REMEMBER the hilarious Hairy Bikers' whose novel new cookery programme was piloted on BBC2 at the beginning of the year?

Well, the boys have just spent the past few months filming their first series which is set to go out early in the New Year.

Dave Myers who hails from Roa Island and his chum Simon King, from the North East, set off on six motorbike quests to find out about the food from Namibia, the Isle of Man and Ireland, Transylvania, Turkey, Vietnam and Mexico.

Not exactly on the beaten track, which makes the prospect of another episode of the Hairy Bikers Cookbook all the more exciting.

The BBC commissioned 12 programmes which are due to be transmitted in two parts six early in the new year and another six in the spring.

Dave and Si lifelong foodies rather than professional chefs - met 17 years ago behind the scenes of a Catherine Cookson drama. Dave is a former furnace-man, born and bred in Barrow. He works as a make-up artist specialising in prosthetics; his numerous credits include The Life and Loves of a She Devil and the BBC One hit Spooks. Si, meanwhile, who hails from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was a first assistant director and locations manager for film and television. His credits include the Harry Potter movies.

The Hairy Bikers Cookbook, produced by John Stroud (My Hero) and Vikram Jayanti (When We Were Kings), is a Big Bear Films/VixPix Films Production for BBC Two. Michael Joseph/Penguin will publish the first of two commissioned books in the spring.