Wednesday's best TV: You’re sure to be reeled in by these gentle tales from the riverbank

There’s a new comedy duo in town. Or, more accurately, out of town.

Bob Mortimer, best known for his long-term partnership with Vic Reeves, has united with Paul Whitehouse, who most will associate either with Harry Enfield or The Fast Show, to create a brand new pairing.

There are no roll-in-the-aisles sketches, no quickfire catchphrases and definitely no Dove From Above. But there is a charming and surprisingly riotous journey as Whitehouse, a dedicated fisherman, takes comparative novice Mortimer across the country to teach him how to angle.

The concept doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, as putting a few vaguely funny men — almost always men — into an open space and switching on the camera is a curiously big business.

The self-congratulatory and smug Jeremy Clarkson days of Top Gear proved that. This is calmer, more reminiscent of the BBC’s much-loved series Three Men In A Boat, where Griff Rhys Jones, Dara O Briain and Rory McGrath rowed a skiff down the Thames — with a touch of the scripted The Trip — where Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon played themselves on a holiday.

In the latter, cynicism was the draw. In this, we find more of a sense of real affection and solidarity. This is partly down to the pair’s shared sense of humour, their affectionate rapport and similar comic rhythm.

The first episode sees them explore Norfolk, gorgeous and green, where Mortimer’s knowingly awful Robert De Niro impression cracks up Whitehouse. Whitehouse’s skit as a policeman, meanwhile, breathalysing Mortimer after they sample beer at a micro-brewery, is an endearing, extended dad joke. It is gentle humour, yes, but it is undeniably infectious.

Much of the half hour passes quietly, as the duo chat and wait patiently for their target, a tench, to emerge. The silences are punctuated with reminiscing (Mortimer brings out his childhood rod with a youthful nostalgia. Whitehouse is decidedly unimpressed), cooking and relaxing in their accommodation. In this case, a yurt, with other unorthodox spaces presumably set up for coming episodes.

Despite the jokes and the laughs, the programme’s main strength lies, quite literally, at its heart as both men have experienced significant heart problems. Mortimer “wins” in those stakes, having had a triple heart bypass in 2015 which, he smugly points out, was a “much more serious operation” than Whitehouse’s stents.

This glimpse of their own mortality has clearly given them their fair share of pain, and even when joking about you can’t miss a sense of sadness. As they walk through the woods toward their fishing spot, Mortimer muses over missing the comfort of biscuits and other treats. “When they take cheese from you, what do you reach out to? A nut?” It is delivered with humour but also sadness, a fact made all the more evident when Mortimer recalls his diagnosis, or shows off his scarring from the procedure. Inevitably, Whitehouse makes fun of him.

Gone Fishing is a warm and thoroughly pleasant half an hour, and it is a real delight to watch these two men put aside their scripted comedy and gameshow high jinks. I do question how this relaxed humour will sustain itself across a whole series of six episodes but, for now, I’m hooked.

London Live

Looking for Eric - London Live, 11.15pm

“When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea,” contemplated Eric Cantona once — and hungry gulls behind a trawler is a more expected sight than Cantona materialising in your bedroom. Man Utd devotee and luckless postie Eric (Steve Evets) is delighted when the striker does, though his appearance may have been made possible through the use of banned substances.

Eric is pleased to spend time with his maverick hero, especially when he dispenses gnomic advice to turn his life around in what’s ultimately a feelgood fantasy.

One Life - London Live, 8pm

Almost a third of the distance David Walliams swum is patrolled by the Marine Support Unit, which does more than help a few rogue swimmers well out of their depth.

Far from being a London version of Baywatch, they’re tasked with policing and protecting sensitive locations along the banks, and this doc climbs aboard their non-Hasselhoff-manned launches for a shift. The tragic reality of the Marine Unit’s beat means they have had special forensics training — they are the one team in London trained to preserve evidence and recover bodies from water.