Bob Mortimer on gardening’s unfolding stories, fishing, and amazing alliums
7/2/202646 min
It’s the first episode of Outsiding and we have found the perfect guest to welcome into our garden. Bob Mortimer is an adored comedian, presenter, writer and actor, who loves the outdoors with the same passion as he does big TVs.
Bob joins Caitlin and Adam to chat about the paperback release of his third novel, The Long Shoe, a book that, as we find out, has plenty of Bob’s charm and personality within it. But, before that, Bob gets a tour of Caitlin’s new garden plot and is invited to christen the project ahead of its upcoming transformation.
Then, over pocket meats and pies we journey through Bob’s love of life outdoors from walking and gardening to spending time with Paul Whitehouse on Gone Fishing. We get new names for established plants, marvel at the wonder of oaks trees, and Adam is given a special gift.
We have our first gardening friend and we’re delighted it’s Bob, a certified national treasure!
Let us know what you think of our first episode and please send us your favourite outside places, memories and gardening questions to hello@outsiding.co.uk
Follow Outsiding on Substack for gardening tips, tricks, live Q&As with Adam and the progress of Caitlin’s garden project. Find us on Instagram too.
You can watch full episodes of Outsiding on Spotify and YouTube.
Outsiding is a Cold Glass Production
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAdam Frost· Host0:00
Outsideen is a Cold Glass production. [upbeat music] This is Outsideen and I am Adam Frost. I'm a gardener and a designer. And if you're at home on a Friday night watching the telly, you might see me talking about both of those things.
Caitlin Moran· Host0:14
I'm Caitlin Moran. I spend a lot of time doing two things. The first is writing. I write books, I write for newspapers. But the other thing I spend a lot of time doing is gardening. This is a show all about our shared passion of just being outside, being outdoors.
Adam Frost· Host0:34
[laughs] It is, it is. For me, I'm hoping that it becomes a place where people can escape to. A bit like maybe the countryside, your garden, whatever it is. It's all about that connection we have to nature as human beings. And we're lucky, I think.
Caitlin Moran· Host0:53
That moment where you close either the front door or the back door behind you and take that deep breath and go, "I am Outsideen now."
Adam Frost· Host0:59
And so week on week, we're gonna meet a new person that hopefully celebrates the same things that we do.
Caitlin Moran· Host1:06
So today we're in my garden, which I can reveal to you, I've spent the last two weeks zhuzhing so that it meets your approving eye. But I'm also gonna introduce you to the biggest news in my life. I have a whole new garden, which I'm starting to make over from scratch, with, I believe, your help all the way to make it look beautiful.
Adam Frost· Host1:21
Yeah, but someone's only just told me that. [laughs] I realize the real reason I'm here is so that you get a free garden.
Caitlin Moran· Host1:29
Yes, it's working