Melanie Clare Sophie Giedroyc ( GHED-roytch, Polish pronunciation: [ˈɡʲɛdrɔjt͡ɕ]; born 5 June 1968) is an English comedian, television presenter and actress.
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. Since 2015, she has held a number of commentating roles for the Eurovision Song Contest. In early 2017, Giedroyc co-presented the BBC show Let It Shine.
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Education and early life
Giedroyc was born on 5 June 1968 in Epsom, Surrey, and grew up in Leatherhead. Her father, Michal, an aircraft designer, civil engineer and family historian, of Polish–Lithuanian descent from the aristocratic Giedroyć family, had moved to Britain in 1947; he died in December 2017.
Her English mother, Rosemary "Rosy" Cumpston (1937–2024), trained as a nurse from age 17, and was a heavy smoker until she suffered a stroke in later life and was confined to a Nursing home, where she died. Mel's older sister is film and television director Coky Giedroyc. After moving to Oxford as a teenager, Giedroyc was privately educated at Oxford High School, England and later the University of Cambridge as a student of Trinity College, Cambridge, where she graduated with a lower second class degree in French and Italian, she has subsequently expressed regret at not working harder and attending more of her lectures.
Career
Television
Giedroyc met Sue Perkins while they were students at the University of Cambridge and members of the Footlights comedy club. Mel and Sue 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). In 1996, she appeared with Perkins in four episodes of the BBC One sketch comedy series French and Saunders.
In 1999, Giedroyc appeared with Perkins 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 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, 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. The show moved to BBC One for its fifth series and has won numerous awards.
Radio
Giedroyc appeared in the 1994 Radio 4 comedy series The Skivers with Nick Golson and Tim de Jongh. In July 2000, Giedroyc appeared as a contestant on The 99p Challenge, a radio 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. From 2 April 2011, with the rebranding of Radio 7 as Radio 4 extra, Giedroyc presented The 4 O'Clock Show, a magazine show including items designed to entertain and inform children.
On 6 September 2014, Giedroyc co-hosted with Lee Mack on his BBC Radio 2 Saturday morning show.
From 16 April 2016, she started presenting a Saturday lunchtime show on Magic Radio from 1 pm until 3 pm.
On 13 November 2024, it was announced that Giedroyc would start presenting a request show on Magic Radio on Sunday mornings from January 2025. In 2025, Giedroyc presented The Magic Request Show.
Podcasting
In 2025, Giedroyc launched a podcast Mel and Sue Should Know by Now on Audible with Perkins. Also in 2025, she took over from Kathy Burke as host of Where There's a Will There's a Wake.
Other work
In November 2014, Giedroyc was a part of Gareth Malone's All Star Choir, singing the opening solo in the choir's cover version of "Wake Me Up" to raise money for the BBC's Children in Need. 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 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 presented the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour from 22 January until 14 February 2016.
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.
On 23 November 2021, it was announced that Giedroyc would dance with Neil Jones in the 2021 Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special.
Giedroyc played the parts of Mrs Edwards (wife of the custodian of the Crown Jewels) and of a 'Lady of the Bedchamber' to King Charles II, in The Crown Jewels, a play written by screenwriter Simon Nye and performed at the Garrick Theatre in London in 2023, about Colonel Blood's theft of the jewels in 1671. The part of Blood was played by Aidan McArdle, Al Murray played the king, and the cast also included Neil Morrissey.
In February 2024, Giedroyc played the part of Irene, Brian's mum in the world premiere of the musical Starter for Ten, based on the novel and film at the Bristol Old Vic. She reprised the role in the September 2025 revival in Bristol before transferring to the Birmingham Rep.
Personal life
Giedroyc is the youngest of four children. Her sister Coky Giedroyc is a film and television director; while her other sister, Kasia, a children's writer, is married to Philip Parham, a British diplomat.
Giedroyc is married to Ben Morris, a television director and teacher at LAMDA. They have two daughters.
In 2021, Giedroyc spoke publicly about her health issues, saying, "I've noticed of late, the old hormonal journey is quite interesting. The old peri-menopausal express has come to town! I'm not in the full hot flush yet, but I very much feel it's coming. I've noticed mood-wise, it gets quite interesting."
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.
2021, The Best Things, Headline Review ISBN 978-1472256218 – debut novel