‘That’s not my natural role’: Paul Whitehouse doesn’t like being Bob Mortimer’s ‘stern dad’ on Gone Fishing

‘You try spending five minutes with Bob,’ comedy veteren joked

Paul Whitehouse has said he’s not normally as angry as he appears on Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.

The BBC Two series follows Whitehouse and fellow comedian Bob Mortimer on various fishing trips around the UK as the pair discuss their respective heart problems.

Whitehouse is a keen angler and often gets frustrated with Mortimer’s lack of technique – the former’s constant reminders of “Don’t wind!” has become the show’s unofficial catchphrase.

Appearing on Kathy Burke’s podcast Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wake, Whitehouse was asked if he was “surprised” at how angry he got at his colleague “because you don’t half snap at him sometimes”, Burke said.

“I’m not an angry person Kathy, you know that,” the Harry and Paul star responded.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you lose your temper,” Burke confirmed.

“I dunno, there’s something about him that makes me do it,” Whitehouse continued. “It’s quite weird because I realised we adopted these roles in the show quite quickly: he is the sort of bumbling, half-wit fool and I become stern dad. And that’s not my natural role!”

Paul Whitehouse (left) and Bob Mortimer (BBC)

Whitehouse added that his sister doesn’t like watching him in the show because she doesn’t like seeing him cross. “You try spending five minutes with Bob!” he joked.

The Welsh actor currently stars as Uncle Albert in Only Fools and Horses the Musical at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

He recently offered his advice to John Cleese following the news that the Monty Python star was reviving his hit Seventies sitcom, Fawlty Towers.

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wake is released weekly on Tuesdays on all major podcast platforms.