer just over a week ago for its eighth series.
Bob revealed this season is “different” to the others yet it was also one of the most “challenging” to film.
The 66-year-old explained: “We wanted to be free to pick the places we’ve always wanted to go and places which, sort of, personally meant something to us.
“So, it’s just a slightly different approach, you know, rather than just focusing on species of fish.
Unused clip from Gone Fishing ep 1. New series starts tonight on BBC 2 9:00pm pic.twitter.com/iARdY4fqba
— bob mortimer (@RealBobMortimer) October 26, 2025
“And some of the accommodation this series is in keeping with our memories – the caravan in episode two was very 70s holiday. That was one of Paul’s nostalgia trips, back to Wales where he used to fish with his father and friends.
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“Meanwhile, my nostalgia trip took me back to Manchester and saw one of my oldest friends, Paddy, that I hadn’t seen for maybe 25 years or something, or even longer.”
“It was one of our most challenging fishing series. We didn’t perhaps catch as many as we would normally hope to, but we did get some Clonkers. We got a particularly beautiful carp in Wales.”
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing airs on Sundays at 9pm on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two.
