14-03-2025
Kate Garraway and Si King share grief 'triggers' after deaths of loved ones
Watch: Kate Garraway and Si King share experiences of grief
Kate Garraway and Si King have shared their experiences of grief a year on from the deaths of Derek Draper and Dave Myers as they spoke about emotional "triggers".
The Good Morning Britain host welcomed King to the ITV show on Friday where he spoke about publishing one final cookbook of recipes created with his late best friend and Hairy Bikers co-star, Myers.
Garraway spoke to him about her own experiences of grief and what triggered it after losing her husband Draper in January last year. Myers died in February 2024 and King spoke about the Dave Day ride out where he and thousands of motorcyclists commemorated his friend's life.
Garraway and King have been going through a similar timeline of grief after Draper's death in January 2024 and Myers in February 2024. Speaking to TV cook King on Friday's Good Morning Britain, Garraway said: "Grief isn't linear, is it, we talk a lot about the stages of grief and you go backwards and forwards.
"I find often one of the triggers, because Dave sadly passed away not long after my husband - you and I have talked about this together — but one of the triggers is actually smells and sights and sounds. Do you find yourself when you're making a recipe that you devised together just having a little moment of thought of him?"
Read more:
What are the grief stages? Hairy Bikers' Si King talks struggle since Dave Myers' death (Yahoo Lifestyle, 6 min read)
Si King says creating new Hairy Bikers book 'tough' while grieving Dave Myers (PA Media, 2 min read)
Hairy Bikers star Si King confirms solo work and reveals Dave Myers' heartbreaking wish (Birmingham Live, 2 min read)
King agreed that he found the same thing and said: "I've often said that just because Dave's passed doesn't necessarily mean that he stops being my best friend. So of course, any meatball recipe, he had a penchant for meatballs."
Talking about putting together The Best of Hairy Bikers cookbook — the last recipe book featuring the food they cooked together — he added: "The whole process was evocative and nostalgic, it was lovely."
Garraway asked: "This probably felt like a finale of a chapter of your life."
He replied: "It is, Kate, it's the last of the Hairy Bikers publishing run because Dave's no longer with us. I was just saying yesterday it's interesting putting the book together because food is comfort and grief is a very interesting emotion in the sense that it's as individual as the person that feels it.
"It was a tough book to put together I have to say, because the team and I have been working together for 20 years. We all had a few tears and we all had huge laughs about what Dave would think of this and it was lovely, a lovely process, very cathartic."
King had spoken to The One Show on Thursday about how difficult it was to choose which of their many favourite recipes would make the cut.
King paid an emotional tribute to his best friend Myers last June in "Dave Day", which saw thousands of motorcyclists join him on a ride out from London to Myers' hometown of Barrow-in-Furness.
Talking about what it had meant to him, he said: "It was absolutely remarkable, it was a tsunami of community, of fellowship. There was 46,000 motorcycles, 176,000 people lining the route.
"There isn't a superlative in my vocabulary that I can express. You know when words aren't enough, and it's just about trying to feel that emotion and say it wasn't like anything. It was the most wonderful tsunami of love, affection, care and a sense of belonging and place that was quite remarkable."
King also added that the next Dave Day, which will follow the same route, is set to take place on 21 and 22 June this year.
Good Morning Britain airs on ITV1 at 6am on weekdays.
