Dave Myers widow Lili ‘cannot watch’ final Hairy Bikers series

Pamela Tickell

BBC News, North East and Cumbria

BBC / South Shore Productions Hairy Bikers Dave Myers and Si King are standing on a boat out in the water and smiling at the camera. Myers, on the left, has his arm around King and is wearing a black leather jacket. King is wearing a brown jacket and they are both wearing sunglasses.BBC / South Shore Productions

The Hairy Bikers Go West was their last series

Lili Myers, the widow of Hairy Biker Dave, said she could not watch the final series of her husband’s cookery show following his death from cancer last year.

Myers, who was one half of the TV duo along with Si King, died aged 66 shortly after the airing of their final series during which they explored the UK’s west coast.

Ahead of a re-run, Mrs Myers said filming during his treatment had helped him regain his “sense of self” amid the many hospital appointments and physical changes like hair loss.

“What a superhuman effort he made to finish the series. But also, I’ll never forget the look on his face once filming was done. He knew it would be his last,” she said.

When she was told the series was scheduled to run again, Mrs Myers said her “stomach filled with butterflies”.

The pair had been together for nearly 20 years.

Family handout Lili and Dave Myers have their arms around each other and are smiling at the camera. Lili has mid-length blonde hair and is wearing a white top. Dave has mid-length brown hair and a grey beard. He is wearing a blue suit.Family handout

Lili Myers said Dave always considered her first when making decisions

She remembered long talks about whether he should film the series, because he was concerned about maximising their time with each other.

“He said, ‘look, there’s this project, and if you don’t want me to do it, I won’t do it,’” Mrs Myers said.

“‘I know that this eats up from our time, and I really wouldn’t like to deprive you of anything.’

“He always considered me first.”

‘Feel himself again’

Mrs Myers said she encouraged her husband to do it “because it meant so much to him”.

“Being under treatment, he had a sense of losing his identity, his hair loss,” she said.

“Can you imagine? He was known for his hair and all of a sudden, this treatment took his hair away.”

Myers’ sense of taste changed which meant he could not “feel the same pleasure” eating food as he had done before.

His wife said: “Filming this series for him, I felt that it would make him feel himself again.

“Make him feel that he had not lost anything, that he was valuable, that he was whole and everything was normal again.”

Family photo A picture taken at the wedding of Lili and Dave. Lili is in the middle of the shot and is wearing a cream wedding dress that comes off the shoulder. She is carrying a bouquet of orange and cream flowers and is carrying a glass of champagne in her hand. On her right is her husband, Dave. He is looking overjoyed and is smiling at the camera and wearing a purple tie, smart jacket and kilt. Si is on the left of the shot. He is wearing a red tie, smart jacket and a kilt and has a big smile on his face.Family photo

Lili and Dave Myers were together for nearly 20 years

King, Dave and Mrs Myers watched the first episode together when in aired in early February 2024.

“That was the first, the only episode that I watched,” Mrs Myers said.

“I couldn’t watch the rest of it because afterwards he became ill and it was very difficult to watch.”

Myers died later that month, to an outpouring of grief.

Since his passing, Myers’ friends and family have organised Dave Day and Dave Day 2, during which thousands of bikers travel from London to Myers’s home town of Barrow, raising money for charity.

This year’s event has already raised thousands of pounds for NSPCC Childline and CancerCare North Lancashire and south Cumbria.

Continue Reading