As we head out of lockdown 2.0 today, Bob Mortimer, 61, reflected on this shambles of a year and how it has affected him personally. With people’s plans out the window for the majority of 2020, the pro fisher revealed that it’s taken a couple of years off of his life, and there’s probably plenty of people who feel the same.
In a recent episode of their hugely popular fishing series, the pair sat in the pub talking about what they achieved this year.
“While I have been in lockdown I’ve done no exercise, I’ve eaten so much and drunk so much booze,” Bob admitted.
“Lockdown has probably taken two years off of my life.
“Truthfully.”
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And as the UK prepares for the upcoming festivities, he detailed what his Christmas will look like despite the on-going coronavirus pandemic.
With the government’s nationwide tier system in place, they have allocated five days for the holidays – from 23 to 27 December – where people can form a “Christmas bubble” that will allowed them to meet inside.
But for Bob, it doesn’t look that different to the rest of the year.
“It’ll be a normal Christmas,” he told Radio Times.
“But I don’t like formal, contrived celebrations, particularly.
“My disappointment with Christmas stems from my abject horror at losing the magic of Christmas when I was young. That’s where it comes from.
“Because I’ll never capture that Christmas joy and excitement again.”
However, his overly-excited fellow angler has an idea to recapture those feelings once again.
“It’s me trying to show Paul what Christmas is, and to celebrate it,” he said about the point of doing their festive episode before noting how well the show has been doing.
“We’re hitting 20 million [viewers] now, over this Covid period, through iPlayer,” he said.
“I have to admit I watch it quite a lot, and I never watch my own shows. It’s very reassuring in a way. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s a very Covid-friendly show.”
Bob and Paul’s full interview is available to read now in Radio Times.