Mel Giedroyc - I Lost My Biggest Fan When Mum Died

2026-08-12

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Mel Giedroyc is a comedian, writer and TV presenter who has been entertaining the nation for over 30 years. Hired in 1996 as a writer for French and Saunders (alongside best friend Sue Perkins), Mel’s career took off and she went on to co-present hit Channel 4 series Light Lunch and Late Lunch, and then the Great British Bake Off. Since then, Giedoryc has written a Sunday Times bestselling novel and fronts the podcast, Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake. Now she returns with a new book, The Comeback, a funny, big-hearted novel about second chances set i...

Mel Giedroyc is a comedian, writer and TV presenter who has been entertaining the nation for over 30 years.

Hired in 1996 as a writer for French and Saunders (alongside best friend Sue Perkins), Mel’s career took off and she went on to co-present hit Channel 4 series Light Lunch and Late Lunch, and then the Great British Bake Off.

Since then, Giedoryc has written a Sunday Times bestselling novel and fronts the podcast, Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake. Now she returns with a new book, The Comeback, a funny, big-hearted novel about second chances set in a community.

In this hilarious and moving episode, we talk about how she feels she is always ‘getting away with it’, life post-Bake Off, having children, not making it to her mother’s deathbed due to a big night out, and the recurring nightmare that she has never been able to shake…

IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Introduction

02:55 Getting Away With It

05:43 Bake Off

08:43 Life After Bake Off

09:45 The Comeback Novel

10:21 Theatre And Family Roots

17:18 Cambridge Degree Disaster

28:49 Mums Deathbed Regret

30:46 Strokes And Stolen Years

32:05 Boozy Night Missed Call

36:10 Work As Grief Shelter

39:36 Remembering Rosemary

43:50 VHS Shame Spiral

52:00 Goodbyes And Final Thoughts

LINKS + MENTIONS:

Listen to Mel’s podcast, Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake here: swap.fm/l/ZuaKfvomuCzS7P3cLJzx and watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@WhereTheresAWillTheresAWake

The Comeback is available to pre-order now: www.hachette.co.uk/titles/mel-giedroyc/the-comeback/9781472256263/

Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com

WANT MORE?

Miranda Hart - swap.fm/l/oTScN30b80GflJtO4rgu

Celeste Barber - swap.fm/l/qLmwfjyeSolWuFeaHGdt

Stephen Merchant - swap.fm/l/Lta5mlFbVnPHyFb8R1n2

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