Nish Kumar and Josh Widdecombe desperately chase Boris Johnson for an interview in their new series Hold The Front Page (Picture: Sky)

Nish Kumar and Josh Widdecombe had one job: to interview Boris Johnson on behalf of the Blackpool Gazette.

The comedians ditched their day jobs in favour of becoming local news journalists for their new six-part Sky series, Hold The Front Page, a funny show that sees them travel around the UK working for different small-town publications.

For their first stop on their road to becoming reporters, Nish and Josh were in Blackpool, home of the Blackpool Pleasure Beach and the famous Blackpool Ballroom.

And it just so happened that former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, was also in town.

Despite being denied press accreditation to attend Johnson’s press conference and not having any details of a location, Nish and Josh were sent on a mission of tracking him down and putting questions to him, and they wasted no time in hitting the road.

The comedians pursue the former Prime Minister on foot (Picture: PA)

They eventually learned that he would be speaking at a local college, and the pair raced to get within the vicinity, eventually ditching their car and chasing the PM’s convoy on foot.

Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Nish admits that pursuing Johnson like a mad man was probably not the best idea.

‘In retrospect it might not have been my smartest move, chasing the Prime Minister’s motorcade down the road,’ he tells us. ‘You never know what’s going to happen in the moment. I don’t think I’ve ever moved that fast in my life. I was at full pelt.’

Weighing in on the dramatic events, Josh adds: ‘The edit, I would say, really mellows Nish down…. we just didn’t have enough time for the amount of diatribe.’

While Nish didn’t manage to put a question to the former Prime Minister on this occasion, he has been thinking about what he’d ask should they ever come face to face.

‘I’d like to think that I would ask him something about why he is such a stranger to the concept of shame,’ he says. ‘We recorded those scenes just after the no confidence vote that he sort of managed to win and lose at the same time.

‘He was removed from office in disgrace and within the year, he attempted to stage a comeback and I think there’s something so interesting about his particular brand of shamelessness.

‘He’s sort of an object lesson in what happens when there’s no accountability or consequences for your actions.’

After taking a moment to pause, Nish then quips: ‘What I’d really ask him is why don’t you go f*ck yourself?’

‘I think they were right not to give us the press accreditation,’ Josh cuts in, explaining that he probably would have bottled it.

‘I had to interview Ruth Davidson later on in the series and I just ended up chatting to her about Strictly,’ he bemoans.

Returning to Johnson shenanigans, Josh adds: ‘I think they actively avoided us. I think they were running scared. Maybe if he’d gone past us and Nish shouted at him, the nation would have felt bad for him, and he’d still be there.’

‘In the end, we all benefited,’ Nish points out.

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Josh and Nish’s hysterical journey into the heart of grassroots journalism is documented in Hold The Front Page, which launches on January 4.

With practically no journalistic experience they are forced to rely on their quick wits and natural curiosity as they attempt to dig up scoops to make their editors sing.

Hold the Front Page airs from January 4 on Sky Max and NOW.

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‘In the end, we all benefited.’