Si King has revealed he was unable to do anything for years following the cancer diagnosis and death of his best friend and Hairy Bikers co-star Dave Myers, who died aged 66 on February 28, 2024, after a two-year battle with the disease.
In a new interview with the Sunday Independent, King admitted that between his friend's illness and death, he felt useless to everyone. "Grieving is a funny thing. It's as individual as the person that's feeling it; and as nuanced as the character and the experience of that individual. For two-and-a-half years I just didn't have any heart to do anything," he said.
A Personal Grief Journey
King explained that his experience has been different from others because of his closeness to Myers. "It has been a very different journey for me than everybody else because I was a lot closer to it. I was as close as his family to Dave's illness and to Dave's death. For two-and-a-half years I just didn't have any heart to do anything," he said.
He added: "I'm quite private around grief, because it's hard. You do feel frustrated. You do feel angry."
Anger and Acceptance
King admitted he was angry about the circumstances but acknowledged that Dave had got "to where he wanted to be." He explained that we all hope our friends will have a level of contentment and peace and revealed that Myers was getting there at the time of his death.
The TV star has just marked a massive milestone since his friend's death by launching his first solo cookbook, Proper Home Cooking, which features over 100 recipes, plus tips and tricks to make home cooking a joy.
The Hairy Bikers Legacy
The culinary duo made their first television appearance in 2004, fronting The Hairy Bikers' Cookbook on the BBC. Their friendship dated back to 1995, when they met on the set of the TV drama The Gambling Man, where both worked behind the camera in television production.
They bonded over a shared love of motorcycles and good food and rejected pressure to have their show hosted by established celebrities, instead pitching themselves as regular "northern blokes" who could cook anywhere from campfires to windy hillsides.
Over two decades, they hosted more than 30 separate series and specials, including The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain and Hairy Dieters: How to Love Food and Lose Weight.
Final Series and Illness
They worked together right up until Myers' death, with their final series The Hairy Bikers Go West still airing when he died. The seven-episode series followed the pair on a 650-mile culinary trip down the west coast of the UK, starting in Scotland, and was filmed while Myers was undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer.
Discussing his illness with The Guardian in 2022, Myers said he chose to keep the cancer private "because everybody then goes Googling, everybody becomes an amateur doctor... and I don't want to be judged – yet." At the time, he was 14 sessions into his chemotherapy treatment and on a break from filming the show.
