Si King celebrates the life of his late friend, Dave Myers, in this one-off documentary. The British public love their improbable televisual heroes. We are a nation, after all, who turned reality TV rejects like Alison Hammond and Rylan Clark into household names, who made two grinning Geordies into the most bankable hosts on our screens. And there’s no genre more susceptible to the unlikely protagonist than food shows. Chances are, if you were watching a cookery programme in the past 30 years (and it wasn’t presented by the Two Fat Ladies) you will have found yourself swept up in the whirlwind of The Hairy Bikers, Si King and the late Dave Myers, whose life is celebrated here in an hour-long BBC Two documentary, The Hairy Bikers: You’ll Never Ride Alone.
![[Old friends Myers and King]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/20/13/497999.jpg)
“This is not a sad story,” Si reassures viewers. And, in a way, he’s right: this is the joyous tale of how two TV production staff, one assistant director and one makeup artist, embarked on a glittering 20-year career on the small screen. It is a linear trot through the personal history of Dave and the Hairy Bikers, framed around the massive outpouring of love after his death, from cancer, back in February this year. On 8 June, around 45,000 bikers (I can’t even imagine the noise) participated in a procession from London to Dave’s hometown, Barrow-in-Furness, to pay tribute to the hirsute icon. “It’s not a bad thing to show your emotions every once in a while,” a biker, taking part, explains, as the wheeled flotilla embarks on its final voyage.
