Paul Whitehouse is one of a handful of comedian actors who defined a generation along with the likes of Harry Enfield, Vic Reeves, and Hugh Laurie for more than three decades.
But now he's back on our screens to take a sedate trip down memory lane with his old pal and comedy great Bob Mortimer in the BBC's Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.
And although the show has less fish and more, as Paul puts it 'a lot of talking nonsense' , the show has unearthed little known facts about the star's personal life.
Paul, 63, divorced his wife after something of a 'mid life crisis' in early 2000s and got together with 41-year-old academic Mine Conkbayir ever since.
They met when she was 23, a student, and working in a shop and even had Paul's autograph as a huge fan.
Speaking about the start of their relationship, Mine told the Mail Online : "Paul used to come in regularly. I’d try to act unfazed but inside I was bursting. I would buy tickets for his shows and he’d promise to get me backstage.
"There was a bit of banter between us and then a few dates."
They went out for dinner and Mine took a reluctant Whitehouse to an art gallery. She also got him to come to her college – City and Islington, where she was studying childcare – for a fundraising event.
It was a slow-burn relationship. She remembers: "Paul was understandably scared because of the age gap and his celebrity status – I guess he had to ask himself what I really wanted."
The couple have a daughter Delilah, and he is father to two daughters from his previous marriage to wife Fiona. Mine and Paul rather unorthodox don't share a house but instead live nearby each other in North London.
And when he's not chatting with pals on river banks he's rehearsing for Only Fools and Horses The Musical, opening 9 February at Theatre Royal Haymarket.
