Mel Giedroyc
Encyclopedia
Mel Giedroyc is an English
television
presenter, actress, and writer
.
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. The two returned for the second series on 27th September 2011.
. 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)
.
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.
show on Absolute Radio as one of his co-hosts, standing in for Danielle Ward
. She has also appeared on series 4, 5 and 6 of the Count Arthur Radio Show on BBC Radio 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.
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. 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
.
She is married to Ben Morris, a TV director, with two children: Florence (born May 2002), and Vita (born February 2004).
Her sister, Coky Giedroyc
, is a TV director.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
presenter, actress, and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
.
Mel and Sue
Giedroyc is best known for presenting comedyComedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
items alongside Sue Perkins
Sue Perkins
Sue Perkins is an English comedienne, broadcaster, actress, and writer.-Education:Perkins was educated at Croham Hurst School, an independent school for girls in Croydon in South London, at the same time as the BBC Breakfast News presenter Susanna Reid...
. The two women met whilst students at Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
and both were members of the famous Footlights
Footlights
Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University....
comedy club.
As Mel and Sue
Mel and Sue
Mel and Sue are a British comedy duo, consisting of Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.-Early career:The two women met whilst students at the University of Cambridge in England where both were members of the famous comedy club Footlights.-Television:Their television breakthrough came on the French &...
, the duo were short-listed for the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
Best Newcomers Award at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
in 1993. After a few years writing for French & Saunders
French & Saunders
French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television show written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act....
, they hosted a lunchtime show on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
called Light Lunch
Light Lunch
Light Lunch is a Channel 4 lunch-time comedy chatshow broadcast between March 1997 and February 1998. It starred Mel and Sue...
(and the early evening version, Late Lunch). They were reunited in 2010 to host the cookery competition The Great British Bake Off
The Great British Bake Off
The Great British Bake Off is a British television cooking/Baking competition first shown by the BBC in the summer of 2010.The judges are cookery writer Mary Berry and professional baker Paul Hollywood. Mel & Sue present both the series' of The Great British Bake Off , while Aaron Craze present the...
, on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
from 16th August 2010. The two returned for the second series on 27th September 2011.
Television projects
Giedroyc has also been a presenter on Channel 4's RI:SERI:SE
RI:SE was a breakfast television show made by Princess Productions in collaboration with BSkyB for Channel 4 in the UK. It was scheduled to replace The Big Breakfast after declining ratings. It launched on 29 April 2002...
. 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
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
sitcom Blessed
Blessed (TV series)
Blessed was a BBC television sitcom written by Ben Elton and starring Ardal O'Hanlon as Gary, a record producer, who is struggling to bring up two small children...
and co-presenting Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show
Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show
Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show was a television programme shown every weekday on the British channel ITV from 3 January until 10 February 2006. The show was presented by Richard Hammond and Mel Giedroyc, and featured a variety of reports on popular and unusual topics...
on ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
. She was in one episode of The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom created by Richard Curtis and written for its lead actress, Dawn French, by Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, with contributions from Kit Hesketh-Harvey. It aired from 1994 to 2007...
.
Giedroyc was the sixth student to be voted out of Comic Relief does Fame Academy
Comic Relief Does Fame Academy
Comic Relief Does Fame Academy is a spin-off of the original Fame Academy show where celebrities sing as students of the Academy. The programme was launched in 2003 to help raise money for the charities supported by Comic Relief, with the final of the show occurring on Red Nose Day...
and was a celebrity judge on the 2007 edition of Making Your Mind Up
Making Your Mind Up (TV series)
Eurovision: Your Country Needs You was a BBC TV show broadcast annually to select the United Kingdom's entry into the Eurovision Song Contest...
along with John Barrowman
John Barrowman
John Scot Barrowman is a Scottish-American singer, actor, dancer, musical theatre performer and media personality. Born in Glasgow yet growing up in Illinois after his family emigrated to the United States when he was eight years old, Barrowman was encouraged to further his love for music and...
. She starred as one of the presenters in the show EUROBEAT: Almost Eurovision! at the Edinburgh Fringe
Edinburgh Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Scotland's capital, in the month of August...
and subsequently in the West End at the Novello Theatre
Novello Theatre
The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster.-History:The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was...
. 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?
What Do Kids Know?
What Do Kids Know? Is a brand new family entertainment show exclusive to Watch, where celebrities and children celebrate the humour and bewilderment of Britain's generation gap. Hosted by Rufus Hound with resident team captains Joe Swash and Sara Cox. It has similarities to Small Talk...
along with Rufus Hound
Rufus Hound
Rufus Hound is a British comedian and presenter. He is also the winner of 2010 "Let's Dance for Comic Relief".-Career:...
, Joe Swash
Joe Swash
Joseph Adam Swash is an English actor and presenter. He once played Mickey Miller in the British television soap opera EastEnders. He is the older brother of Shana Swash, who played his on-screen younger sister Demi Miller until July 2006. He also won the TV reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me...
and Sara Cox
Sara Cox
Sara Cox , known as "Coxy", is an English TV presenter and radio DJ, most well known for presenting the breakfast show on BBC Radio 1 between 2000 and 2003...
on Watch (TV channel)
Watch (TV channel)
Watch is a general entertainment channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as part of the UKTV network. The channel launched on 7 October 2008 on satellite through Sky and on cable primarily through Virgin Media.-History:...
.
Mel has been a panellist on Five's The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff is a British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright, and currently airing on Channel 5 each weekday morning from 9:15 to 11:10am....
in 2007, 2008 and most recently February 2010.
She is also in the new CBBC series Sadie J.
Radio
In August 2010, Giedroyc appeared on the Dave GormanDave Gorman
David James Gorman is an English author, stand-up comedian and presenter. He has performed comedy shows on stage in which he tells stories of extreme adventures and presents the evidence to the audience in order to prove to them that they are true stories...
show on Absolute Radio as one of his co-hosts, standing in for Danielle Ward
Danielle Ward
Danielle Ward is a British stand-up comedian and writer.-Career:In 2006 Ward won the Time Outs Critic's Choice award for Best Newcomer and wrote Take A Break Tales - exaggerated adaptations of women's magazine stories - in which she appeared with Neil Edmond, Emma Fryer and Isy Suttie at the...
. She has also appeared on series 4, 5 and 6 of the Count Arthur Radio Show on BBC Radio 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 EpsomEpsom
Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. Small parts of Epsom are in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. The town is located south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.-History:Epsom lies...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
and grew up in Leatherhead
Leatherhead
Leatherhead is a town in the County of Surrey, England, on the River Mole, part of Mole Valley district. It is thought to be of Saxon origin...
. Her father, a history writer, is a Polish-Lithuanian who came to England in 1947. She is a Roman Catholic, and has Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, Lithuanian
Lithuanians
Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...
and Belarussian
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
ancestry. She attended the independent Oxford High School in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and later attended Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with a 2:2 degree in Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and literature
Italian literature
Italian literature is literature written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italians or in Italy in other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely related to modern Italian....
.
She is married to Ben Morris, a TV director, with two children: Florence (born May 2002), and Vita (born February 2004).
Her sister, Coky Giedroyc
Coky Giedroyc
-Personal life:The elder sister of actress, presenter and writer Mel Giedroyc, she grew up in Leatherhead, Surrey. Her father is Michal Giedroyc, a historian of Polish-Lithuanian descent who came to England in 1947. She attended Bristol University, where she first began making films...
, is a TV director.
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)