Dave Myers and Si King (Image: BBC)
duo and had been inseparable throughout decades of friendship both on and off-screen – until death ended their bond as they knew it.
Dave sadly died of cancer, but his pal was still around to celebrate his life with the tear-jerking documentary You’ll Never Ride Alone. Fans saw Si embark on a biking road trip in his pal’s honour, from London all the way to his home town of Barrow-in-Furness, accompanied by tens of thousands of fellow bikers along the way.
Footage displayed emotional Si along with Dave’s beloved wife Liliana discussing how they first met and the adventures they all had along the way. There’s even an excerpt of a previously unseen pilot video, filming when the pair were first trying to get into television in front of the cameras.
The pair had behind the scenes careers at the time, with Si being an assistant director and Dave a makeup artist who was employed to “make people look either beautiful or half dead, depending on the script”. Their love of entertaining and gregrarious nature in front of the cameras quickly won over fans who loved seeing, in Lil’s words, “two working class Northerners doing ordinary things in extraordinary places”.
Historic footage this evening captured friendship, joy, wit and humour and even Dave’s indisguisable joy as he leapt onto a motorcycle following months of gruelling cancer treatment, having feared he would never ride again. Unsurprisingly, fans of the duo were overcome with emotion, and took to Twitter to share their feelings.
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One fan wrote: ” what a fitting tribute to Dave Myers from Si King, sensitively narrated, genuine affection and the realisation these were two ordinary blokes who lived out a lot of our dreams with a unique friendship.”
Another exclaimed: “I’ve cried, I’ve laughed, now I’m crying again, this was beautiful.”
A third chimed in: “This is a beautiful tribute to Dave Myers been in tears since it started. Everyone should have a friendship like Dave’s and .”
“This is gonna make me cry innit?? I didn’t even cry at my mums death/funeral but this is gonna do it!” exclaimed a fourth.
“Definitely getting the tissues out for this episode!” echoed someone else.
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Fondly recalling their adventures travelling the world together to more countries than the pair could have “comfortably counted”, Si joked about how the had “let two complete nutjob drop-out hippies loose on the public” – and to great success.
Si also discussed how Dave’s love of cooking had been borne from a very early age out of being a carer for his mother and having to get inventive to prepare creative family meals.
Triumph had come out of hardship, which was a particularly poignant focus point for the show.
During one anecdote, Si recalled: “Dave would say, ‘It’s like winning the lottery doing what we do… as two working class northerners!”