I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, woke a day later and thought: 'Great... I no longer fear death'

B y his own admission, last year was Bob Mortimer's "worst ever year" for his health, after he had shingles, on top of his struggles with rheumatoid arthritis and heart troubles... but he knows there's light at the end of the tunnel.

-  MATT ROPER

And not metaphorically. During his triple bypass surgery in 2015, when his heart was stopped for 32 minutes, Bob says he had an experience that made him believe in life after death.

He said: "I did see the light at the end of the tunnel. I experienced going towards the light and feeling happier than I have ever felt, ever.

"It was quite extraordinary, and then I woke up a day later and I was OK. I thought, 'This is great. I no longer fear death and everything"."

But he says that after mentioning his near-death experience on a podcast with Kathy Burke, "loads of people wrote to me and said, 'It's because your body gives out loads of PCT, some chemical to get you through that and it gives you these hallucinations'. I was a bit sad about that."

Comedian Bob, 64, had surgery after doctors discovered 95% of his arteries were blocked, and told him he risked having a heart attack on stage. So bad was his prognosis, he married his girlfriend of 22 years Lisa Matthews, with whom he has two sons, on the day of his hospital admission.

But he has admitted that last year's health problems were "worse than my heart period".

Already dealing with in rheumatoid arthritis, which was in remission for 30 years before flaring up in 2022, he got shingles, an infection that causes painful rashes.

This combination caused his muscles to wither and he says he can no longer exercise like he once did. He estimates as much as 80% of the muscles in his legs have been lost due to his illness, and fears he may never run again.

Gone Fishing was born after Paul Whitehouse invited him to get out of the house after his heart surgery.

But in September last year, an attack of shingles meant Bob had to drop out temporarily, with comedian Lee Mack stepping in.