The Hairy Bikers: Coming Home for Christmas BBC: Dave Myers and Si King host a Christmas feast for nurses, consultants, doctors, physiotherapists, family and friends who have cared for Dave after his cancer diagnosis in new special episode

The Hairy Bikers cook up a special festive banquet as a thank you to those who have cared for Dave after his cancer diagnosis.

The feast will include Brummie bacon cakes, pancit noodles, roast beef with bone marrow and horseradish sauce with naan bread Yorkshire puddings, as well as a fig and walnut tart.

The on-off episode will feature a three-course feast of festive classics with a twist.

Dave announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer in May 2022 which left him with an uncertain future. However, now that he is reunited with his best friend and cooking partner Si, the Hairy Bikers are catching up and have embarked on a road trip searching for wonderful seasonal ingredients to create the ultimate Christmas meal.

Throughout the episode, they will meet award-winning local producers and explore how tradition and the modern world are influencing one another in unique and fascinating ways. From the doctors and nurses who helped with his treatment, to the food producers who made him fall back in love with food, and family and friends who have supported him through his darkest days, the preparation for this year’s Christmas will tell the story of an incredibly emotional year for Dave and Si.

The Hairy Bikers: Coming Home for Christmas has been produced for BBC Two and BBC iPlayer and will air on Tuesday, December 19, 2023 at 9pm.

What to expect from The Hairy Bikers: Coming Home for Christmas

Dave Myers told the BBC: “It’s a very different programme, it’s very personal, it’s very close to our hearts. It’s a very very brave programme.

“I’ve been ill for the last 18 months and our work-life has been a mishmash and when it was muted we slowly got back to work and then we did a Christmas special. We wanted it to be different and there’s one thing about food and sharing it with people you love and care about, and it’s so much more vital to do that.

“This time we shared that food with people I owe my life to. There’s the nurses, the consultants, the physiotherapists who taught me to walk again. There was a guy who sold me a motorbike and got me back onto bikes, because I had to learn to ride again. It really is a joyous occasion.

“It’s a glorious celebration of life and Christmas. It’s a beautiful programme that we are both very proud of. It’s a Christmas I never thought I’d be here to enjoy and thanks to these people I am which I’m heartily grateful for. It’s not closure as I’m still having treatment but it’s a bloody good milestone.”

Dave shares the importance of the show with the BBC: “The importance of this Christmas special has been huge for me.

“I really wanted to, as did Si, show our gratitude. We’ve opened ourselves up enough without oversharing too much. The programme is really honest and from the heart. The whole thing worked from start to finish.

“It’s been amazing getting back on the bikes together, we set off down the road and Si was leading so I didn’t have to think about where I was going. That feeling of again doing what we’ve done for 30 years was magical. Si’s got shoulders like a bison and following that silhouette into the landscape was joyous. It was like getting my wings back.”

“Knowing Si has been there is fantastic. A lot of the credit has to also go to my wife, she’s been there through it all with me from the start. It’s absolutely vital and I feel really sad for those people who have to go through it on their own.”