The British public love their unbelievable televisual heroes. We’re a nation, in spite of everything, who turned actuality TV rejects like Alison Hammond and Rylan Clark into family names, who made two grinning Geordies into essentially the most bankable hosts on our screens. And there’s no style extra prone to the unlikely protagonist than meals exhibits. Chances are high, if you happen to have been watching a cookery programme up to now 30 years (and it wasn’t offered by the Two Fats Girls) you’ll have discovered your self swept up within the whirlwind of The Bushy Bikers, Si King and the late Dave Myers, whose life is widely known right here in an hour-long BBC Two documentary, The Bushy Bikers: You’ll By no means Trip Alone.

“This isn’t a tragic story,” Si reassures viewers. And, in a approach, he’s proper: that is the joyous story of how two TV manufacturing employees, one assistant director and one make-up artist, launched into a glittering 20-year profession on the small display. It’s a linear trot by way of the non-public historical past of Dave and the Bushy Bikers, framed across the huge outpouring of affection after his demise, from most cancers, again in February this yr. On 8 June, round 45,000 bikers (I can’t even think about the noise) participated in a procession from London to Dave’s hometown, Barrow-in-Furness, to pay tribute to the hirsute icon. “It’s not a nasty factor to point out your feelings each every now and then,” a biker, participating, explains, because the wheeled flotilla embarks on its ultimate voyage.

And emotion is, naturally, on the coronary heart of this tribute. The connection between Si and Dave is not only the inspiration of why the present was made, however why it was a hit. That overprized commodity – “authenticity” – is one thing that the Bushy Bikers had in abundance. Viewers believed of their humble makes an attempt at cooking, believed of their ardour for bikes, and, most significantly, believed of their friendship. “I don’t have one single photograph simply with my husband,” Dave’s widow, Lili, explains of their marriage ceremony images. She is all the time sandwiched between Si and Dave; Bushy Bikers ’til the top.

There are occasions in public life when sentimentality appears compelled, however the Bushy Bikers by no means aspired to any degree of cynicism. Si, a rugged Geordie, and Dave, a nerdier Cumbrian, felt fully unaffected. Fame and cash by no means appeared to vary them, simply make them extra enthusiastic for easy pleasures, like watching the solar rise within the Namibian desert, or laughing whereas sumo wrestling in Tokyo. “He made biking so cool,” a person, sporting a Myers-inspired Hawaiian shirt, declares, standing subsequent to his parked hog. And whereas the ghosts of Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper may not fairly agree, there’s one thing poignant about this unpretentious show of affection. The heartstring-tugging soundtrack observes an identical dedication to the dad aesthetic – Coldplay, The Killers, Stereophonics, Elbow – that has been a relentless presence by way of the Bushy Bikers’ a long time future.

“It’s not fairly true that we broke the foundations of presenting”, Si explains, “as a result of we didn’t know the foundations within the first place.” And but, in the event that they have been naïfs initially. You’ll By no means Trip Alone demonstrates how they grew to become consummate tv professionals. The present is tight, by no means lingering for too lengthy on any chapter of their journey. It additionally understands that the curiosity within the duo isn’t a technical one. They don’t waste time on how the manufacturing logistics have been determined (a thread that was essential to The Grand Tour’s teary send-off), however as a substitute keep the identical deal with camaraderie. It’s a uncommon male friendship on the tv that feels fully spontaneous, neither inhibited by rivalry nor diluted by the passage of time.

If you happen to’ve been on a journey with the Bushy Bikers since their TV debut in 2004, you’ll wish to strap in and grip the handlebars one final time. Dave’s demise, on the age of simply 66, was a intestine punch, however that is an unfettered celebration. It’s a union of personal and public grief that conspires to offer followers and household a final probability to say thanks, and permits the Bushy Bikers to trip off, collectively, into the sundown.