Mel and Sue

Mel Giedroyc (born 5 June 1968) and Sue Perkins (born 22 September 1969), known collectively as Mel and Sue, are an English comedy double act. They are known for hosting the BAFTA Award-winning BBC One cookery series The Great British Bake Off. Previously, they hosted the lunchtime chat shows Light Lunch and Late Lunch on Channel 4. Early career Mel and Sue met at a comedy gig in 1988 while both students at the University of Cambridge in England (Giedroyc at Trinity College and Perkins at New Hall) where both were members of the Footlights. They made their debut in 1993 with The Naked Lunch, after which they took their show Kittens Go Grrrrr to the Edinburgh Festival. Giedroyc recalls of their early partnership: "We got on extremely well. We did some very lame gigs performing sketches with two guys, and Sue would compete. But because she was a year younger than me we never knew each other well until after college. We both got very shit degrees, and I failed to get into every drama school, so I gave her a ring and said, 'Do you want to write stuff for Week Ending? Television 1990s The pair's television breakthrough came on the French & Saunders sketch show, where they appeared together in several episodes. Mel and Sue gained widespread popularity in March 1997 when they launched a lunchtime chat show on Channel 4, Light Lunch, where celebrity chefs cooked lunch for the duo's celebrity guests. The show returned for a second series in 1998.