The St Helens link to Channel 4's Adam Hills: Take His Legs

John McKenna, who runs Noah Media Group who are behind the documentary and is a producer, grew up in the town and has realised an ambition to create a rugby league-themed programme.

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Adam Hills: Take His Legs follows the Australian comedian and his Warrington teammates’ journey from forming through open trials to becoming world champions within the space of six months.

John, 45, though now based in London grew up in Gillars Green and went to West Park and De La Salle schools.

John has worked his way through the ranks at ITV Sport before becoming an assistant producer, a producer and a director.

John went on to work freelance and was director of the first two series of The Last Leg, which is how he got to know Adam.

"As a massive rugby league fan I always wanted to do something around the sport," said John.

"When we went to Warrington to set up and put cameras alongside I didn't know how it would end up.

"We went to Australia and they became world champions which was amazing."

John, a Saints fan, travelled with Adam and Last Leg co-star Alex Brooker to Saints' World Club Challenge match against South Sydney Rabbitohs, Adam's team, in 2015.

"When I started (the documentary), I thought it would be Adam realising his childhood dreams," added John.

"He had to stop playing rugby league because his prosthetics leg would hurt who he was playing against.

"But I think what makes it really good and what the programme became is when we got to meet his teammates. The story actually became much bigger than just Adam's story. That surprised us and it's fantastic to see that evolve."

• The 60-minute, one-off special will air on Channel 4 at 11.30pm on Friday, December 13.