Mel Giedroyc

Melanie Clare Sophie "Mel" Giedroyc (/ɡɛdˈrɔɪtʃ/; born 1968) is an English presenter, actress and former comedienne best known for her comedy work with Sue Perkins, co-hosting series including Light Lunch for Channel 4 and The Great British Bake Off for BBC Two. From 2014, she will begin presenting new Channel 4 game show Draw Something.

Mel and Sue

Giedroyc is best known for presenting comedy items alongside Sue Perkins. The two women met whilst students at Cambridge and both were members of the famous Footlights comedy club.

As Mel and Sue, the duo were short-listed for the Daily Express Best Newcomers Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1993. After a few years writing for French & Saunders, they hosted a lunchtime show on Channel 4 called Light Lunch (and the early evening version, Late Lunch). They were reunited in 2010 to host the cookery competition The Great British Bake Off, on BBC Two from 16 August 2010. The show is currently into its fourth series.^[1]

Television

Giedroyc has appeared in one episode of Gimme Gimme Gimme, playing a receptionist at a hotel. Giedroyc has also been a presenter on Channel 4's RI:SE. She narrated Celebrity Driving School in 2003. Some other ventures include being a contestant on the 2005 series of The Games, co-starring in the 2005 BBC One sitcom Blessed and co-presenting Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show on ITV1. She was in one episode of The Vicar of Dibley.

Giedroyc was the sixth student to be voted out of Comic Relief does Fame Academy and was a celebrity judge on the 2007 edition of Making Your Mind Up along with John Barrowman. She starred as one of the presenters in the show Eurobeat: Almost Eurovision! at the Edinburgh Fringe and subsequently in the West End at the Novello Theatre. She played the Fairy Liquid in a production of Jack and the Beanstalk at London's Barbican theatre in December 2007. She is currently performing in a children's sketch show for the BBC, called Sorry I've Got No Head. In 2010 she was a celebrity guest team captain on What Do Kids Know? along with Rufus Hound, Joe Swash and Sara Cox on Watch. She also appeared in the first episode of series two of Miranda Hart's self-titled sitcom Miranda as a life coach.

Giedroyc was a panellist on the Channel 5 programme The Wright Stuff in 2007, 2008 and most recently February 2010. She plays Mrs V, the owner of the Y cafe, in CBBC programme Sadie J. She is also the voice of Mist in Mist: Sheepdog Tales^[2] currently shown on Channel 5's morning show Milkshake!.

Six years after her appearance in Fame Academy, Giedroyc took part in a couple of events for Comic Relief in 2013. Firstly, she hosted a special celebrity series of The Great British Bake Off over four nights in January with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood returning as the judges, whilst Sue Perkins did not appear as Mel's co-host. Giedroyc also featured as a judge in the first episode of the 2013 Let's Dance For Comic Relief series.

It was announced on 25 April 2013 that Giedroyc is to host Channel 4's new daytime series Draw Something, based upon and developed by the makers of the mobile app Draw Something. It will debut in 2014.^[3]

Radio

In August 2010, Giedroyc appeared on the Dave Gorman show on Absolute Radio as one of his co-hosts, standing in for Danielle Ward. She has also appeared on series 4, 5, 6 and 7 of Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! on BBC Radio 4.^[4] From 2 April 2011, with the rebranding of Radio 7 as Radio 4 extra, she has presented The 4 O'Clock Show, a chat show including items related to children's entertainment.

Books

• From Here to Maternity (ISBN 978-0091897505), is the diary based on her first pregnancy.
• Going Ga-Ga (ISBN 978-0091905910) follows a similar theme ("Is there life after birth?").

Personal life

Giedroyc was born in Epsom in Surrey and grew up in Leatherhead. Her father, a history writer, is a Polish-Lithuanian who came to Britain in 1947. She has Polish, Lithuanian, Belgian and Belarussian ancestry.^[5] She attended the independent Oxford High School in Oxford and later attended Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with a 2:2 degree in Italian language and literature.^[6]

Giedroyc is the youngest of four children. Her sister, Coky Giedroyc, is a director. An older sister Kasia is wife of Philip John Parham, a British diplomat.

Giedroyc is married to Ben Morris, a television director. The couple have two children: Florence, born May 2002 and Vita, born February 2004. Giedroyc and her family currently live in London.

References

External links

• Interview at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2007
• Profile of Mel Giedroyc
• Official Mel and Sue website (has not been updated in many years)