Great British Bake-off presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins are back with a new live daytime chat show next week. Featuring celebrity guests, real cooks and a lively audience, the new show is bound to provide plenty of laughs. We caught up with the hosts to talk about the joys of live TV and whether Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood will be dropping in...
Tell us about the new chat show..
Mel: "We're going to have cooks on the show but they won't be the celebrity chef variety. Just really good home cooks."
Sue: "Just people at home who have a really great recipe for a rum cake or something."
Mel: "That will be a nice bit of the show, celebrating somebody who's not a celebrity but is really good at something. We're all for that, it's great. There'll be an audience - up to 60 people - and it'll be a really relaxed show, so there should be a lot of audience banter and participation."
Sue: "We wanted to break down the barriers. There's no them and us. Just normal people... presented by abnormal people. I just want to create a good atmosphere. We want to do something that's fun and sweet and doesn't try to be cool because we're quite old. Mel's a lot older than I am though, by two years, and I'll be mentioning that a lot."
Is it something you've wanted to do for a while?
Sue: "No, because that would imply we've got a career strategy and that we sit down and plan for the future. Mainly it was the chance to work together again!"
Did you always want to film the show live?
Mel: "Totally. It's brilliant that it's live because once you've done it it's out there. It's in the moment and it's gone. It's a great feeling."
Sue: "It's more exciting. If you can go back and redo something then the temptation is always to revisit to make it better. Endless repetition can destroy something that's magical and mistakes are funny. Chaos is something we both enjoy."
You'll be having two celebrity guests on the show each day, can you tell us who'll be on the first show?
Sue: "We're not allowed to say. But they are amazing!"
Mel: "There will be a very good variety. You'll get some very good A-list type people."
Sue: "And some not quite A-listers as well!"
Will Great British Bake-off judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood be appearing on the show?
Mel: "They've already called to book themselves on. They're probably expecting to be on once a week or something! They're not cooking though... We'll have to keep Paul away from the kitchen."
Sue: "They'll definitely be coming on - they're like family!
Is it nice to be working together again?
Mel: "We do some things individually and that's important, but it's always great to work together."
Sue: "The friendship never takes a break but the professional relationship definitely does. We hope this works because it's meaningful to us so we want it to be meaningful to other people. I hope people enjoy it."
Mel and Sue starts on ITV at 4pm on Monday 12th January.
