Hair today

But yesterday there were no flames when he visited the town with his equally hairy biker friend, Si King.

The two were in town to promote their new book, The Hairy Bikers' Cookbook, which goes on sale today.

Dave said: "The last time I was here was as a make-up artist making The Life And Loves Of A She-Devil. We burnt a house down on some posh estate."

The "posh estate" was Marlborough Road where a house was indeed set on fire in 1986 for the television production, starring Dennis Waterman.

The two northerners, whose new series is currently being shown on BBC2, may seem to be sudden successes, but they have worked in television for many years behind the cameras.

Si, from Newcastle, has worked as locations manager for the Harry Potter films while Cumbrian Dave's credits as a make-up artist include the recent BBC1 hit Spooks.

The pair met 17 years ago while working on a Catherine Cookson drama and discovered they both shared a love of food and travel.

They seem genuinely surprised at their new-found fame.

Si said: "I don't know how we're coping with it yet as it's all so new.

"People are so kind and nice I'm not being sycophantic, it's just that we're getting lovely feedback."

The reason they have not acclimatised to their fame is the fact that no sooner were the first programmes shown than they were off round the world making the current series.

Si said: "We didn't get back from Mexico until January and now we're doing the book tour."

Dave said: "Somebody came up to me and asked if I was that bloke off the telly.

"I said I supposed I was and she said he's a bit fatter than you'."

He said that their previous career had not given them an easy ride into television stardom.

"It's taken us three years to get this off the ground," he said. "But even though we have a TV background we didn't get any favours."

The Hairy Bikers' Cookbook costs £20 and is available in bookstores from today.

The television programme is at 8pm on BBC2 on Wednesdays.