Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing returns for a new series and one last fish with Ted - “The great thing about Ted, really, is he didn't give a monkey's about us”

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing returns for a ninth series from 9pm on Sunday 25 October on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two.

The return of the award-winning series sees Paul and Bob travelling from Shetland to Hampshire to find their catch of the day and bidding a fond farewell to little dog Ted.

• Watch Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing on iPlayer from Sunday 25 October and add to your Watchlist now

grace@plankpr.com

Interview with Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse

What have the highlights of this series been? What can viewers look forward to?

Bob: I looked terrific. That's a highlight.

Paul: As ever! Well, you certainly tell us about how wonderful you look, Bob.

Paul: Obviously one of the lowlights is we are no longer with Ted.

Bob: We have one little visit from Ted; we have one show left that's got Ted in it.

Paul: That's one of my favourite shows when we visit The Ribble. And, we actually catch quite a lot of fish as well - maybe Ted brought us luck.

Bob: It’s a highlight to have our last dance with Ted. Fishing-wise I liked being up in the North of England.

Paul: Shetland was amazing, it has an extraordinary landscape and seascape. We missed the puffins by a week though. You can't control puffins! They migrate when they want.

Bob: We've seen a lot more birds this series. I don't know whether there's more birds in the UK, but oystercatchers, and winkle-warblers, and cormorants, and eagles...

Paul: Ah, the old winkle-warblers. Terns, the Arctic terns, swifts, swallows, a lot of them. Cormorants too.

Bob: Whenever we're asked about the series, like what's new and so on, to be honest with you, we quite doggedly keep it the same, is the truth of it.

Paul: That's true. It hasn't changed really. It's a celebration of the rivers, and lakes, and the British countryside. And your grub on the riverbank - or you, grubby on the riverbank!

Just going back to Ted, obviously viewers have been very sad to hear the news, and it does feel special to have that farewell episode. What are your best memories of Ted?

Paul: I just think we used to see Ted when we went fishing, so it was always a nice, glorious reunion with Ted. The great thing about Ted, really, is he didn't give a monkey's about us, did he, Bob? I think that's what we really loved about him.

Bob: He was the perfect dog in that sense.

Paul: He was more like a cat in some ways; he just went off and did what he wanted.

Bob: He never caused us a problem. He'd give us a bit of lip.

Paul: He'd give us so much lip! Yeah, but he couldn't help it, could he?

Bob: He was the perfect companion.

Paul: He really was. And he'd go off, and he'd rummage around and root around. You thought, really, it could have been dangerous, but people didn't mess with Ted. The animal kingdom did not mess with Ted.

Bob: I have very fond memories of him taking up that unusual head stance in the Norfolk pub.

Paul: Superb, wasn't it? When he jammed his head into that wooden floor! What was he thinking? He seemed to think he was comfortable there.

Bob: "I think I'm comfortable! Is this comfortable? Tell me, am I comfortable?"

Running on the beach, again in Norfolk.

Paul: Right, and his mad ears and eyes in those runs, yeah. Do you remember when he nearly found love?

Bob: And she rejected him!

Paul: Yes, she ran straight past him! Poor old Ted.

Bob: But we'll miss Ted, and we will continue in his honour, as it were, continue to fish.

It is very sad, but it is lovely that we've got an episode left where people can reflect on his presence and his attitude.

Paul: I bet at the Christmas Awards he's going to win a lot, plus he's going to clean up, isn't he? Let's be honest. Well, I'm not going to win anything, am I? You might give yourself something, but there'll be an outcry, Bob, if you give yourself an award and Ted doesn't win. You're finished, mate!

Bob: I'll give him a minor award. What he really wanted was his briefcase.

Paul: He just wants a briefcase. That's all he wants, innit?

Do you ever watch the episodes back? Because as anglers, surely those moments that you've captured must be so incredible to watch, and very few people get that opportunity to have pictures, let alone moving footage. It must be quite special to see it.

Bob: When we see the edits, I always smile when we've caught one, and we're obviously chuffed.

Paul: You're good, Bob, because obviously I'm very happy when we catch a fish, but you're genuinely enthusiastic, and it sort of re-energised me a bit as well. Because it is a joy. It's an opportunity a lot of people don't get to see those moments. The barbel on the Ribble was fantastic, weren't they?

Bob: It's hard to think what we've caught. I know that we've caught pollock. I know that we've caught trout. I know that we've caught chub.

Paul: Big chub on the River Usk.

Bob: We failed again to get a perch, didn't we?

Paul: Well, have we targeted a perch? You got a nice bream. He's getting better than me!

Bob, you say in the series that you’re like a chub. Is that the fish you’re most like?

Bob: It's not a bad call, because it's quite obliging, the chub.

Paul: A very obliging fish. Pops out every day, whether it's boiling hot or freezing cold, always there.

Bob: It's a bit plump. You know, it is. It's a chub!

Paul: But pretty in its own way. Its burnished flanks.

Bob: In its own way! If looked at from the right angle, yeah, I'm chubby and chub-y.

And if you were going to be a fish, Paul, what fish would you be?

Paul: I’d quite like to be a salmon. It's quite an adventurous life, the salmon, you know.

Bob: I was thinking eel or pike for you.

Pike, that's quite a tricky fish to catch, correct? And you're still learning how to catch pike, am I right?

Paul: Well, we've caught quite a few…

Bob: We’ve caught a few pike, but we've never caught what we call the monster one.

Paul: No, we’ve never caught a really big pike.

Bob: Never. We have when we’ve gone fishing.

Paul: We have outside of Gone Fishing, Bob's caught a colossal one, didn't you? And I've caught a 25-pounder from the Hampshire Avon, and I caught one over 20 pounds on a fly from the Test. So we've caught big pike, but we haven't really managed it on Gone Fishing – yet.

Bob: We haven't managed it. We shall keep pursuing it.

Paul: But the pike in Northern Ireland were very dramatic.

Bob: Maybe for Christmas! Get a Christmas pike. It was eaten a lot, the pike, in the past, wasn't it? But not so much now.

Paul: Used to be, yeah. I mean, Izaak Walton and all that lot, they were forever eating pike. Baked in sherry and stuff like that, elaborate recipes.

How would you sum up this series?

Bob: Summing up this series: it's more of the same, it cannot be denied.

Paul: Yeah, but I was surprised, Bob. I'm really pleasantly surprised by some of the stuff we've done in this latest series. It's lovely, isn't it? Really beautiful.

Bob: At its heart, the countryside continues to look beautiful. The rivers still look beautiful.

Paul: And as we age, we actually grace the countryside; it makes the countryside look even more beautiful!

Bob: It's a juxtaposition of sorts, isn’t it. But our enthusiasm is undimmed, as it's always been.

Paul: Well, we enjoy it, don't we? We love it. And we've got a great crew, and most of them have been with us from the start. It's just a very positive and life-affirming experience.

Follow For More