Mel Giedroyc: ‘Mary Berry is the biggest party animal!’
Mel Giedroyc shares her enthusiasm for all life has to offer – and her unique tips for a happy marriage
It feels almost impossible to disassociate Mel Giedroyc from her partner-in-crime Sue Perkins, and, while she’s best known as one half of the hilarious presenting duo, Mel has several lesserknown strings to her bow. She most recently wrapped up her performance in the London stage production of Shakespeare’s Much
Ado About Nothing, while continuing to juggle life as a mum to two teenage daughters.
Mel, who recently turned 50, has no intention of taking it any easier. In fact, she’s found reaching half a century is something to be embraced.
‘Sometimes I think, Do I need to go and get a few little stitches put in on my neck? But then I think I’d get taken the mick out of so badly by friends and family… So, no, we’re not going to go down any of those routes at all. I’m going to enjoy being 50, celebrate it, be honest about it. I’m owning it and it’s going to be great.’
Mel’s planning the biggest party of her life to celebrate in style with friends and family.
‘I think I’m going to set aside three days for the party: It’s going to be big, that’s all I’m saying,’ Mel confesses. ‘There will be a lot of perimenopausal women leaping around, sweating, probably vomiting, maybe a bit of inappropriate snogging, then horrendous regret for about four days, then everything just gets back to normal.’
The public won’t get a glimpse of Mel’s bash, as she insists the snaps will feature exclusively in the Giedroyc family album – but there’s one familiar guest who’s set to light up the dance floor.
‘Mary Berry is the biggest party animal. She’s danced at Pacha nightclub in Ibiza,’ Mel reveals. ‘She’s always the last to leave the party, and I’ve tried to outmanoeuvre her on several occasions, but never managed it. She will out-party the finest – she’s amazing!’
While Mel appears to have high hopes for her birthday
bash, that’s not the only event she’ll be organising. The presenter is currently working with Marie Curie’s Great Blooming Tea Party – an initiative that helps raise money for the charity which provides support around terminal illness.
‘I love Marie Curie. I love the nurses, and I think they’re extraordinary with what they do. This is my fourth year of involvement with the Great Blooming Tea Party, and I think I was originally approached because of my links with baked goods,’ she laughs. Although she and Sue, 48, left TV’s The Great British Bake Off in 2016, they have since embarked on a number of new TV challenges, including BBC1’s reboot of
The Generation Game. The new-look show left viewers divided, but Mel has her own ideas for what she and Sue could do if it were to return for a second series.
‘It was utterly nerve-racking, but it was the first outing, and my hope would be that if we get to do some more, we would just start to enjoy it, actually,’ Mel explains.
‘Brucie [Sir Bruce Forsyth] set the bar very, very high, and I hope that we can somehow channel Brucie in what we do, but we have got to make it our own, really. And the most important thing for us is to give the contestants a really good time, where they come away from it and think Gosh, that was such a good laugh! Then you’ve got a great show.’
For Mel, family always comes first. Despite describing life at home with her husband Ben Morris and their daughters Florence, 16, and Vita, 14, as ‘chaos’, it’s clear she wouldn’t change a thing.
‘For 17 years, it’s been a blur of patchwork childcare, chaos, tears, laughter, knitting things and just generally taking it day by day,’ Mel admits. ‘But I wouldn’t have it any other way – and, frankly, I don’t think my kids would, either.’
You might think being half of one of TV’s funniest presenting duos would earn some kind of credibility with teenagers, but Mel confesses that it’s quite the opposite in her household.
‘They think everything I say,
‘I adore my kids – but, my goodness, they don’t want to hang out with me in public’
do, wear, believe in, is from the uncoolest planet in the Galaxy. I’m hoping it will all just come full circle. I mean, they love me and I adore them – but, my goodness, they don’t want to hang out with me in public.’
Mel has the perfect helping hand in husband Ben. What’s their secret?
‘Trying to ignore the nasal and ear hair on both our sides. A lot of laughter and a shared love of the small things in life,’ she says.
‘It’s not about trips to Lisbon – those days are long gone. It’s about getting through the day. I think it’s sort of revelling in the madness and the slow decline and laughing at it. That’s what you keeps you together.’