Mel Giedroyc

Mel Giedroyc
Mel Giedroyc playing Boyka, a North Bosnian presenter, in Craig Christie's musical Eurobeat - Almost Eurovision
Birth name	Clare Sophie Giedroyc
Born	(1968-06-15) 15 June 1968 (age 43) Epsom, Surrey, England
Nationality	British
Genres	Comedy
Spouse	Ben Morris
Notable works and roles	Mel and Sue Light Lunch

Mel Giedroyc ( /ˈɡiːdrɔɪtʃ/ or /ˈɡjɛdrɔɪ̯t͡ɕ/; born Melanie Clare Sophie Giedroyc on 5 June 1968 in Epsom, Surrey) is an English television presenter, actress, and writer.

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 16th August 2010.^[1] The two returned for the second series on 27th September 2011.

Television projects

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 (TV channel).She also appeared in the first episode of series two of Miranda Hart's self titled sitcom Miranda as a life coach.

Mel has been a panellist on Five's The Wright Stuff in 2007, 2008 and most recently February 2010. She is also in the new CBBC series Sadie J as well as presenting The Four O'Clock Show on BBC Radio 4 Extra. She is also the voice of Mist in Mist: Sheepdog Tales^[2] currently shown on Channel 5's morning show Milkshake.

She also plays Mrs V, in CBBC program Sadie J, who is the owner of the Y diner.

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. ^[3] 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 England in 1947. She is a Roman Catholic, and has Belgian, Polish, Lithuanian and Belarussian ancestry.^[4] 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.^[5]

She is married to Ben Morris, a TV director, with two children: Flossie (born May 2002), and Vita (born February 2004).

Her sister, Coky Giedroyc, is a TV director.

See also

• Mel and Sue

References

External links

• IMDb
• Interview at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2007
• Paul Theroff. Giedroyc family genealogy
• Profile of Mel Giedroyc
• Official Mel and Sue website (has not been updated in many years