Mechanic, motorcycle racer, and once the possessor of side chops that would have left Wolverine whimpering with envy, what else could he be named but Guy?

Besides matching all that testosterone, it is a neat fit for programme titles, as in Our Guy in Colombia (Channel 4, Sunday, 9pm).

Guy Martin is the name and amateur exploring is the game, or making travel documentaries as it used to be called. Whatever the label, the likable Martin has another success on his hands as he sets out to see if Colombia is a “narco superstate”, as the headlines shout, or a “thrillseeker’s paradise” trying to change its lot.

Cannonballing his way into the deep end as usual, Martin has a go at “gravity biking”, or racing down a mountainside as fast as possible on low-slung contraptions with no pedals. There is only one rule in gravity biking - never brake.

The sport has been banned by the authorities because of the number of deaths, but as Martin notes, the police have closed off the road to allow the race to happen. It’s all part of what you might call the country’s flexible attitude to law and order, which dovetails neatly with its citizens’ relaxed approach to risk.

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Among his interviewees is a drug dealer. “I hear you’ve got an interesting job,” is Martin’s opener, “what is it you do?” A laugh and a hearty shout of “big man” to everyone he encounters takes him further than most interviewers would get.

Also on Martin’s to do list is a ride-along with local police. They take him into the slums and start the main task of the day, stopping and searching residents. It strikes Martin that there are no gangsters here and certainly no glamour, just desperately poor people existing as best they can.

There are more eye-opening encounters to come as Martin brings the story of Colombia up to date. He’s particularly impressed with the cable car public transport system that’s quick to install and easy to maintain. “British industry could learn a lot from this,” he says.

Looking beyond accepted notions is the business of another documentary series beginning this week. Reframed: Marilyn Monroe (BBC2, Friday, 9pm, 9.45pm), narrated by Jessica Chastain, is a retelling of the star’s story, one that does not present her as an eternal victim, as most have done. You know the script: poor Marilyn, helpless and exploited all her life by men, buffeted by fate and her demons. In the words of the song, a candle in the wind.

Reframed invites a host of biographers, critics, actors, and at least one psychoanalyst - all women in the episode I saw - to give their takes on the star.

Monroe’s life story was fictionalised from the start. As a young actress newly signed to a studio, the publicists spun the story that she was “discovered” while babysitting the children of a talent agent. Just the girl next door.

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In reality, her early years were spent in and out of children’s homes as her mother struggled with mental illness, her father nowhere to be seen. One way and another Norma Jean Baker worked hard on creating a version of herself to present to the world.

She did it well enough to land a one year contract with Fox. Among her first tasks was to choose a new name, one more suited to a glamorous life. That she chose her mother’s maiden name, Monroe, is seen by some observers as a feminist act. It shows, says one author, that she wanted control over her image from the beginning.

She stood up for herself in other ways, most notably turning down the advances of one studio boss, much to his fury.

Reframed is a “CNN original series” and its news pedigree shows in the pacy delivery, the quality of the talking heads and slick editing. The archive material, photographs, footage, and interview tapes, is superb. While some of it will be familiar, a surprising amount is newly unearthed or has rarely been seen.

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By the end of the first of four episodes the case for Monroe the unheralded feminist, the strong woman taking on the studio patriarchy, begins to appear.

Yet it’s like watching a photo develop. There is something there, but it’s not quite clear what. The real test lies ahead, as the film explores the years of stardom and decline. The Marilyn who sang Happy Birthday Mr President looked a long way from a woman happy in herself.

At the start of Bowie Night (BBC4, Wednesday, from 10pm) is a genuine treat. Cracked Actor follows the chameleon king on his two-state Diamond Dogs tour. Behind the camera on the 1974 film was a newcomer by the name of Alan Yentob.

Bowie was looking for a new direction, Yentob was out to make his mark and the result is one of the classic rock documentaries, oft imitated but rarely bettered. After it you can see Bowie in Bertolt Brecht’s Baal. How’s that for a weird Wednesday night’s viewing?