Rocker Jon Bon Jovi joins Dermot O’Leary for the latest episode in the occasional series Reel Stories

Saturday: Jon Bon Jovi: Reel Stories (BBC Two, 9.30pm)

In April, the four-part documentary Thank You, Good Night: The Bon Jovi Story came to Disney+, charting his band’s rise to fame and the pressures that came with it.

Now, he’s joining Dermot O’Leary for the latest episode in the occasional series Reel Stories, in which musicians sit down with the Radio 2 DJ in a London cinema to look back at some of the pivotal moments in their lives.

At least Jon is in good company though as he takes stock of his career – on the same day he turned up, Shania Twain was also there to record her Reel Story.

Jon Bon Jovi has been in a reflective mood lately

Jon says: “Dermot was a great conversation and he took me on a trip through some very special memories. It was incredible to see the band’s 40-year journey on the screen in a theatre. And what a wonderful coincidence that my sister Shania was there filming on the same day, and I look forward to seeing her journey on what will be a great episode. Thanks Dermot!!”

Shania adds: “Neat that Jon was going in to do the same thing with Dermot on the same day. I can’t wait to see his episode. We are such great friends, and he is so talented as an artist.”

Luckily, Shania doesn’t have to wait long to see the results of her mate’s trip down memory lane, as his episode airs tonight.

It begins not with a clip of the man himself, but Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes performing on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977. Along with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, they were a huge influence on a teenage John Bongiovi (he’d later change the spelling) while he was growing up in New Jersey.

In the early 1980s, Jon got to play some of the clubs where his heroes got their big break, initially with his cover band, Atlantic City Expressway, but he eventually began writing his own songs.

The band Bon Jovi formed in 1983, and would have their international breakthrough with their third album, 1986’s Slippery When Wet – aka the one with Livin’ on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name and Wanted Dead or Alive.

Jon talks to Dermot about the high and lows of worldwide superstardom, and the toll that intense years of touring took on the band – and his mental health.

As we move into the 1990s and the Keep the Faith era, Jon speaks about how the band took control of their own career and faced the challenge of keeping their musical identity as rock fans moved away from the big-haired sound of the 1980s.

He also opens up about his relationship with his UK fans, losing his musical partner, Richie Sambora, who left the band in 2013, and the vocal issues he experienced in 2015.

If that wasn’t enough Bon Jovi for one night, the show is preceded by Bon Jovi at the BBC and then, after a break for Later… with Jools Holland, BBC2 brings us Bon Jovi in Concert.