It's normally Jonathan Dimbleby asking the questions. Whether he's interviewing the Prince of Wales or Gorbachev, little gets past this BBC journalist. But now the tables have turned and he's here to talk about his new TV series and book Russia, in which he not only explores post-communism but also finds himself.

Switch on to BBC2's Russia: A Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby on Sunday nights and you'll be hooked. It took Dimbleby two years to complete - 18 weeks spent in Russia itself - and was, by any stretch of the imagination, a mammoth undertaking.

From being whipped with birch twigs to stroked with a knife by a white witch, Dimbleby puts his life and soul into this programme, which is probably why it's so addictive. But while travelling, the 63-year-old also quite publicly comes to terms with his own tangled life and found the whole experience hugely cathartic.

"Yes, it's a relief, not only to be home but also to see that the whole project is a success because the response has been overwhelming. From CEOs to the woman who runs the greasy spoon at Totnes station, the programme seems to have touched everyone. And it seems to me that the BBC should have more confidence in the British public," he says.

This is typical Dimbleby, outspoken and keen to make his opinions known. And while he has time to expound on his theories of Russia in the book, on TV he lets the people speak for themselves.

"I wanted to get behind the headlines and inside the skin of Russia and show how the country actually works rather than making it another travelogue, even if Russia is really run by a gang of crypto-fascists.

"Because when most people say they've been to Russia they mean Moscow, St Petersburg or the Trans-Siberian railway, and I strongly felt that rather that rather than waltzing in wearing a blue shirt and talking about how I got there, I should let them speak for themselves."

So how did he find them? "Curious, friendly, resilient, fatalistic and very good at drinking vodka," he laughs. Despite these heart-felt objectives Dimbleby was still terrified by the enormity of the project.

"I had to give up everything I was doing at the time to take it on, including the political TV stuff, and I did get cold feet just because of the sheer scale of the task ahead. I felt that I was sacrificing a nice safe career for an unknown venture in an alien land - and for what?"

So the highs and lows? "Galloping along the mountain ridges on horseback in the mountains near Mongolia herding deer, which was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time, and the lows were perhaps the homesickness ..."

This is a hugely understated way of mentioning the huge "emotional rollercoaster" that Dimbleby experienced during the making of the Russia series. Having publicly left his wife Bel Mooney for his lover Susan Chilcott in 2003, Susan then died soon after of breast cancer and he was left bereft and on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Despite remarrying, moving to Devon and becoming a dad for the second time, Dimbleby was still prone to bouts of depression that resurfaced during filming.

"I am very forthcoming in my book about all this," he says uncomfortably, when questioned. "But yes I did go through periods when I felt very bleak and once or twice I did think about giving up and wondered what on earth I was doing there.

"But it was so fascinating and interesting that once I got back into my stride it was bearable.

"I suppose it was a parallel journey on the exterior and interior for me so that I now feel a sense of triumph - a professional triumph for completing the journey and a private one for laying a lot of demons to rest.

"Russia was professionally and psychologically healing. But while I find it difficult to talk about I did write it all down, and the book is my baby."

Speaking of babies, how is 10 month-old Daisy?

"Just the intensity of seeing this little creature growing and developing in front of your very eyes ... I love it. I love all of it. I'm just incredibly proud. So I suppose you could say I'm just enjoying the moment. What's there to worry about?"

The programme airs on BBC2 at 10pm and the book Russia: A Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby is published by BBC Books, priced £25. Jonathan Dimbleby is coming to speak and sign copies at Borders in Magdalen Street, Oxford, on Tuesday. The event starts at 7pm - phone 01865 203901 for tickets. The first 100 people to buy a copy will receive a complimentary Oxford Mail.