They’re back! Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse, the nation’s favourite fishing buddies, returned to BBC Two tonight with “Gone Fishing: Series 7 – Still Waters Run Deep.” Rods in hand, banter sharper than a pike’s tooth, and that unmistakable Geordie-Yorkshire chemistry that feels like a warm pint on a cold day. But beneath the chuckles and carp, this series opener hid a heartbreak so raw, it turned 4.2 million viewers into sobbing wrecks – and left Paul Whitehouse speechless for the first time in 30 years.

It started like old times. Bob, 66, grinning under his bucket hat, reeling in a monster perch while Paul, 67, ribs him about his “dodgy knees.” The river sparkled. The jokes flew. “If I catch nowt,” Bob quipped, “at least I’ve got me health… oh wait!” The live audience (yes, they filmed in front of a studio crowd for the first time) howled. Twitter lit up with #GoneFishingIsBack trending at #1 within minutes.

But then, 28 minutes in, the calm shattered.

They’d settled by a quiet stretch of the River Wye, thermos out, sarnies unpacked. Paul tossed Bob a sandwich. “You alright, mate? You look knackered.” Bob stared at the water for what felt like forever. The birds stopped chirping. Even the fish seemed to hold their breath.

Finally, Bob turned, eyes glassy, voice barely above the ripple.

“I’ve not been straight with you, Paul,” he whispered. “This year… I’ve been terrified every single day.”

Paul froze, sandwich halfway to mouth.

Bob continued, each word a stone dropped in still water: “The heart thing never really left. Three more ops since we last filmed. Woke up twice thinking that was it. And I kept it quiet because… well, who wants to hear an old codger whinge?”

Seven words that gut-punched Britain: “I’ve been terrified every single day.”

Paul’s face crumpled. The man who once made Vic and Bob legends, who survived his own triple bypass in 2017, dropped his rod and pulled Bob into a bear hug that lasted a full minute. No jokes. No deflection. Just two blokes in wellies, sobbing on national telly.

The camera didn’t cut away. Director Rob Franklin later revealed: “We almost stopped rolling. But Bob shook his head – ‘Let it stay. People need to see this bit too.’”

Flashback to the darkness: Bob’s 2015 emergency triple bypass was public knowledge, but what fans didn’t know was the nightmare that followed. Shingles that felt like “hot pokers in me spine.” Arthritis so brutal he couldn’t grip a rod for months. And this year? Three emergency procedures for arrhythmia that left him with a pacemaker-defibrillator combo he calls “me little robot mate.” “It shocks me back when me ticker goes rogue,” he confessed later. “Happened mid-shop once – dropped like a sack of spuds in Tesco. Woke up to a pensioner doing CPR with her trolley.”

Paul, his best mate since 1988’s Vic Reeves Big Night Out, had no idea the extent. “I knew he was poorly,” Paul told the studio audience post-filming, voice cracking. “But terrified? Every day? I feel like I’ve let him down.”

Bob just laughed through tears: “You daft sod. You’ve kept me alive with these trips. Fishing’s me therapy – better than any pill.”

The episode ended not with a catch, but with the duo burning Bob’s old hospital wristbands in a campfire. “To new beginnings,” Paul toasted. Bob added: “And to mates who don’t let you drown.”

Britain lost it. #BobStrong shot to global #1, with 6.8 million posts. Viewers flooded Ofcom with messages: “Best TV moment ever.” Celebs piled in – Reeves texted live on air: “Our Bob’s unbreakable. Love ya, mate.” David Mitchell: “If Bob can fish through that, I can survive another series of Peep Show reruns.” Even the Prime Minister tweeted: “Bob Mortimer, national treasure. Get well soon, legend.”

But the real magic? Bob’s secret project revealed in the credits: he’d been quietly fundraising, raising £1.2 million for the British Heart Foundation through “Bob’s Bait Bucket Challenge” – fans donate £5, he eats a mystery bait live. “Raised enough for 12 defibrillators in community centres,” he beamed. “One’s going in my local chippy – just in case.”

Paul’s response? He pledged another £500K from his tour proceeds. “For every laugh Bob gives us, we’ll save a heart.”

As the credits rolled, Bob looked straight down the lens: “If you’re watching this feeling scared – about your health, your ticker, anything – talk to someone. Ring a mate. Go fishing. Life’s too short for secrets. And Paul… thanks for not laughing when I cry.”

The nation didn’t laugh. We cried. Then we applauded through tears.

Tonight, Gone Fishing wasn’t about fish.

It was about friendship that weathers storms, hearts that keep beating against the odds, and two old blokes proving that sometimes, the best catch is just making it to another dawn.

Bob Mortimer isn’t just back.

He’s unbreakable.

And Britain’s hugging our mates a little tighter tonight.