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The Accidental Angler

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The Accidental Angler

If Michael Palin had a fishing rod, he'd be Charles Rangeley-Wilson - globetrotter, writer, and thoroughly lovely chap.

He's the star of The Accidental Angler, the show that will make even the staunchest anti-angler develop a sudden and unfeasible interest in trout.

Unless you're a keen angler, chances are you've never watched a fishing programme. Except perhaps while channel-hopping, and for a few terrifying seconds you find yourself confronted with the sight of a middle-aged man looking inordinately fond of a big wet carp - at which point your thumb's emergency reflexes kick in and you're safely among the music channels again.

But listen up: you're about to change your mind about fishing shows.

And that's mainly because The Accidental Angler isn't really a fishing show in the ordinary sense. It's more of a fishy odyssey, following Charles Rangeley-Wilson as he seeks out the most unusual fishing, and fishing locations, around the world – from the Kingdom of Bhutan to the Amazon rainforest.

He also shows us London as we've never seen it before, by going underground to show us the hidden rivers flowing beneath the streets of our capital. And if you think you're indifferent to fish, wait till you see the peacock bass. Grab your rod, you've pulled.

Who is this Charles Rangeley-Wilson anyway?

Charles Rangeley-Wilson has been variously called the Simon Schama, Alan Titchmarsh and Jamie Oliver of angling. Which is quite a career leap, as he actually used to be an art historian before he chucked it all in to devote himself to become a freelance fishing writer.

He first made a splash in 2004 with a lively book about fly fishing (JR Hartley??) called Somewhere Else. This led to a phonecall from a producer at BBC Bristol, who said they were thinking of bringing a fishing programme to primetime telly, and did Charles have any ideas for what it should be like? Charles did indeed, saying that in order to pull in audiences they had to "de-anorak" angling and make it as much about travel as anything else.

The fishing would merely provide a mission objective – a reason to travel and meet eccentric locals around the world. "The fishing rod is the key to the world," as Charles says. "One rod to rule them all, one rod to find them." Actually he didn't say that last bit, but it would be cool if he had.