Retired Countdown host Nick Hewer, 78, on catholic school, ageing, mental health and the Scottish Isles.
How are you today?
I’m a bit slow. You’ll have to beat me with a stick or something to sharpen me up.
Is it just one of those mornings?
Yeah, I think it’s the weather. Yesterday was so brilliant and now I’m looking out and it’s driving rain. I’m one of those people who suffer from SAD [seasonal affective disorder].
It’s a bloody nightmare.
When my wife gets up in the morning she brings me tea at 8am wearing a kimono.
I ask her, ‘What sort of day is it?’ If she says it’s lovely out then we can draw the curtains but if she says the weather is horrible then the curtains stay firmly closed until I feel like getting up, which is late because I’m now retired.
Have you ever used a lamp to combat SAD?
I did when I was on Countdown in the early days. I was anxious and I didn’t sleep well.
I had a lamp to wake you up gently. It was like a slow dawn. It’s in a cupboard here somewhere.
I don’t know whether I believe in it or not.
You bid farewell to hosting Countdown after 10 years. What was it about this Pilgrimage: The Road To The Scottish Isles that lured you back to TV?
I am actually quite old. I’m 78 and during lockdown I discovered that this home life with my garden and partner, Catherine, has something going for it.
But then something comes along that’s interesting. This Pilgrimage is that.
An easy decision to make?
I was a nuisance because I dithered and couldn’t make up my mind.
I thought, ‘Can I walk up mountains for two weeks?’ In the event, I could, which amazed me and gave me a great deal of confidence.
I mean, it rained solidly the whole time, but it didn’t matter.
You’ve described yourself as a lapsed Anglo-Catholic. Was this pilgrimage also about rediscovering your faith?
I was brought up by an Irish Catholic mother and propelled from Wiltshire to a great school called Clongowes Wood in County Kildare run by Jesuit priests.
When I left at the age of 18 I’m afraid Catholicism sort of fell away.
But I thought, as I’m getting old, I’d like to straighten it out to see if there’s anything I can believe in before I hit the deck.
To show you how imminent that might be, Catherine and I have just bought a double grave. So we’re on it.
Who did you recognise when you met your fellow pilgrims? The first person you clapped eyes on was ex-Gogglebox star Scarlett Moffatt…
Yes, Scarlett, who is a super young woman.
She’s very interesting but I had never heard of her because I’m old. I don’t watch Instagram and all that stuff. I don’t think I was aware of any of them.
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, slightly aware of him.
Laurence arrives in spectacular fashion on a motorbike…
He can’t bear not to, really.
Have you had any experiences that suggest a higher power?
No. You’d be tramping along in the driving rain with 400 kilos on your back, squelching up a mountain pass, and the TV crew would say, ‘Have you found anything today on the God front?’ I would say, ‘No, but what I have felt is the extraordinary impact of nature.’
Talking of sitting at the right hand of God, when were you last in touch with Lord Sugar?
He emailed me the other day and I emailed him back on an issue.
I said, ‘By the way, I’m putting my money on The Pyjama Queen, fabulous girl.’ [Kathryn Burn on The Apprentice, who has a business called My Everyday Pyjamas.]
He didn’t reply. He’s very canny. He probably thought I was trying to suss him out.
Anyway, I was wrong because she lost in the final to Harpreet Kaur.
Are you still in touch with Margaret Mountford?
I catch her between her almost daily visits to either the opera or Wigmore Hall.
She’s wonderful.
We keep saying, ‘We must meet for lunch.’ You know what it’s like… even though I am retired, I’m frantic.
Do you and Margaret do WhatsApp?
No, we don’t understand all of that. We talk on the phone.
Do you still drive?
I do but I’ve just recovered my car from the garage because I rammed it into a wall.
How did that happen?
I was in France. I was looking for the hotel that I had booked on my phone.
I kept ringing up the bloke and he said, ‘It’s right next to such and such a hotel. You can’t miss it.’ I could miss it because it was in darkness! I did a U-turn and failed to notice a very low wall.
Anyway, I’ve just picked it up from having the dents knocked out.
Pilgrimage: The Road To The Scottish Isles is on BBC2 at 9pm on Friday.
