Removing 30% of my penis saved my life – this is why I let the surgery be filmed

"The whole purpose of it is to raise awareness of men's cancer," he said.

"If there's one person out there who's got something wrong with their penis but is too embarrassed to go to the doctor and he watches this programme and says 'I'd better go to the doctor', that's basically the whole purpose of it.

"It's so difficult to spot. There are very few symptoms. It could just be a wee spot on your penis.

"If anyone finds a lump or is having problems with erection or blood, just get checked out."

Alastair's lump was on the head of his penis. It wasn't painful but grew, and at one point he noticed blood.

His surgery was carried out by Consultant Urological surgeon CJ Shukla at Edinburgh's Western General Hospital.

It is one of only two centres in Scotland able to treat very rare male cancers.

Alastair has already seen a preview of the programme.

"I must admit, I thought it was pretty gruesome to be perfectly honest," he said. "You see in the programme that I have a major bleed. When I watched it I said 'well nobody told me about that'.

"But my surgeon just said it was nothing, that it happens all the time."

Despite the gory content, Alastair - who has been back at work for five-and-half months - admits he will probably watch his surgery again when the programme airs.

"I want to thank the surgeons and all the staff at the Western General in Edinburgh and the district nurses," he said.

"The treatment I got was unbelievable. I can't fault it at all. I can't thank the NHS enough.

"Dr Shukla basically saved my life."

Shukla, who has been a consultant for 14 years, said Scotland has the highest incidents of penile cancer in the UK.

"The projection is that by 2030 to 2040 it's just going to go higher and higher so we need to be prepared to look after these patients well, " he said.

"It's typical for us to see patients who have sat on this for two or three months before they see doctors."

He said many patients had never heard of penile cancer and that even with prostate cancer - where there is more awareness - men shy away from getting help due to embarrassment.

He said GPs can also misdiagnose the cancer as the yeast infection thrush, and it is not until weeks of treatment have passed that the patient is referred to hospital.

Even then, they are usually first sent to a local hospital before eventually getting access to one of the specialist centres.

"It's important for men to act quickly," Shukla said.

"The question is why are we higher than the rest of the UK?"

He said risk factors included smoking, obesity, hygiene and having human papillomavirus (HPV) - many of which could be linked to social deprivation.

But, he said, anyone could get the condition, no matter their age or social background. He believes Scotland needs more nurse practitioners and psychological support for sufferers.

This is the first time Shukla has featured in the TV series.

"For me, the driving force was to try and see if there would be patients willing to share their story and Alistair is pretty brave to put his story out there because it's deeply personal," he said.

"It's about sharing his story so other men can benefit from this."

Surgeons: At The Edge of Life will be broadcast on BBC Two at 21:00 on Wednesday, on BBC Scotland at 21:00 on Monday 11 May, and is available on the BBC iPlayer from 06:00 on Thursday 6 May.