He and his wife, Jackie, are coming to Northern Ireland for a BBC programme which will see them travelling across the Province, with the people as their guides.

"We're at the complete disposal of the people of Northern Ireland," Laurence said.

"We'll be handed an envelope each day and the cameras will roll – so if people say we should go abseiling that's what we'll have to do."

The 43-year-old shot to fame as part of the team on hit make over show
Changing Rooms – with his idiosyncratic tastes and glamourous dress sense – and has gone on to be a successful presenter in his own right.

Jackie has been an increasing presence at Laurence's side, most recently
in To The Manor Bowen, a series which charted the pair's move to the country.

Now the couple are in Ulster looking for things to do, places to stay, experiences to have, establishments to dine in and places to visit as part of Laurence and Jackie's Northern Exposure.

"The point of it is to discover the undiscovered," Laurence said.

"We want to get a very personal, very individual and a very original slant on the counties that we visit."

Of course, for many couples, the idea of being cooped up in a car with your other half driving across Northern Ireland could spell the end of the relationship.

"We're made of sterner stuff," Laurence said.

"But I can't say that we'll be loveydovey all the way through – we have a capacity to bicker wherever we are."

And Jackie said that travelling by road was the best way to experience a country: "You discover a lot of things when you're driving from one place to another – if you're travelling any other way you'd miss those things."

While the couple have been in some of the globe's most exotic locations, and experienced the finest hotels, they're relishing the prospect of the more down-to-earth aspects of Ulster life.

"We'll be coming at it wide-eyed, and judging all these things based on a level of sophistication," Laurence said.

And he added that, just because a hotel is the most expensive in the world it might not necessarily be the best.

"You should be able to have a glamourous, sophisticated and interesting
experience no matter where you go, and this series should be testament to that."

Jackie said it's the love of travel which has drawn the couple to this series: "We enjoy travelling and the whole experience of it, if someone says they want to pay you to go around Northern Ireland and have all sorts of wonderful experiences I can't think of anyone who'd say
no."

The pair also said that the series comes as Ulster is establishing itself as a tourist destination.

"For too long Northern Ireland was on the front page," Laurence said.

Jackie added: "When I was growing up Northern Ireland was a scary, dangerous place and it was difficult to imaginegoing there on holiday.

"To be able to come here and experience it from a different point of view means a lot."

To make a suggestion as part of Laurence and Jackie's Northern
Exposure just log on to www.bbc.co.uk/northern exposure