Si King: How Grief Shapes You, Overcoming My Breakdown & Finding Peace After Divorce!

October 15, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Si King arrived at Davina McCall’s studio on a motorbike, and the entrance set the tone for a conversation that moved between grief, breakdown, divorce, and the quiet work of rebuilding. Best known as one half of the Hairy Bikers, King spoke openly about how the death of his father when he was eight, the end of his marriage, a brain aneurysm, and a subsequent breakdown each reshaped him in ways he is still understanding.

Grief learned around a stove

King’s father died when he was eight. His mother, born in 1922, was “one of those women of her generation that was largely unfulfilled,” and she expressed her love and emotional sophistication through food. After the loss, King and his mother “grieved around the stove.” Cooking became the family’s language of comfort, safety, and routine. But there was a cost: by age ten, King weighed ten stone, and he was heading into secondary school carrying weight that marked him. He also took on the role of “man of the house” early, a responsibility he says “coloured and formed my character and application to the world.” It made him someone who wants to fix things for the people he loves, a trait he described as a burden but McCall reframed as a gift. King acknowledged the sadness at its root but added, “you never track the development of your character or personality, do you? Because it’s impacted by so many things, mostly in my case by

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What you'll learn

1 (02:03) **Welcome & The Cookbook "Love Letter"** - Si King arrives on a motorbike and Davina greets him; they discuss his new cookbook.
2 (08:12) **Childhood Grief & Being "The Man of the House"** - Davina asks about the death of Si's father when he was eight years old.
3 (12:01) **Finding Meditation on a Motorcycle** - Si shares his lifelong passion for bikes, starting with his father's history as a WWII dispatch rider.
4 (21:59) **From Runner to "Biker Grove"** - Si recounts his early career in TV production, starting as a driver and runner.
5 (26:40) **Meeting Dave & The Birth of a Double Act** - Si tells the story of meeting Dave Myers on the set of a Catherine Cookson drama.
6 (30:24) **The Idea That Became "The Hairy Bikers"** - Davina asks about the origin of the show, which was Si's idea.
7 (35:23) **Standing Their Ground & The Restaurant** - Si describes sending the treatment to six people, all of whom said it needed to be "celebrity-led."

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Davina McCall

Show Notes

How do you begin again after losing someone who was a huge part of your life?

In this heartfelt episode of Begin Again, Hairy Bikers star Si King joins Davina McCall for a conversation about grief, friendship, love and finding purpose after the heartbreaking loss of his best friend and TV partner, Dave Myers.

Si opens up about the extraordinary bond he shared with Dave, from their first meeting to building the beloved Hairy Bikers together, and the devastating reality of watching his closest friend battle cancer. He reflects on navigating life without Dave and how he's slowly learning to embrace a new chapter while keeping Dave's memory alive.

He also shares his own remarkable journey of resilience, from losing his father at just eight years old to surviving a life-threatening brain aneurysm, experiencing a mental health breakdown and learning to rebuild his life.

Alongside these personal moments, Si discusses the healing power of food, family and community, his passion for bringing people together, and the exciting new projects giving him renewed purpose and joy.

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Buy ‘Proper Home Cooking’ by Si King at: https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/titles/si-king/proper-home-cooking/9781399642842/

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(00:00) Intro

(01:14) Si's new cookbook 'Proper Home Cooking'

(06:53) Losing His Dad At 8 Years Old