BOB Mortimer said he would celebrate a BAFTA nomination for his hit show Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing with a well deserved pie.

The Middlesbrough comedian was nominated alongside angling pal Paul Whitehouse in the Features category for the BBC 2 show, which is currently being repeated.

The duo starred in the six-part factual series which saw them travel across the country to visit some of the UK’s best places to fish.

They came up with the idea after experienced angler Whitehouse, 60, offered to take long-term friend and collaborator Mortimer fishing as part of his recovery following life-saving heart surgery.

In 2015, Mortimer, 59, was forced to cancel the first leg of a tour with regular comedy partner Vic Reeves to recuperate from a triple bypass operation.

Thurrock Gazette:

BBC Handout Photo from Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. Pictured: (L-R) Paul Whitehouse, Bob Mortimer

The Shooting Stars host revealed last year that he married his partner of 22 years half an hour before going under the knife.

Whitehouse, who has also undergone an operation on his heart, and Mortimer hinted that viewers will see a different side to their personalities as they converse while fishing on the programme.

Speaking last year, Mortimer said: “I loved not having that responsibility to be funny – the comedy was a bonus.

“It marks the first time that I’ve been on a show as me. I’m different from the Bob from Vic and Bob. I adopt a persona usually, but not in this.”

The BAFTA nominations were announced on Thursday morning with Mortimer tweeting: "Justifies a weekend pie #pie".

Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing is up against Gordon, Gino and Fred's Road Trip (ITV), The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4) and Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC One).

Elsewhere, Ant & Dec are nominated for best entertainment performance for Saturday Night Takeaway and will compete against David Mitchell and Lee Mack, who are both nominated for Would I Lie To You?, as well as Rachel Parris, who is nominated for The Mash Report.

Saturday Night Takeaway is also nominated for best entertainment programme, alongside Britain's Got Talent, Michael McIntyre's Big Show and Strictly Come Dancing. 

Thurrock Gazette:

BBC Handout Photo from Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. Pictured: (L-R) Paul Whitehouse, Bob Mortimer

Here are the the nods in the major categories:

Comedy entertainment programme

The Big Narstie Show (Channel 4)

The Last Leg (Channel 4)

A League Of Their Own (Sky One)

Would I Lie To You? (BBC One)

Current affairs

Football's Wall Of Silence (Al Jazeera Investigations) (Al Jazeera English)

Iran Unveiled: Taking On The Ayatollahs (Exposure) (ITV)

Massacre at Ballymurphy (Channel 4)

Myanmar's Killing Fields (Dispatches) (Channel 4)

Drama series

Bodyguard (BBC One)

Informer (BBC One)

Killing Eve (BBC One)

Save Me (Sky Atlantic)

Entertainment performance

Anthony McPartlin, Declan Donnelly - Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV)

David Mitchell - Would I Lie To You? (BBC One)

Lee Mack - Would I Lie To You? (BBC One)

Rachel Parris - The Mash Report (BBC Two)

Entertainment programme

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV)

Britain's Got Talent (ITV)

Michael McIntyre's Big Show (BBC One)

Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One)

Factual series

24 Hours In A&E (Channel 4)

Life And Death Row: The Mass Execution (BBC Three)

Louis Theroux's Altered States (BBC Two)

Prison (Channel 4)

Features

Gordon, Gino and Fred's Road Trip (ITV)

The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4)

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (BBC Two)

Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC One)

Female performance in a comedy programme

Daisy May Cooper - This Country (BBC Three)

Jessica Hynes - There She Goes (BBC Four)

Julia Davis - Sally4Ever (Sky Atlantic)

Lesley Manville - Mum (BBC Two)

International

54 Hours: The Gladbeck Hostage Crisis (BBC Four)

The Handmaid's Tale (Channel 4)

Reporting Trump's First Year: The Fourth Estate (Storyville) (BBC Two)

Succession (Sky Atlantic)

Leading actor

Benedict Cumberbatch - Patrick Melrose (Sky Atlantic)

Chance Perdomo - Killed By My Debt (BBC Three)

Hugh Grant - A Very English Scandal (BBC One)

Lucian Msamati - Kiri (Channel 4)

Leading actress

Jodie Comer - Killing Eve (BBC One)

Keeley Hawes - Bodyguard (BBC One)

Ruth Wilson - Mrs Wilson (BBC One)

Sandra Oh - Killing Eve (BBC One)

Live event

Open Heart Surgery: Live (Channel 5)

Royal British Legion Festival Of Remembrance (BBC One)

The Royal Wedding: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (BBC One)

Stand Up To Cancer (Channel 4)

Male performance in a comedy programme

Alex Macqueen - Sally4Ever (Sky Atlantic)

Jamie Demetriou - Stath Lets Flats (Channel 4)

Peter Mullan - Mum (BBC Two)

Steve Pemberton - Inside No. 9 (BBC Two)

Mini-series

A Very English Scandal (BBC One)

Kiri (Channel 4)

Mrs Wilson (BBC One)

Patrick Melrose (Sky Atlantic)

News coverage

Bullying And Harassment In The House of Commons (Newsnight) (BBC Two)

Cambridge Analytica Uncovered (Channel 4)

Good Morning Britain: On A Knife Edge (ITV)

Good Morning Britain: Thomas Markle Exclusive (ITV)

Reality & constructed factual

Dragon's Den (BBC Two)

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! (ITV)

Old People's Home For 4 Year Olds (Channel 4)

The Real Full Monty: Ladies' Night (ITV)

Scripted comedy

Derry Girls (Channel 4)

Mum (BBC Two)

Sally4Ever (Sky Atlantic)

Stath Lets Flats (Channel 4)

Short form programme

Bovril Pam (Snatches From Women's Lives) (BBC Four)

The Mind Of Herbert Clunkerdunk (BBC iPlayer)

Missed Call (Real Stories)

Wonderdate (BBC iPlayer)

Single documentary

Driven: The Billy Monger Story (BBC Three)

Gun No. 6 (BBC Two)

My Dad, The Peace Deal And Me (BBC One)

School For Stammerers (ITV)

Single drama

Bandersnatch - Black Mirror (Netflix)

Care (BBC One)

Killed By My Debt (BBC Three)

Through The Gates (On The Edge) (Channel 4)

Soap & continuing drama

Casualty (BBC One)

Coronation Street (ITV)

EastEnders (BBC One)

Hollyoaks

Specialist factual

Bros: After The Screaming Stops (BBC Four)

Grayson Perry: Rites Of Passage (Channel 4)

Suffragettes With Lucy Worsley (BBC One)

Superkids: Breaking Away From Care (Channel 4)

Sport

2018 Six Nations: Scotland v England (BBC One)

2018 World Cup Quarter Final: England v Sweden (BBC One)

England's Test Cricket - Cook's Farwell (Sky Sports Cricket)

Winter Olympics (BBC Two)

Supporting actor

Alex Jennings - Unforgotten (ITV)

Ben Whishaw - A Very English Scandal (BBC One)

Kim Bodnia - Killing Eve (BBC One)

Stephen Graham - Save Me (Sky Atlantic)

Supporting actress

Billie Piper - Collateral (BBC Two)

Fiona Shaw - Killing Eve (BBC One)

Keeley Hawes - Mrs Wilson (BBC One)

Monica Dolan - A Very English Scandal (BBC One)