Millions tune in to ‘gone fishing’

BBC 2’s fishing series ‘Whitehouse and Mortimer: Gone Fishing’ has been a massive hit.

The six-part show, which launched on Wednesday, June 20, was watched at launch by over 1.8 million, and 586,000 recorded it to view at a later date. A further 310,000 watched the Friday repeat. These viewing statistics mean the programme is the sixth-best-rated show at 10pm for BBC2 this year. 

The show appealed to a wide audience, with adults aged 55-plus accounting for 437,000 of the total viewings – half of these being from men. 

The response to the show on social media has been equally positive with even a Facebook group created to celebrate it. The pick of the comments from our own Facebook page is: “This show is just heart-warmingly awesome. Fantastic work to all involved!” 

Co-presenter Bob Mortimer was delighted with the feedback from the viewing public. “In 30 years this is the most positive response I’ve ever had to a show,” he said. 

Paul Whitehouse added: “People have told me that they are going to get heart check-ups purely because of watching the show, which is obviously very encouraging.”