Hairy Bikers: When Dave Myers met Si King

Along with fellow chef Simon “Si” King, Myers shot to fame with their unique television series, which included a mixture of travelling and cooking, over the past 20 years.

The Hairy Bikers BBC TV show began in 2004, attracting a regular audience of six million viewers, but Dave Myers and Si King were friends for almost 30 years.

They came from different backgrounds but their bond through their mutual love of cooking and travelling by motorbike made their friendship even greater.

Dave Myers early life

Born in Barrow-in-Furness in September 1957, Myers attended grammar school, but his personal life was beset by heartbreak when his mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Myers and his father became her carers. As her condition gradually deteriorated, he learned to cook meals for his mother. He described it as “muddling through each day”, after learning to cook at the age of 11, using a recipe book to make simple pies and stews from whatever ingredients were in the cupboard.

He said his mum, who died when he was 23, had been a “fabulous cook” before her illness and the youngster would sit at her feet while she prepared family meals.

His love of motorbikes began as a child, as he would sit in the saddle of his father’s motorcycle and pretend to be riding it.

Myers then went on to complete a fine art degree at Goldsmiths at the University of London. Later, after completing his MA in art history, he became a professional makeup artist.

In his leisure time, he enjoyed many a trip on his Cossack Ural Mars Mark II, complete with sidecar.

Si King early years

Born in Kibblesworth, Tyne and Wear, in October 1966, Si King wanted to be a priest when in his teens but joked that he decided against this when he discovered music and girls.

His father became a motorbike despatch rider after serving with the Royal Navy during World War II, sparking the youngster’s interest in motorcycles.

After attending St Robert of Newminster Catholic School in Washington, Tyne and Wear, he started working in television and film production, including some of the Harry Potter films.

When Dave Myers met Si King, they were both working behind the scenes on the same television show in 1995. King was appointed an assistant director on the television drama series, The Gambling Man, starring Robson Green as a poker-playing rent collector. Myers was a makeup artist on the same ITV mini-series. Their first meeting was over a curry and they started talking about food and bikes right away. As memorable meetings go, this one was very important, as it formed the basis not only for their good friendship, but also for two decades of the Hairy Bikers TV show.

First cooking session

Later, in an interview, Myers recalled how motorbikes were their “first shared passion”. He said King actually sold him “the worst motorcycle you have ever seen” and Myers soon realised he wanted a refund! King agreed and drove a minibus up to Scotland to meet Myers, who lived in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, at the time, as he planned to transport the bike back to Newcastle.

Rather than ruining their friendship, the incident cemented it, as King took his family to Scotland and spent the New Year there. This was the first time that Si King and Dave Myers cooked together, as they made a family meal, comprising a roast shoulder of pork, saffron rice, Thai green curry and a dessert of Southern Comfort-flambéed bananas and ice-cream.

After his first holiday to Huntly, King would visit quite often on his motorcycle. He and Myers went travelling, fishing and eating along the beautiful Scottish west coast.

What started out as cooking and travelling for fun turned into their career, although King later said that they hadn’t really intended doing a cookery programme. He said when they formed the plan to make a TV series, they intended “riding motorcycles and chatting to people”, while studying regional culture through food.

However, somewhere along the line, their own culinary skills became the main focus of the show, which was first aired in 2004 by the BBC.

Favourite adventures

The duo travelled all over the world to make their show, including around Britain and farther afield to the United States for the The Hairy Bikers’ Mississippi Adventure; and to Asia for The Hairy Bikers’ Asian Adventure.

King later said one of his favourite places was southern India, where the population eat mainly vegetarian food, with 10,000 years of heritage going into the recipes and cooking styles.

Myers said his favourite was Italian food for day-to-day eating, admitting he had successfully learned how to cook pasta, for the first time in his life, at the age of 60!

In recent years, considering the economic crisis and people eating on a budget, they put the emphasis on helping families to eat healthy meals that didn’t cost the earth: Myers devised a recipe for lamb and lentil meatballs comprising meatballs bulked out half and half with lentils, explaining this was better for people’s health and also cheaper, as a “sizeable meal” worked out at only £1.30 per portion.

Health concerns

Sadly, in May 2022, Myers revealed to viewers that he had been diagnosed with cancer, for which he was having chemotherapy. Ten months later, when appearing on BBC Breakfast in January 2023, he updated fans on his continued treatment and also announced a new series of The Hairy Bikers television show.

His final series of the show, The Hairy Bikers Go West, started airing on BBC2 and iPlayer on 6th February 2024. Filmed in 2023, the boys travelled along the UK’s west coast, beginning in Scotland. It was a food and biking adventure that saw them return to nostalgic regions, including where they first met and the areas that had shaped their lives.

They also went to new places, travelling more than 600 miles on their famous motorbikes, exploring this beautiful coastal region and discovering some hidden gems.

Poignantly, Myers was asked how he wished to be remembered, to which he bravely replied he hoped it would be as a person who “had a go” to inspire others to “never limit their goals”.

Following his co-star and friend’s death, King said he hoped fans would watch the rest of the current “magical series”, because Myers would have wanted this.