Bob Mortimer recovered from his heart operation with a diet of fish and soup.

Bob Mortimer

Bob Mortimer

The 59-year-old comic - who underwent a triple bypass in 2015 - has given up smoking and cut out dairy from his diet in order to be healthier.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper, he said: "I've had to cut out smoking and saturated fats. I was on 20 a day.

"When they do the operation they hook you up to big nicotine patches so you don't want them anymore.

"So there's no more dairy, red meat. I eat a lot of fish and soup now."

The 'Vic and Bob's Big Night Out' star previously praised his pal Paul Whitehouse for helping with his recovery by getting him out of the house and on fishing trips, which inspired their TV show 'Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing'.

He previously said: "It's been spectacular in terms of my mental health and my well-being.

"When I was sat at home after I had my operation, the first few nights I was really, really frightened. You are very aware of any little movement in your heart and you think you're a goner.

"I had a new drive to do something with my life after a brush with mortality but I didn't quite know what it might be."

Paul, 60, admitted he and Bob liked the idea of the show because they were able to "behave like children" while trying to catch some dinner.

He said: "We thought it was quite a humorous idea, these two old idiots, really, behaving like children."

'Vic & Bob's Big Night Out' airs Wednesday at 10pm on BBC4.