Barry Sheene was truly extraordinary. Many Brits still remember him for advertising Brut aftershave to the masses on television in the early 1980s. Indeed, the twice world 500cc motorcycling champion was the perfect advertising vehicle: machismo on hot wheels with irresistible cheek.

Men loved him for his 200 miles per hour driving talent. Women also loved him, often going beyond the metaphysical boundary to prove it. Sheene once claimed that he lost his virginity at the age of 14 on a snooker table in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields in London.

This one off documentary, which is narrated by actor Ewan McGregor, features unseen home movie footage and full access to Barry’s friends and family members. It also contains contributions from people who shared Barry’s life both on and off the track. We meet a cast of celebrities – such as Sting, Jade Jagger, Gordon Ramsey and Robbie Williams – who have been influenced by Sheene’s career and accomplishments.

The documentary takes us through all of the great races, the famous crashes – and the hilarious playboy antics. In 1975, a blown rear tyre caused Barry to crash at 280 kilometres per hour during practice for the Daytona 200 in Florida. He shattered his left leg, smashed his thigh, broke six ribs, fractured one of his wrists, and wrecked his collarbone. When he woke up in hospital, he famously asked the nurse for "a fag".

One of Sheene’s favourite stories deals with a properly spoken BBC interviewer who asked him what was going through his mind at the moment of impact. "Your arse, if you're going fast enough," Barry replied delightedly into the microphone.

In 1982, when he was already the double world champion, Barry crashed at Silverstone during practice for the British Grand Prix. Claiming in his defence that it: "Wasn't my fault; came over a hill and there was a wreck right in front of me", Sheene turned his legs into a "jigsaw puzzle" for a surgeon to spend eight hours realigning. Two 18-centimetre pillars of stainless steel, two 13-centimetre plates and 26 steel screws later, he had a pair of legs again.

Medical staff told him it would take three months for him to bend his knees to an angle of 90 degrees again. In typical Sheene style, it took him two weeks and four days to manage 110 degrees. "The Silverstone crash was different," he said. "That was major - I could have ended up legless. My left leg was hanging on by the femoral artery."

With characteristic understatement, Sheene summed up his glorious career thus: "All I was doing was racing a bloody motorbike." Sheene loved his life of racing, winning, clubbing, drinking, and smoking Gauloises. Sheene was also more than just a bike rider – he also appeared in the opera Tosca at Covent Garden alongside Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi for three seasons. This documentary outlines a life which you truly could not make up.