Adventurous comedy line-up announced for new series of David Mitchell's Outsiders

He’ll even soon be seen in his own detective comedy, Ludwig, where he stars alongside Motherland’s Anna Maxwell Martin.

However, if you had to pick a celebrity to help you survive in the wilderness following the breakdown of society, he might not be your first choice.

So, you may be surprised to find him presenting this series. If you didn’t see David Mitchell’s Outsiders when it initially aired on Dave, it takes three pairs of comedians and finds out how they would cope in the great outdoors.

As David explained ahead of the first run: “The concept is, can the contestants learn skills to survive without all the stuff we all live with every day: the buildings, the shops, the Wi-Fi, the electricity?

“That’s a question that people have asked themselves, literally for centuries, even at times when we would consider they had no modern technology. [Even then], they were thinking maybe we should be living a more rural, a more basic existence.”

He adds: “So it’s a show that comedically addresses that question. It’s particularly apposite now when the pandemic and the threat of climate change is making us probably ask that question even more.”

Luckily, it seems he won’t be offended if anyone suggests that he doesn’t seem like a survivalist – by his own admission, he’s glad he’s hosting the show and not competing himself. Asked to list the qualities someone needs to succeed, he says: “[They need] not to be too attached to personal comfort, to be a natural rule-breaker, and be physically deft.

“I’ve described the opposite of me.”

Still, many viewers would think he’s a being far too self-deprecating when he suggests that his very existence may be a sign that we need to go back to basics.

He jokes: “We’ve created weird creatures like me who can’t begin to think about building his own shelter. I need an economy, whereby I make sarcastic remarks in an attempt to amuse, and that means other people will provide me with food and shelter.”

Tonight, we meet the six comedians who are hoping to prove that they could survive if society – including the comedy circuit – collapsed. The teams are Ed Gamble and Lou Sanders, Kerry Godliman and Toussaint Douglass, and Jessica Knappett and Jamali Maddix.

On their first day, the Outsiders have to compete in three challenges – felling a tree, rescuing an air crash victim and inventing a camp motto – before David reviews their progress and decides who has earned a badge. (Maybe think of him as the show’s Scoutmaster rather than the Taskmaster.)

In the second episode, they try their hands at milking goats, which could be particularly challenging for vegan Lou.