TWO 'likely lads' from Bolton were the stars of TV's travel show Doors To Manual last night.

Best mates Dave Barker and Nick Ashworth, were flown to the 24-hour party city of Madrid by the show's makers to enjoy what was billed as an "adventurous" itinerary.

This included skiing, spending a night dancing with naked painted ladies, chasing chickens, egg throwing, and bull fighting.

Different

Each week, the Channel Four show, presented by Danny O'Brien, follows a trio of travelling viewers to a different destination. But although they are all going to the same place, each has a unique personal itinerary. The choice is 'adventure', 'economy' and the 'ultimate'.

And our boys were chosen to follow the adventure itinerary.

When Bolton's daring duo are not appearing on prime time television, Dave from Templecombe Drive, Sharples, is a financial consultant, and Nick, of Abingdon Road, is an accounts manager.

Neither would divulge their ages, and both claimed to be single. Their once in a lifetime trip came about after Dave - who claims to be a well-known face on the town's night life circuit - watched the show last month. He was intrigued by an offer made at the end of the show, for viewers to go on holiday with the film crew.

After an initial telephone chat, the two lads were then interviewed face-to-face at a hotel in Manchester. And they obviously fitted the bill. Because a few days later they were asked to pack their bags for a weekend jaunt to Madrid.

Fantastic

"It was fantastic," enthused Dave. "Best laugh ever. They had us doing all sorts of things. If we weren't single before, we would definitely be single after this."

He added that at least 20,000 video recorders in Bolton would have been turned on last night to catch the pair's "10 minutes of fame".

Templecombe Drive is fast becoming a bit of a haunt for television companies. Just last month, Valerie and Derek Smith, who live up the road from Dave, were featured on the smash hit show, Changing Rooms.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.