Comedian Bob Mortimer, 66, has opened up about the serious health scare that left him housebound following a triple heart bypass operation in 2015. The star of Prime Video's Last One Laughing revealed that 95 per cent of his arteries were blocked at the time, with medics warning he was close to having a heart attack on stage.
Speaking on Vernon Kay's BBC Radio 2 show, Mortimer credited his Gone Fishing co-star Paul Whitehouse for helping him regain his confidence. 'I had my heart surgery and I was just sat at home not daring to move,' he said. 'I thought, "I now live on my sofa, that's it."'
Whitehouse, tasked with getting Mortimer out of the house, badgered him until he agreed to go fishing. That trip became the inspiration for the BBC Two series Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, which first aired in 2018. Mortimer described the show as his 'biggest success so late on in my life'.
In 2024, Mortimer disclosed he spent half the season in a wheelchair due to muscle loss from shingles. 'I lost a lot of muscle in my legs,' he told The Mirror, adding that he is '80 per cent back' to full strength.
