Bob Mortimer, 65, unable to walk and in wheelchair filming new BBC series

Bob Mortimer has revealed he was in a wheelchair and ‘wasn’t very well’ during filming the upcoming seventh series of Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.

The 65-year-old comedian was ‘looked after’ by his co-star Paul Whitehouse, 65, during his health crisis, which left him without the use of one of his legs, and praised Paul for the support he gave.

Bob was unable to walk due to a six-month battle with shingles in his muscles and found parts of filming ‘very challenging’.

He said: ‘I wasn’t very well and it made it a bit of a struggle but, as always, Paul looked after me and pulled me through.

‘For half of the season, I couldn’t walk so it was very challenging at times. When we were in Trent, I was being taken from a wheelchair to the top of the bank. You never see that but you never see me on my feet either.’

Despite his struggles, Bob insisted he was getting better, and was ‘reasonably sprightly’ by the end of the series.

He continued to The Mirror: ‘I just tried to get some muscle back, or get some to grow a bit stronger. I’m 80 per cent back and, by the end of the series, I was reasonably sprightly.’

Looking at the series itself, which first aired in 2018 and returns this Sunday, the Taskmaster star teased that ‘the first two episodes are the greatest of Gone Fishing that have ever been made’.

He added: ‘I think they’re magnificent. Paul and I are just getting better and better at it, which sounds boastful. I think we know what the show is now and what people like. I love this series.’

This comes after Bob spoke about being ‘unlucky’ with shingles.

According to the NHS, shingles is an infection that causes a painful rash, and can lead to complications such as further infection, muscle weakness, eye problems and sight loss, weakness on the face or hearing problems if shingles affects a facial nerve, and post-herpetic neuralgia, where pain can last for several months after the shingles rash has gone.

Speaking on Friday’s This Morning, he said: ‘I’m better, shingles is a terrible thing, you can get lucky with it or unlucky.

‘I got a bit unlucky with it, I lost the use of one of my legs but it’s coming back now, I’m a bit limpy but I’m very grateful to be back up and going.’

Last year, before suffering from shingles, Bob revealed he had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, having first had the condition in his 20s.

During an episode of Gone Fishing, he said: ‘It’s been a very, very, very unhealthy year for me Paul with my shingles… And you know what – it was worse than my heart period.

‘The muscles I’ve lost, I’ve lost… But other ones can compensate for it, you know what I mean?’

He added: ‘I can make the other muscles stronger but I have a terrible feeling I’m never going to be able to run again and you know that I used to like to run Paul.’