the times

Almost two years after the death of Hairy Bikers’ Dave Myers, Si King’s new solo project will hit screens in the New Year as he explores another of his passions

The Hairy Bikers’ Si King is about to make his first big career move since the death of co-star Dave Myers.

Fans are set to see the TV star return to screens in a four-part railway adventure series Britain’s Favourite Railway Stations with Si King – and there’s not long to wait. The show, which will see the 58-year-old delve into the vast network of over 2,600 train stations across the UK, begins on January 8.

Since his co-star and best friend Dave’s death in 2024, Si has continued to honour his legacy, participating in a final Hairy Bikers program titled The Hairy Bikers: You’ll Never Walk Alone, which aired in December 2024. But now he has his own solo project.

In January, he joined ITV’s This Morning as a regular chef on their cooking segments. Now, almost two years after Dave’s death, the star will be fronting his own adventure series on Channel 4. He has his own show and fans can’t wait to see him help keep the timetables on track.

Produced by the Welsh company Yeti Television, a promo says viewers will see “Si King, Siddy Holloway and Damion Burrows explore the extraordinary spaces that take us beyond catching a train to the hidden worlds where heritage, technology and community converge.”

Clemency Green, Channel 4‘s senior commissioning editor for lifestyle, expressed excitement about the project: “As the rail network turns 200 years old, this series will spotlight the best of our country’s engineering history in a different way. We’re honoured Si will be presenting his first series for More4, and Yeti will no doubt deliver a captivating series that viewers will love to escape into.”

Si had a heartbreaking realisation almost two years after the death of his friend. The pair met in 1995 when they were both working on the set of The Gambling Man in 1995. They struck up a close friendship before making their name as television chefs thanks to their programmes that combined their love of food and motorcycles.

But tragedy struck in 2022 when Dave was diagnosed with cancer. He subsequently underwent chemotherapy but in February 2024, Dave died aged 66.

Speaking to The Times magazine earlier this month, Si admits he still misses his pal more than ever. He said: “When I was riding a bike the other day, I automatically looked behind me to see if Dave was there. I thought, ‘Where the bloody hell is he? Has he gone around that bend?’ Then I realised, ‘Oh no, of course he hasn’t.’”

Si admits he finds grief “very odd” and says he experienced a “huge mix of emotions” after losing Dave. He added: “It’s anger, frustration, sadness, disappointment. They come when you least expect them.”

Si, 59, describes the two as “great friends” and revealed he was “so close” to both his diagnosis and subsequent treatment. He believes the pair had a “fruitful and fulfilling time together” and prefers concentrating on highs of their friendship “rather than the loss”.

The TV presenter has also faced his own health battles during his life. In 2014 he suffered a brain aneurysm that he says left him needing to “lie down after making a cup of tea”.

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After two turbulent years with Eamonn Holmes at GMTV, Anthea Turner walked away from the show on Christmas Eve 1996 – she still believes his envy of her National Lottery show was the problem

A popular television presenter who worked with Eamonn Holmes says there was almost instant friction when she joined him on an iconic daytime TV show.

Eamonn has been one of the most recognisable stars on British television for decades and has worked with a long line of famous faces, including his ex-wife, Ruth Langsford.

But he hasn’t jelled with every colleague he has ever worked with. According to Anthea Turner, Eamonn took exception to her background when she joined him on the GMTV sofa in 1994.

“Eamonn is a trained journalist and I’m not,” she told The Times. “That caused tension from the start… The other thing was I didn’t have my ass on that sofa for very long before I was asked to present the National Lottery too, and I think that also annoyed him.”

Anthea’s first lottery show appearance attracted a huge TV audience of around 22million. Eamonn reportedly lobbied GMTV bosses to get her sacked, accusing her of being “too ambitious” and giving her the disparaging nickname ‘Princess Tippy Toes.’

She told The Sun: “I was always asked if I was ambitious and, if I said yes, I was made out to be a ruthless person who would walk over anybody to get where I wanted. It would be said that I was hormonal, or I was stamping my feet.’

She added: “And yet ask that question to a man, and if he’s ambitious, we think: ‘What a guy’. You’d never hear anyone say that about Eamonn or Phillip Schofield. No, they’re just doing their job.”

Anthea walked away from the “toxic” situation at GMTV on Christmas Eve 1996. Over a decade later, the former Blue Peter presenter said she was still “hurt” by the way she was perceived.

Speaking on the Miranda Holder Weekly Fashion Podcast, she said: “I haven’t weighed myself down with anything from the past, or any of that negativity.

“Nobody likes injustice, nobody wants to be misrepresented. It hurts, it really hurts.”

In a televised reunion in 2018, Anthea said that she had mixed feelings about Eamonn, saying: “There is a fine line between hate and love isn’t there? We were chatting in the break, Eamonn and I are a bit lazy and it’s easier to stay friends.”

Her remarks sparked a somewhat tense atmosphere in the This Morning studio, with Eamonn’s then-wife Ruth Langsford visibly taking exception to Anthea calling him her “ex.”

Ruth stressed that she and Eamonn were “properly married,” before Anthea interrupted her, saying: “Ah but we were telly husband and wife.”

While Anthea and Eamonn were said to have put an end to their bitter feud with her This Morning appearance, she later said that any talk of a friendship was exaggerated, telling the Express:”I don’t think Eamonn and I speak lots. “Those are just headlines saying that we reunited.”

She added: “Obviously, there was the hullabaloo. In fact, I went to Belfast where he was doing a show, and I remember going up there, it must have been about 15 years ago, and we signed a Good Friday Agreement.”

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