“I’ve never seen myself as ambitious”

DURING the lockdowns of the last 18 months there were a handful of shows that helped to soothe a troubled nation, one of them being Gone Fishing, which featured Paul Whitehouse and his old comedy chum Bob Mortimer.

With its beautiful, lovingly filmed, settings and celebration of the simple, timeless wonders of nature, coupled with the gentle banter of two old friends reflecting on their lives and recent heart scares, it was the ultimate in feelgood TV.

“I suppose there’s not that much on telly that just shows two people who really know each other just having a nice time, ”Paul said of Gone Fishing.

Fishing, like comedy, has been in Paul’s life from an early age. He was born in Stanleytown, in the Rhondda Valley, where his father worked for the National Coal Board and his mother was a singer with Welsh National Opera.

In 1963, when Paul was five, his father took up a job with a chemical company called Morson’s in Ponders End, North London, and the family moved to Enfield.

Although he has now lived in London for most of his life Paul found it hard, at first, to adapt to life away from the Rhondda.

“At school I didn’t say a word for the first four weeks – I called it my Silent Month. I think it was because everyone was speaking so differently from how it had been in Wales.”

But it was also at school that Paul discovered his gift for mimicry:

“After four weeks, I came home one day and said, ‘Muumm, I wanna go to Sarfend’. For her that was the end because I had lost my lovely Welsh