The world is a huge place, there’s lots of food for us to try
We’re coming up to the festive season. Will you be busy in the kitchen on Christmas Day or taking it easy?
I just love cooking. It’s never a chore. I’ll be doing the Christmas cooking for sure. The kids are good at cooking as well.
I can be cooking for 10 to 30 people on the day, it just depends. I alternate with Christmas at home in the North East and in Australia (Si’s partner lives Down Under). It is always very traditional in Australia and makes me laugh when it is 30 degrees outside and we have plum pudding and turkey on the table.
It’s just bizarre with a tree and everything. On Christmas Eve I’ll go for a swim and think ‘why are you going for a swim?’ And then realise ‘because it’s 22 degrees and the water’s lovely’.
In the North East it will be a traditional Christmas with a twist because two of my sons are vegetarians. That’s always exciting.
We cook so much food at Christmas. My wife is Romanian and the children – adults now – will be coming. Romanians celebrate on Christmas Eve so my wife will cook polenta, smoked sausage, ribs and some kind of pig’s trotters, which I don’t really like.
Christmas Day, I’ll do turkey with all the trimmings – bread sauce, cranberry sauce and two different types of stuffing. Classic.
I’ve found indoor fireworks as well, so I’ll give them a go.
You travelled American favourite, Route 66, for your last TV series. Where would you like to go next?
Route 66 was really well-received. They say the world’s a small place, but it really isn’t when you put your feet on the floor.
It’s huge. Dave and I have gone to so many places, but there are still plenty on the wish list... and places we’d like to revisit.
We have not filmed in Australia, Tasmania, the Philippines, New Zealand, Siberia and other parts of Russia. There are so many options. The world is a huge place – with lots of food to try.
(Laughs) Both of us put on weight after America, but I’ve managed to lose six kilos since we came back by practising what we preach.
I’m in good shape and we’ll have a break and then be ready for the tour next year.
You’re going to be back on the road next year with An Evening With The Hairy Bikers. What can audiences expect?
(Laughs) It’s like popping into the home of Mrs Brown’s Boys but with us. It’s all come round to the Hairy Bikers’ home.
We have 15 minutes of cooking in each half and we get up and pick diners out of the audiences. That’s always nice and it’s a great part of the show.
There’s also a Q&A and people can ask Dave about being on Strictly and things like that.
The tour is something we are looking forward to. It’s such a good time. We’re very conscious of the fact that it’s not a cookery demonstration. It’s a proper evening’s entertainment and an opportunity for people to get to know us.
We want to keep all the best bits from the last tour. We did Living On A Prayer with the audience. It’s like a community singalong and has become a bit of a tradition. We’ve even been talking about a tour bus so we can have a drink afterwards. Do you ever get lost for words?
(Laughs) The Q&A can go off on a tangent. We can do that for hours. On telly we can waffle for England but we’ve got an editor; we don’t have that on stage.
Si and I spend a lot of time together so we almost finish each other’s sentences. We have a kind of telepathy so we’re never lost for words. Who comes to the live shows?
The lovely thing about going on tour is seeing the eclectic mix of people – everyone from five years old to 90.
We’ve been doing the TV shows for 15 years and it’s clear there is now a younger demographic watching us.
It’s all changed over the last few years. A lot of kids have grown up with us and we have a younger audience coming along. I always ask at the start if we have any children in the audience. (Laughs) If we have youngsters in, I’ll say Si might have a little potty mouth, just in case a word pops out that shouldn’t, but it’s doesn’t really happen.
You’ve both had to deal with health issues with Si suffering a brain aneurysm and Dave dealing with glaucoma. How are you doing now?
Really good now. It’s was not the best of times, but we’re of a certain age now (Si is 53 and Dave is 62) when it’s inevitable.
We are getting on, but I think we are more mature now and our work is more serious, like Route 66, and I think it’s working for us.
What else is in the pipeline? Straight after Christmas I’ll be heading to Australia. I’ve been going there for 13 years and I’ve learned if I don’t drink any alcohol or eat anything, the jet lag is a lot better. The flight is not as glamorous as when I started going.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions – other than to lose the weight I put on over Christmas – because I just make them and break them in four days.
Route 66 has gone global and our cookbook One Pot Wonder is now out, and is a really useful book, and we’ve got The Hairy Bikers Road Trip CD out which features tracks from Queen, Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, Whitesnake – stuff both of us listen to.
(Laughs) We’ll have to think up a series next year... assuming the BBC want another one. When we started in 2004, we thought ‘if we do three series, that will be alright,’ and we’re still going. ●●An Evening With The Hairy Bikers comes to Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on October 18 and Coventry’s Warwick Arts Centre on October 29.