Rob Brydon goes on a trip of a different kind when he teams up with Bear Grylls in Wales for a TV special.

 

in Bear’s Mission with Rob Brydon they embark on a mission across the wilds of Snowdonia, a journey through the country that shaped Rob as a young man. 

 

Rob’s overcome years of heckles and stage fright to make the British public laugh but can he hold his nerve when Bear tears up the script and puts him on a very different stage in the Welsh wilderness?

 

As Rob waits for Bear to arrive, his doubts start to kick in. He says: “This is not my usual habitat, I was on stage last night doing a stand-up show…I do have a horrible nagging fear that when it gets to it. I think, actually, oh I can’t do this. There is a fear of bottling it.”

 

“This is reminding me when I was about six. I joined the Cubs for a week and left because it was too rough. So this really is a chance for me to redeem that little boy that wimped out of the Cubs. If I have to die anywhere – Wales,” says Rob.

 

He starts his journey with Bear with an open door helicopter ride up into the Welsh mountains. Their target is a lake nestled between long abandoned slate mines and rolling mountains and hills.

 

On arrival at the lake, the helicopter settles into a hover and, after a brief moment of hesitation, Bear and Rob leap off the skids and drop 30 feet into the freezing water below. After a bracing swim, they climb out, warm up and the journey overland begins. 

 

Next Bear surprises Rob with a mission to abseil into a sink hole, with a massive span of 450 feet across and steep slate walls that drop down to a depth of 200 feet.

 

Rob’s not convinced it’s a good idea but Bear has dropped their food and supplies into the hole so they have no option but to rope down to retrieve it. It’s a massive abseil even for a seasoned climber with the skills of Bear Grylls, who admits, “It’s a long way down.” To test Rob, Bear goes ahead. He’s keen to see if a solo abseil will reveal a new side to Rob. Will his legendary humour hold out or his stage fright get the better of him?

 

After an exhausting day, Bear promises Rob a night of warmth and comfort, but their ideas of luxury are way, way different. Rob is instructed to make a shelter on rocky, uneven grass in the skeleton of a former miner’s cottage, in an abandoned slate mining village. It’s the Welsh mountains at their most bleak, but after Bear teaches Rob how to light a fire in the wind and damp, Rob soon warms up and he's back to cracking gags again

 

Finally, after a tense trek into the heart of the mountainside, they have to make their escape, climbing up a treacherous, near vertical mine shaft. Does Rob have enough strength left in his tank to haul himself up and out - and is he still smiling after his mission with Bear? 

 

Bear’s Mission with Rob Brydon, Friday, November 3, 9pm.