Mel Giedroyc

Melanie Clare Sophie Giedroyc (/ˈɡɛdrɔɪtʃ/, born 5 June 1968) is an English television presenter, comedian and actress.[1] With Sue Perkins, she has co-hosted series including Light Lunch for Channel 4, The Great British Bake Off for the BBC and chat show Mel and Sue for ITV. In early 2017, Giedroyc co-presented the BBC show Let It Shine.

Mel Giedroyc
Giedroyc at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2009
Born	Melanie Clare Sophie Giedroyc (1968-06-05) 5 June 1968 Epsom, Surrey, England
Nationality	British
Education	Oxford High School
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Home town	Leatherhead, Surrey, England
Television	Light Lunch The Great British Bake Off Draw It! Now You See It Mel and Sue Let It Shine Let's Sing and Dance for Comic Relief Eurovision: You Decide Pitch Battle Letterbox The Generation Game
Spouse(s)	Ben Morris
Parent(s)	Michal Giedroyc (father)
Relatives	Coky Giedroyc (sister) Philip Parham (brother-in-law)

Early life

Giedroyc was born in Epsom, Surrey, and grew up in Leatherhead. Her father, Michal,[2] an aircraft designer and historian of Polish-Lithuanian descent from the Giedroyć family, came to Britain in 1947; he died in December 2017.[3] Her mother, Rosemary "Rosy" Cumpston (born 1937), is of English origin.[2][4] Mel Giedroyc attended the independent Oxford High School, and later attended Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with a lower second degree in French and Italian.[5]

Career

Television

Giedroyc appeared in one episode of Gimme Gimme Gimme, playing a receptionist at a hotel. She was also 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 ITV. Giedroyc was in one episode of The Vicar of Dibley.

Giedroyc is best known for comedy and presenting work with Sue Perkins. The two women met while students at the University of Cambridge and were members of the Footlights comedy club. Mel and Sue, the duo were short-listed for the Daily Express Best Newcomers Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1993. Their first presenting roles saw them host a lunchtime show on Channel 4 called Light Lunch (and the early evening version, Late Lunch).

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. Giedroyc played the Fairy Liquid in a production of Jack and the Beanstalk at London's Barbican theatre in December 2007. She appeared in a children's sketch show for the BBC Sorry, I've Got No Head. In 2010, Giedroyc was a celebrity guest team captain on What Do Kids Know? with Rufus Hound, Joe Swash and Sara Cox on Watch and 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 in February 2010. She plays Mrs V, the owner of the Y café, in CBBC programme Sadie J and is also the voice of Mist in Mist: Sheepdog Tales,[6] shown on Channel 5's morning show Milkshake!.

Giedroyc was reunited with Sue Perkins in 2010 to host the cookery competition The Great British Bake Off, on BBC Two from 16 August 2010. Later, in an apparently syndicated newspaper interview, Giedroyc admitted that she did the show just for the money, informing readers that she had nearly gone bankrupt.[7] The show moved to BBC One for its fifth series and has won numerous awards.[8]

In September 2016, Love Productions announced that a three-year deal had been agreed to broadcast The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4, instead of the BBC, from 2017.[9] Giedroyc and Perkins announced that they would not be continuing with the show on its new network.[10] Mary Berry later announced she was also leaving the Bake Off[11] on the same day that fellow-judge Paul Hollywood separately announced he would be staying with the show.[12]

In 2012 and 2013, Giedroyc hosted two special charity series for Sport Relief and Comic Relief featuring celebrities who took part for charity. In 2014, she guest hosted an episode of The Great Sport Relief Bake Off and in 2015, one episode of The Great Comic Relief Bake Off. In 2016, she presented the first episode of The Great Sport Relief Bake Off.

In March 2014, Giedroyc presented Collectaholics, a factual mini-series for BBC Two.

From May 2014, Giedroyc presented one series of the Channel 4 programme Draw It!, based upon and developed by the makers of the mobile app Draw Something.[13]

In May 2014, Giedroyc and clinical psychologist Dr Jennifer Wild presented a one-off show for BBC One called Vertigo Road Trip about people who have a fear of heights. Reviewing the programme, in The Psychologist, Petrina Cox described it as "an engaging and valuable education for the general public about the nature of anxiety disorders such as specific phobias. It is sure to reduce stigma, inspire hope and encourage people to seek evidence-based treatments... "[14]

On 12 November 2014, Giedroyc guest hosted an episode of The One Show with Alex Jones.[15]

In 2015, Giedroyc narrated eight-part BBC One series Now You See It. A second series aired in 2016.[16]

In December 2015 Giedroyc performed as Frau Schmidt in "The Sound of Music Live (2015)" which was broadcast on ITV In January 2015, Giedroyc and Perkins were given their own daytime chat show on ITV. The show, called Mel and Sue aired for 30 episodes, every weekday afternoon at 4pm.[17][18] In August 2015, it was announced that the show had not been re-commissioned.[19]

Giedroyc and Matt Baker began co-hosting four-part BBC One series The Gift in February 2015. It will return for a second series in 2017.[20] Giedroyc hosted the Sky1 primetime game show Relatively Clever, which began on 3 April 2015.[21]

In May 2015, Giedroyc joined Scott Mills in commentating the semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 for the United Kingdom. It was broadcast on BBC Three.[22] Since 2016, Giedroyc has presented the Eurovision You Decide programme.[23]

In 2017, Giedroyc co-presented the Saturday night BBC show Let It Shine – including three live shows – alongside Graham Norton. The judges are Gary Barlow, Martin Kemp and Dannii Minogue.

She narrated The Secret Chef for ITV and co-presented Let's Sing and Dance for Comic Relief alongside Sue Perkins on BBC One.

Also in 2017, Giedroyc competed in the fourth series of Taskmaster against Lolly Adefope, Hugh Dennis, Noel Fielding and Joe Lycett. Since June 2017, Giedroyc has presented Saturday night entertainment series Pitch Battle for BBC One. She also presents the daily BBC Two game show Letterbox having hosted 45 episodes (15 for series One, 30 for series Two) since 2017. On 23 July 2017, it was confirmed that Giedroyc and Perkins would host a new version of The Generation Game for BBC One.[24]

In November 2017, she co-presented Children in Need for the first time.[25] In December 2017 she hosted an episode of Have I Got News for You.

In May 2018, Giedroyc was the spokesperson for the United Kingdom as part of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.

Upcoming 2020: Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable – UKTV.

UKTV’s award-winning entertainment channel Dave, has commissioned UKTV Original Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable (8×60’), a comedy format which will air later this year.

Produced by Expectation, Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable invites three celebrity guests along to Mel’s confessional each week to find out who’s committed sins that are so bad that they should be declared ‘unforgivable’. The competitive comedians will dare to sin it, to win it.[26]

Radio

In July 2000, Giedroyc appeared as a contestant on The 99p Challenge, a show hosted by Sue Perkins. In August 2010, Giedroyc appeared on the Dave Gorman show on Absolute Radio as one of his co-hosts, standing in for Danielle Ward and has also appeared on series 4 to 7 of Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! on BBC Radio 4.[27] From 2 April 2011, with the rebranding of Radio 7 as Radio 4 extra, Giedroyc has presented The 4 O'Clock Show, a chat show including items related to children's entertainment.

From 16 April 2016, she has presented a Saturday lunchtime show on Magic 105.4fm from 1 pm until 3 pm.

On 6 September 2014, Giedroyc co-hosted with Lee Mack on his BBC Radio 2 Saturday morning show.[28]

Other work

In November 2014 Giedroyc was a part of Gareth Malone's All Star Choir,[29] singing the opening solo in the choir's cover version of "Wake Me Up" to raise money for the BBC's Children in Need.[30] On 3 and 10 November 2014, a two-part documentary about the choir was broadcast by BBC One. On 16 November, the single entered the UK Singles Chart at Number One.

Giedroyc presented the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour from 22 January until 14 February 2016.

Giedroyc appeared in The Rocky Horror Show Live which was simulcast live to cinemas across the United Kingdom and Europe from London's Playhouse Theatre on 17 September 2015 in the role of Third Narrator.

Giedroyc appeared in the 2018 West End Revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Company, playing the role of Sarah.

Giedroyc played Beatrice in the 2018 Rose Theatre production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.[31]

Personal life

Giedroyc is the youngest of four children.[4] Her sister Coky Giedroyc, is a film and TV director; while her other sister, children's writer Kasia, is the wife of Philip Parham, a British diplomat.[4]

Giedroyc is married to Ben Morris, a television director and teacher at LAMDA.[32]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Channel	Notes
1996	French and Saunders	Various characters	BBC One	4 episodes
1996	The Vicar of Dibley	Mary Tinker	BBC One	1 episode
1997–98	Light Lunch	Co-presenter	Channel 4	With Sue Perkins
1998	Late Lunch	Co-presenter
2006	Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy	Voice of Mist	Channel 5	One-off TV film
	Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show	Co-presenter	ITV	1 series; with Richard Hammond
2008–2011	Sorry, I've Got No Head	Various characters	CBBC
2010	Miranda	Life coach	BBC Two	1 episode
2010–16	The Great British Bake Off	Co-presenter	BBC Two (2010–13) BBC One (2014–16)	7 series; with Sue Perkins
2011–14	Sadie J	Ms. V	CBBC
2013, 2016, 2017	Have I Got News for You	Guest presenter	BBC One	3 episodes
2014	Draw It!	Presenter	Channel 4	1 series
	Collectaholics	Presenter	BBC Two	1 series
	Vertigo Road Trip	Presenter	BBC One	One-off show
2015–16	Now You See It	Narrator	BBC One[33]	2 series
2015	The Gift	Co-presenter	BBC One	1 series; with Matt Baker
2015	Mel and Sue	Co-presenter	ITV	1 series; with Sue Perkins
	Relatively Clever	Presenter	Sky1	1 series
	Eurovision Song Contest 2015	Co-commentator[34]	BBC Three	With Scott Mills
	The Sound of Music Live	Frau Schmidt	ITV	One-off special
2016–19	Eurovision: You Decide	Presenter	BBC Four (2016) BBC Two (2017—19)	With Måns Zelmerlöw (2018–19)
2016	Eurovision Song Contest 2016	Co-commentator	BBC Four	With Scott Mills
	Horrible Histories	Various	CBBC	2 episodes
2017	Let It Shine	Co-presenter	BBC One	1 series; with Graham Norton
	The Secret Chef	Narrator	ITV	1 series
	Let's Sing and Dance for Comic Relief[35]	Co-presenter	BBC One	1 series; with Sue Perkins
	Taskmaster[36]	Herself	Dave	Series 4
	Eurovision Song Contest 2017	Co-commentator	BBC Four	With Scott Mills
	Pitch Battle	Presenter	BBC One	1 series
	Children in Need	Co-presenter	BBC One
	Mary, Mel and Sue's Big Christmas Thank You	Co-presenter		One-off special
2017–	Letterbox	Presenter	BBC Two	2 series
2018	The Generation Game	Co-presenter	BBC One	1 series; with Sue Perkins
2018	Eurovision Song Contest 2018	UK spokesperson	BBC One, EBU
2020	Hitmen	Co-Star	Sky1	1 series; with Sue Perkins

Books

• 2005, From Here to Maternity: One Mother of a Journey, Ebury Press, ISBN 978-0091897505 – diary based on her first pregnancy.
• 2007, Going Ga-Ga: Is there life after birth?, Ebury Press, ISBN 978-0-09-190592-7 – similar theme.

References

1. "BBC One - Let It Shine - Mel Giedroyc". BBC. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
2. Stanford, Peter (25 March 2010). "My father's Siberian prison hell". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
3. "Michal Giedroyc". The Times. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018. (subscription required)
4. Giedroyc, Mel; Barber, Richard (11 March 2016). "Mel Giedroyc: my family values". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
5. Giedroyc, Mel; Sale, Jonathan (8 October 2009). "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of comedian Mel Giedroyc". The Independent. London. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
6. Mist: Sheepdog Tales on IMDb
7. Rick Fulton (7 February 2015). "Mel Giedroyc reveals how she went from near bankruptcy to Bake Off stardom". dailyrecord.
8. "Mel and Sue to reunite for The Great British Bake-Off". The Daily Mirror. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
9. Foster, Patrick (12 September 2016). "BBC loses Great British Bake Off, as Channel 4 swoops for corporation's biggest show". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
10. "Great British Bake Off: Mel and Sue to quit as hosts". BBC News. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
11. "Mary Berry to leave Bake Off ahead of Channel 4 move". BBC News. 22 September 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
12. Martinson, Jane (22 September 2016). "Mary Berry to leave Bake Off – but Paul Hollywood agrees to stay". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
13. Mel Giedroyc to host Channel 4's new 'Draw Something' game show Digital Spy, 25 April 2013
14. Cox, P. (2014), "The dizzy heights of psychology in the media", The Psychologist, Vo. 27, No. 6, June 2014, p462
15. "BBC One – The One Show, 12/11/2014". BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
16. "Now You See It". digiguide.tv.
17. "Great British Bake Off stars clinch ITV chat show". the Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
18. Archived 4 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine
19. "Mel & Sue's daytime chatshow has been dropped by ITV". Digital Spy.
20. "BBC – The Gift – Media Centre". bbc.co.uk.
21. l
22. "Eurovision 2015: 'Great British Bake Off' Presenter Mel Giedroyc To Join Scott Mills For Semi-Finals Coverage, 27/04/2015". Huffington Post UK. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
23. "BBC – Programmes – Page not found". BBC.
24. "Mel and Sue are bringing The Generation Game back to BBC One". BBC Media Centre. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
25. https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/children-in-need-presenter-lineup
26. "Expectation Entertainment Shows". Expectation Entertainment. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
27. "Dave Gorman – Show Blog". Absolute Radio. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
28. "BBC Radio 2 – Lee Mack, Michael Palin and Sofia Helin". BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
29. "BBC – BBC Children in Need – Gareth Malone forms an all-star choir for the Official BBC Children in Need single". BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
30. "BBC – Gareth Malone to form All-Star Choir for official BBC Children in Need single 2014 – Media centre". Retrieved 18 November 2014.
31. Billington, Michael (19 April 2018). "Much Ado About Nothing review – Mel Giedroyc blazes through Great Sicilian Bake Off". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
32. "On the rise: Mel Giedroyc on Bingate and baking mischief with Mary Berry". Retrieved 17 October 2019.
33. "Now You See It – Styling it out".
34. BBC Three Entertainment (27 April 2015). "Mel Giedroyc to join Scott Mills as co-host of BBC Three's Eurovision Song Contest Semi Finals coverage". bbc.co.uk. BBC Media Centre. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
35. "BBC – Mel and Sue to present Let's Sing and Dance for Comic Relief – Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk.
36. Guide, British Comedy (1 November 2016). "Taskmaster Series 4 line-up revealed".

External links

• Mel Giedroyc on IMDb