Bob Mortimer has transitioned from his iconic, surreal comedy partnership with Vic Reeves into a celebrated author and beloved television personality. Following a major health scare in 2015, which fundamentally shifted his perspective, Mortimer has embraced a new phase of his career, finding immense success in his memoir and now a series of acclaimed, gentle-mystery novels.
In 2015, Mortimer was diagnosed with a heart condition requiring an emergency triple heart bypass. This life-altering event served as the impetus for his deeply personal and hilarious memoir, And Away… (2021). The memoir became the bestselling memoir of the year, praised for its warmth, candour, and irrepressible humour. It chronicled his life from his childhood in Middlesbrough, marked by the loss of his father and various notorious misadventures, to his unexpected rise to fame with Vic Reeves.
Crucially, the operation came with strict, life-changing advice. Mortimer revealed that doctors told him to drastically reduce his cheese intake to a “matchbox size” portion per week. In his signature humorous style, he admitted that he has largely ignored this advice, choosing to “live life more” and declaring, “I’d rather have three years less.”
Mortimer’s move into fiction has been equally successful. His first novel, The Satsuma Complex (2022), won the prestigious Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. The book introduced readers to Gary Thorn, an anonymous legal assistant who falls for a mysterious girl who vanishes, leaving only a cryptic clue behind.
The sequel, The Hotel Avocado (2024), was an immediate number one bestseller. Now, fans are eagerly awaiting the next instalment, The Long Shoe, set for release in October. This new book follows Matt, a salesman at a crossroads who is offered a new job that comes with a free luxury apartment, a development that leads him to question the disappearance of his girlfriend. Mortimer’s novels are characterised by the same blend of gentle humour, quirky characters, and observational detail that define his best comedy.
Parallel to his literary success, the BBC series Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing has cemented his status as a national treasure. The show, which sees Mortimer and fellow comedian Paul Whitehouse fish across the UK, has been praised for its quiet moments of reflection on health, aging, and friendship.
During the filming of Series Seven, Mortimer faced another health challenge, contracting shingles which temporarily left him unable to walk and requiring a wheelchair for some locations. This ongoing honesty about his health continues to resonate with audiences, making his professional triumphs all the more meaningful. Bob Mortimer’s current work is a rich blend of laughter, reflection, and a defiant embrace of life.