Mel Giedroyc

Mel Giedroyc

Giedroyc in 2009
Born Melanie Clare Sophie Giedroyc
(1968-06-05) 5 June 1968
Epsom, Surrey, England
Residence London, England
Television Light Lunch (1997–98)
Great British Bake Off (2010—)
Draw It! (2014)
Mel and Sue (2015)
Spouse(s) Ben Morris
Children 2
Relatives Coky Giedroyc (sister)
Philip Parham (brother-in-law)

Melanie Clare Sophie "Mel" Giedroyc (/ˈɡɛdrɔɪtʃ/) is an English presenter, actress and comedian, best known for her comedy work with Sue Perkins, co-hosting series including Light Lunch for Channel 4, The Great British Bake Off for the BBC and chat show Mel and Sue for ITV.

Early life

Giedroyc was born in Epsom, Surrey and grew up in Leatherhead. Her father, an historian of Polish-Lithuanian descent from the princely Giedroyć family, came to England in 1947. She attended the independent Oxford High School, Oxford and later attended Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with a 2:2 degree in Italian language and literature.[1]

Career

Television

Giedroyc has 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 presenting comedy items with Sue Perkins. They 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 is currently performing 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,[2] 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 as to how she had nearly gone bankrupt.[3] The show moved to BBC One for its fifth series and has won numerous awards.[4] In 2012 and 2013, she 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.[5]

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... "[6]

On 12 November 2014, Giedroyc guest hosted an episode of The One Show with Alex Jones.[7]

In 2015, Giedroyc narrated eight-part BBC One series Now You See It. A second series was later announced and will air in 2016.[8]

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.[9][10] In August 2015, it was announced that the show had been axed.[11]

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.[12] Geidroyc hosted the Sky1 primetime game show Relatively Clever, which began on 3 April 2015.[13]

In May 2015, Geidroyc joined Scott Mills in commentating the semi finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 for the United Kingdom. It was broadcast on BBC Three.[14] During February 2016 Giedroyc presented the Eurovision You Decide and she will later present the semi-finals in May.

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 and has also appeared on series 4 to 7 of Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! on BBC Radio 4.[15] 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 Saturday 16th April she presents a Saturday lunch time show on Magic 105.4fm from 1pm to 3pm

On 6 September 2014, Giedroyc co-hosted with Lee Mack on his BBC Radio 2 Saturday morning show.[16]

Other work

In November 2014 Giedroyc was a part of Gareth Malone's All Star Choir,[17] singing the opening solo in the choir's cover version of "Wake Me Up" to raise money for the BBC's Children in Need.[18] 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 will present the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour from 22 January until 14 February 2016.

Personal life

Giedroyc is the youngest of four children. The younger of her sisters, Coky Giedroyc, is a director; the older sister, Kasia, is the wife of Philip Parham, a British diplomat.[19]

Giedroyc is married to Ben Morris, a television director and teacher at LAMDA.[20] They have two children: Florence, born May 2002 and Vita, born February 2004, and live in London.

Filmography

Television
Year Title Role Channel Note(s)
1997–98 Light Lunch Co-presenter Channel 4 With Sue Perkins
1998 Late Lunch Co-presenter With Sue Perkins
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 With Richard Hammond
2008–2011 (filmed 1996-2003) Sorry, I've Got No Head Various characters CBBC
2010— The Great British Bake Off Co-presenter BBC Two (2010–13)
BBC One (2014—)		 With Sue Perkins
2011–2014 Sadie J Ms. V CBBC
2014 Draw It! Presenter Channel 4
Collectaholics Presenter BBC Two
Vertigo Road Trip Presenter BBC One One-off show
2015— Now You See It Narrator BBC One
The Gift Co-presenter BBC One With Matt Baker
2015 Mel and Sue Co-presenter ITV With Sue Perkins
Relatively Clever Presenter Sky1
Eurovision Song Contest 2015 Co-commentator[21] BBC Three With Scott Mills
The Sound of Music Live! Frau Schmidt ITV UK version of The Sound of Music Live!, broadcast 20 December 2015
2016 Eurovision: You Decide Presenter BBC Four
Guest appearances

Books

References

  1. ↑ "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of comedian Mel Giedroyc". The Independent (London). 8 October 2009.
  2. ↑ Mist: Sheepdog Tales at the Internet Movie Database
  3. ↑ Rick Fulton (7 February 2015). "Mel Giedroyc reveals how she went from near bankruptcy to Bake Off stardom". dailyrecord.
  4. ↑ "Mel and Sue to reunite for The Great British Bake-Off". The Daily Mirror. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  5. ↑ Mel Giedroyc to host Channel 4's new 'Draw Something' game show Digital Spy, 25 April 2013
  6. ↑ Cox, P. (2014), "The dizzy heights of psychology in the media", The Psychologist, Vo. 27, No. 6, June 2014, p462
  7. ↑ "BBC One – The One Show, 12/11/2014". BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "Now You See It". digiguide.tv.
  9. ↑ "Great British Bake Off stars clinch ITV chat show". the Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  10. ↑ Archived 4 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ "Mel & Sue's daytime chatshow has been dropped by ITV". Digital Spy.
  12. ↑ "BBC – The Gift – Media Centre". bbc.co.uk.
  13. ↑ l
  14. ↑ "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.
  15. ↑ "Dave Gorman – Show Blog". Absolute Radio. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  16. ↑ "BBC Radio 2 – Lee Mack, Michael Palin and Sofia Helin". BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  17. ↑ "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.
  18. ↑ "BBC – Gareth Malone to form All-Star Choir for official BBC Children in Need single 2014 – Media centre". Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  19. ↑ "Why Mel and Sue are the magic ingredient that makes Bake Off so scrumptious: Heartbreak. Near bankruptcy. Jealousy. The two women's 30-year friendship that reveals the recipe for success". Daily Mail. 24 August 2015.
  20. ↑ Hardy, Rebecca. ".....TV comedienne Mel Giedroyc was forced to sell her family home when the work suddenly dried up. But then Mary Berry rode to the rescue". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  21. ↑
  22. ↑ "The Magicians". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  23. ↑ "Catchphrase". RadioTimes. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  24. ↑ "The Jonathan Ross Show". "ITV Press Centre".

External links

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