The year is 2014. The Hairy Bikers were talking about life and death. And of course friendship. They were giving their first interview since Sea King, the youngest of the famous culinary duo, nearly died from a brain aneurysm.
When Cee collapsed, one of the first calls his then-wife made was to his television partner and best friend, Dave Myers.
Dave rushed to his side and stayed there. “When I came home from surgery, the first hand I held after his wife’s was Dave’s,” Shea told me. “I think I held his hand before the surgery, too,” Dave nodded.
We were both on the verge of tears.
But even during that interview – and it hurts to hear it now – it wasn’t long before they were wandering around and insulting each other about how it was impossible for two big, hairy northern men to hold hands. It didn’t take.
Cee King (left) announced that Dave Myers had passed away from cancer at the age of 66, saying, “I’m not sure I can put into words how I feel right now.”
“There was actually a lot of hand-holding at one point,” Dave said, reaching for Cee in an exaggerated way.
“Gerof!” Shi laughed.
How touching that the tables were turned this week when Dave passed away at home at the age of 66 after a two-year battle with cancer. Of course, his trusty sidekick Shi was by his side as always.
It was 57-year-old Shi who announced the shocking news to her fans.
“I’m not sure I can express my feelings in words right now,” he said. “My best friend is on a journey and I am unable to follow at the moment. I will miss him every day and the bond and friendship we shared for half a lifetime.”
Anyway, what an amazing trip it was. When Hairy Bikers entered our lives and TV screens in 2004, we didn’t really know what hit us. But what we did know is that they came in pairs.
TV partnerships are easily faked (just ask Eamonn Holmes, who hated each other, and his former TV wife Anthea Turner), but it’s hard to believe that these two are real. It was clear from the beginning.
They dated for 20 years before becoming one of the most successful TV duos, hosting countless shows and selling 30 cookbooks.
One blurb sums up their serious appeal: “Life is complicated enough, so why not let the Hairy Bikers make it a little easier?”
And they did. Not only did they give us tips on heart-warming stews and puddings, they also provided us with a shining and unusual example of what male friendship is like.
Dave announced in 2022 that he had been diagnosed with cancer. He always kept his details of what type it was private because he didn’t want to invite speculation about how long he had to live.
To interview them – and yes, they’ve always been together, except when Dave did Strictly with his professional dance partner Karen Hauer in 2013 – they candidly Being a normal guy, I was genuinely happy (though, interestingly enough, not at all “uncool”) to be paid to hang out, travel around the world, and laugh. I couldn’t believe it.
The two met in 1995 while working on a movie set. At the time, See was a director and Dave, who had a master’s degree in fine arts, was working as a makeup artist.
They hit it off right away, talking mostly about food and bikes (Dave once revealed that Cee sold him “the worst bike I’ve ever seen”), a life-changing connection. I made one. Neither of them are from the entertainment industry. Dave – the one with the curly mustache – was born in 1957 in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
Dave’s father, Jim, aged 42 and 55 respectively, said he was “surprised and delighted” when his only child was born, as his mother Margaret was told she would not be able to have children.
Dave was left with the responsibility of providing for his family after his mother, who was an “amazing cook”, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and naturally developed a passion for cooking. Dave was only 8 years old.
After his mother’s condition worsened, he was forced to take on the role of carer with little help from the authorities, he recalled to the Mail on Sunday in 2009, adding: “I was unable to sleep until my mother was asleep.” I couldn’t do it,” he said.
“My father took my mother’s legs and I took her arm and carried her up the stairs every night.”
It was around this time that Dave developed hair loss, which doctors attributed to the shock of his mother’s illness.
The boy, who would later become famous for being one half of a hirsute double act, was mostly bald until his early 40s when he underwent surgery to remove a cyst from his brain. His hair has grown back, except for the hair follicles he lost to male pattern baldness.
When Dave was 17, his father, a former paper mill foreman now in his early 70s, suffered a debilitating stroke. By his early 20s, both of Dave’s parents had died.
Dave met his wife Liliana Orzak in 2005 on a work trip to Romania with Cee. She was the hotel manager and showed them to their room.
By then he had studied art at Goldsmiths College in London, but went on to have a successful decades-long career as a make-up artist at the BBC, specializing in prosthetics and orthotics. He reportedly once painted white stripes on Adam Ant’s face. Helen Mirren is similarly camera ready.
Dave met Sea King while they were both working on the same project. Since the off-season, the relationship between the two has become famous. However, further tragedy occurred in 1998 when Dave lost his fiancée to cancer.
Then, during a work trip to Romania with Cee in 2005, Dave met his wife, Liliana Orzak. She was the hotel manager and showed Dave and Cee to their rooms. “I thought, ‘Ko, she’s gorgeous,'” Dave once said. “She thought she was scary.”
Shea got over this and quickly agreed that Liliana was the best thing that happened to Dave. He served as his groomsman at his 2011 wedding.
Liliana’s children also came into Dave’s life. He once said that it was a great regret that he did not have children, but was happy to have his stepsons Isa and Serge.
As Cee pointed out in yesterday’s announcement of Dave’s death, his friend loved them “as if they were his own.”
Their friendship pre-dates their success in showbiz, so there was no clear line between their professional and personal lives.
Friendships between men often seem superficial, centered around shared interests, but this one had emotional depth. Dave remained by Sea’s side when he split from his wife Jane, the mother of his three sons, in 2016. Such was the case when his engagement to food stylist Michelle Cranston ended in 2021.
They remained friends for 20 years before becoming one of the most successful television duos, hosting countless shows and selling 30 cookbooks.
The Hairy Bikers seemed to have everything together, and Dave famously almost lost in seventh place when doctors told him he was at risk for diabetes.
In typical pragmatic fashion, they ditched the beer, cut down on the fat in the pudding and took their fans with them.
Overnight, they became the poster boys for middle-aged men taking control of their waistlines.
Oh, they’ll sarcastically point out that they’re not exactly Joe Wicks (“I don’t think I want to be either,” See once told me), but their influence The power was definitely greater because they reached a target audience that would never be willing to go. Should I see a doctor or drink a kale smoothie?
But what made this particular partnership stand out was the authenticity that radiated from it. I would never be able to write a script like that.
There was a moment during the 2014 interview when Mr. Shih began to speak in full technicality about the surgery that saved his life. The surgery involved threading small metal coils through a network of blood vessels.
The penetration was from the groin, not the head. “There I was playing around a lot with my hairy Mary,” said See in a very See way. “When they were done with you, it wasn’t hairy,” exclaimed Dave. “Oh, yes,” said Cee. She said, “I got shaved downstairs!” She looked and almost fell off the bed. ”
Shi’s illness certainly tested their friendship and probably took it to another level. They told me at the time that Dave had taken on the role of chief cheerleader and personal grocery shopper while Shi was recovering.
When Cee was well fed and turned her nose up at hospital food, it was Dave who took a trip to Marks & Spencer for supplies. Her first stop after leaving the hospital was a farmers market. “Then we sat in the car with the pork pie on the dashboard,” Shea said. “It was heaven.”
For a while, their “brand” was in jeopardy. Shi’s recovery was long, and Dave had to get back on his feet on his own. “Dave took over the reins,” Shea explained. “He had a meeting without me, and it was tough. You feel like you’re letting your peers down.” Dave wouldn’t have this. “That’s why it’s double duty. That’s great,” he said. “When one goes down, the other one takes over. We always have. If one of us is having a bad day, the other has to step up.”
So it came true years later, even in the most difficult chapter of this amazing friendship. Dave announced in 2022 that he had been diagnosed with cancer.
He always kept the details of what it was like private because he didn’t want to invite speculation about how long he had left, but the hellish journey that followed became quite public. “Sometimes I just curl up in a ball and cry,” he said.
After chemotherapy, he lost his hair again and lost his famous mustache. “It’s really radical,” he said. “It’s not a gradual shedding. Your hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, beard. Everything just falls into place.”
See admitted that seeing her friend without hair had a special impact on her. That was when things “got real.” However, the two continued to run together.
In a 2022 interview, Dave said Shi was “indispensable,” taking him to and from the hospital and cooking furiously to fill his freezer.
They filmed their last series together, The Hairy Bikers Go West, and the next episode is currently scheduled to air on Tuesday on BBC2.
See admitted it was “special” to film. “We are very privileged to do what we do. Dave’s health and his pure, thorough determination and love for what he does make this whole thing especially special. I think it was,” he said.
“It took incredible courage and energy to keep going, especially while he was undergoing treatment, and it gave Dave and I even more reason to remember it.”
Over Christmas, Dave asked a number of guests on a TV special, leaving fans in tears. “Should we do this again next year?” I hope so! ‘
Unfortunately that didn’t happen and the ride had to end.
The parting words that Cee said to her best friend yesterday said it all.
“I pray for the speed of God, brother. You are and will continue to be a lighthouse in this world. See you on the other side. I love you.’