If there’s anyone who has been on the box this year who can claim to be my hero, then Bruce Parry is top of the pile. In Amazon with Bruce Parry (BBC Two) he was all-action and mucking in… yet, more than just another Bear Grylls, he was also quite the anthropologist… and somewhere, in all that, was probably the nicest bloke I’ve seen all year.

Related: Our reviews of Amazon with Bruce Parry | Our Top 50 of 2008

On the face of things, this show was no more than a bloke on a mission… an epic mission. To go from the first trickling beginnings of the Amazon, all the way down through huge expanses of water, and everything in and around it. Now this wasn’t like mooching around the Thames or some piddling little English lake… this was a vast journey filled with incredible wildlife, amazing scenery and, most important, the meeting of forgotten tribes fighting against the Westernisation of Brazil.

However, because Bruce is clearly a man who does things properly, he wasn’t there to just takes notes and observe, but rather, become part of the Amazon. The enthusiasm in which he immersed himself was more than admirable. Here, we had a boy who took the rough with smooth with equal gusto. So be it some hilarious shots of Bruce popping his collar in a Brazilian nightclub, or vomiting for 22 hours after taking mind-bending drugs, or getting stuck into some gruelling logging work, Bruce was there, giving 100%.

His vigour was noted by the tribes, who soon had their misgivings about Whitey eschewed. Nearly all of them were completely broken down by Bruce who fixed all cynicism with a big grin and a whole load of graft and patience. For the viewer, the rewards were rich. That said, not as rich as Parry’s, who was clearly becoming more than fond of that part of South America. As the show closed, you could tell that he’d left his heart in Amazonia.

Underlying all this was just how the Amazon is in a constant state of turmoil, with big corps wading in and making off with resources and decimating the indigenous folk’s habitat. However, not one to judge, Bruce met all with the same friendly grin, saving his judgement for hindsight. All in all, this was a stupendous show that had to be seen to be believed… and there’s me thinking it was going to be a load of crap when I first tuned in. Vintage telly.