MY NEW CHALLENGES

I think if you take on a new project and it doesn’t slightly make you terrified, don’t do it. Have I gone mad? Possibly. I feel so lucky to be offered these amazing opportunities, like doing a Shakespeare play and now doing this amazing West End musical, and I just want to grab it with both hands. Life is short, actually, so just enjoy it and do it with 110 per cent.

My mindset has changed since my dad died. [Mel’s beloved father, Michal, passed away last December, aged 88.] The generation above you – your parents or your aunties or uncles – is the buffer between you and death. I would say I now have more of a sense of my own mortality, definitely, and that thing of, ‘Right, come on, let’s stop mucking about now. Let’s do things we really want to do and let’s try to do them well.’ That’s a very privileged position to be in.

I love my job for however long it lasts; you never quite know. When all else fails, I’m going to become a life coach. I’m going to wear one of those Britney Spears headsets and go to local church halls and bore the three people who’ll attend rigid with my relentless, awful positivity.

TAKING THE STAGE

I’m thrilled to be part of Company, a brand-new version of George Furth and Stephen Sondheim’s musical. I’m so excited that I’m going to call the West End’s Gielgud Theatre my home. It’s one of my favourite musicals, and now the brilliant director Marianne Elliott and Stephen Sondheim have brought the story right up to date. The show’s central character, played by the super-talented Rosalie Craig, is Bobbie, a 35-year-old woman who has it all – a great job, three boyfriends, and a New York apartment. The only issue is that she doesn’t know what she wants – but all her friends seem to know what’s best for her. I’m delighted to be working with cake again. I play

Sarah, Bobbie’s jujutsu, brownie-eating➺

friend. The cast is a who’s who of the West End and Broadway, and includes Gavin Spokes as my husband and the legend that is Patti Lupone as Joanne.

Getting up on a stage gets the butterflies going, and I’ll be singing live. I think there are 15 people in the show and I’m hoping I’m going to be able at some point to get away with that thing you used to do at school, which is to slightly mime. You’ve got the cream of the ruddy West End, Britain’s singing and performing talent – and me, the only untrained person on stage. My director Marianne Elliott, I’ve got to say, is taking one hell of a risk!

There’ll be a lot of breathing over a

steaming bowl. I’ve heard it said that taking a spoonful of honey, which has been produced in your area, will keep you well because it helps the immune system. Clever, isn’t it? So honey made in the outer reaches of the North Circular. We’ll try and find some.

My family will be taking the mick when

I do my warm ups for the show. My kids think I’ve been an embarrassing mum for ages now. We have a very, very healthy amount of teasing in my family. That comes from generations back, and I will give as good as I get. I’m not just going to be the butt of the joke. It’s when my husband joins in though, I think, ‘Come on mate, we’re supposed to be a team!’

LEAVING BAKE OFF BEHIND

I watched bits and bobs of The Great British Bake Off last year. I never particularly watched it when we were doing it, so it’s not like I’ve suddenly gone ‘No’. I dip in. I didn’t see any of our first three series. My kids really got into series four and we enjoyed watching it together, but I couldn’t face sitting down for the whole hour, as it then was. I think I’ll find it easier to watch it this time round and Noel [Fielding] is a friend. He’s fantastic. I love him.

When the first daffodils come out in

April, I feel my little heart strings twang a bit, thinking this is the time that we would have been starting out with a fresh batch of bakers. I miss the bants. I miss laughing until we were crying. But I’m totally at peace with it. All the people doing it now are great at what they do but if you haven’t got good bakers, you haven’t got a show. It’s two years since I was on GBBO, so I feel that new doors have opened and there’s enough distance between it and us now.

Sue and I spent three days filming with Mary Berry for a Christmas special last

year. No disrespect to Mary, but it was like slipping on a pair of comfortable old slacks. It felt great. We fall into the same roles, Sue and I, annoying teenagers, and Mary trying to discipline us but just wanting to mess about. It was fun. She’s brilliant and a sweetheart.

I miss the cakes! And the savouries. I bake at home – I dip into the Bake Off books a lot, Mary’s books and Paul’s books. Paul’s got a very good banana and walnut loaf that I make. And nothing beats Bezza’s lemon drizzle…

• Company runs at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End from 26 September 2018. companymusical.co.uk.

‘I miss the Bake Off bants. I miss laughing until we were crying’