Dig It with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball - Mel Giedroyc: Failure, Grief & Feral Weeing

Episode Date: August 26, 2026

Comedian, presenter and author Mel Giedroyc joins Jo and Zoe to talk about her new book, 'The Comeback'. They also discuss failure, female friendship, funeral lists and feral weeing. But not before a post-holiday catch-up with Jo and Zoe, and the festival everyone should know about!Mel Giedroyc's new book,' The Comeback', is out 27th August. Click to buy - https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-comeback/mel-giedroyc/9781472256263 GET IN TOUCH📧 Email us: [e-mail]📱 Text or Voice Note: 07477 038795💬 Or tap here to send a voice note or message on WhatsApp:⁠ ⁠https://wa.me/447477038795SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORSThis episode is brought to you by Starling, Panda London, L’Oreal. 📱 Starling: the bank that helps you organise your money, build great habits and stay in control of your spending. Do life together with a joint account - find out more at starlingbank.com/current-account/joint-bank-account. T&Cs and eligibility apply for Joint, Personal and Easy Saver accounts. Individual Personal accounts are required.🐼 Panda London — Make hot nights more comfortable with Panda London’s beautifully soft, breathable and thermoregulating bamboo bedding. Head to pandalondon.com and spend over £50 to receive a free Bamboo Eye Mask with your order using code DIGIT.💄L'Oréal Paris True Match Hyaluron Tinted Balm - Ready for a new era of foundation? Discover your perfect shade of the New L'Oréal Paris True Match Hyaluron Tinted Balm online or at your nearest Boots or Superdrug counter.CREDITSExec Producer: Jonathan O’SullivanProducer: Harriet Thurley Assistant Producer: Eve JonesTechnical Producer: Oliver GeraghtyVideo Editors: Dan Moss, Cameron Laird & Jack Whiteside  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Coming up on Digit, because I saw your mum was very organised and she did funeral lists for you and told you exactly how she wanted the funeral to run. We thought if we don't do exactly what she said, something awful's going to happen and she'll haunt us. She'll come out at the bread bin or something. That was a bit frightening. She bought pants from Pasha. I mean, you see, if I went into Pasha, I wouldn't be able to buy pants. They wouldn't fit me. They'd be like little tiny thong strings.

They would go right on my bum. I would never. You see, that would fill me with horror because there's no M&S. I'm sorry I'm mentioning hose pipes. Constant water reference. Now I want to go. Now I want to go. I need to get to the quince tree. Free women who need to weed desperately.

All of that right after this. Hi, Diggers and welcome to another show. We've got Zoe here. And obviously, we've just come back from holiday. We're a little bit discombobulated. This is a special episode today. We have Mel Gedroich who will be joining us a little bit later on in the shows. We're going to be chatting to Mel, which is going to be a riot,

because it always is whenever we chat to her. But that's to look forward. She's going to talk about her brand new book, which is called The Comeback. Zoe, how are you? What was it like? How was the rest of the holiday? And also you did some festivaling as well. Oh, we've had lovely holidays, lovely catch up with friends, with the kids, my friend's kids,

went to We Out Here festival, which was brilliant. The main headline, my end, Joe, is just want to say, well done. To Arnell and to my nephew Albi and to Jacobi. and to Jacoby and to Max and Lauren and Jen and Bella and all of Nell's amazing friends who did brilliantly in their GCSEs. Our girl absolutely smashed it and we are so proud of her. Yeah. You know, and just, you know, she needed her English and maths to get into the college where she's going,

but she smashed all of them. It was like, we're so in awe of her because she worked really hard. on her exams. And a big shout out to Thomas, who was, he really helped her with her math. He's a tutor. He helped her with maths and geography. And he's so impressed. He's like, she's done even better than I thought she could do. And to lovely Isabel, who helped with extra English as well. So proud of her. Honestly, it makes me want to cry, actually. I'm so, yeah. Oh, no, that's so lovely. Because we went through this. We went through your stress and your strain and never. as well, the anxiety and just that kind of knowing the pressure was on her, but then you obviously not wanting to overload her either. So yeah, that's wonderful. She obviously got her head down and just did all the work. And now has done all the playing as well. And now has done all the playing. Yeah. And then she gets to go and celebrate at Reading this weekend. Every parent's nightmare.

Yes. Yeah. I'm so thrilled. So listen, shout out to all our diggers who've gone through this with their kids. And I hope that, you know, most of the kids have done well. And, don't have to do too many resets, but also we've got to remember that it isn't about, it isn't everything doing well at GCSEs. And loads of people, me included, can go out and work and get jobs and do well without getting amazing GCSE results as well. So although we're really proud, whatever you've gone through in your household with your kids, I hope everyone's doing all right.

And there's not too much disappointment amongst the kids because it is a big ask of them. And there are always options. There are always options. They're always options. It doesn't go the way you kind of thought it was going to. It's fine. You just deviate and you get help from other people and it will pan out in the end. So there's no need to panic.

Although I understand there is initial panic. You've got Reading and Leeds coming up this weekend. Coco's going to be going as well. So maybe she can meet up with Nell. And it is that right of passage, isn't it? It's what kids you want to and kids who are able to go to Redding and Leeds. And it's like some kind of initiation ceremony over the whole weekend. I know.

Well, Nell went to Boardmasters. and Boardmasters was quite hairy at times. My Nell spent a bit of time in welfare down there. So I just really like to send loads of love to people who were working at Boardmasters looking after the kids who had quite a tough time. But, you know, this is a festival that was started by the, you know, all the surf gang, and it's such a lovely event, and it's down in Cornwall. So I'm really hoping and praying there's less of that behaviour at Reading Festival.

but I am on, I'm on hand. I am nearby. I am on hand to scoop and rescue, like the claw in Toy Story, just to come in and be the mum claw to pull Nell out if it gets a little bit hairy. I'm so sad that it's become this, because, you know, Reading was a massive deal to me

when I was getting into music and just beginning to go to festivals. I went there and had the time of my life. And it was just about the music. It was just about seeing the bands. and that's it, pure and simple. I know Coco is an extraordinarily apprehensive about it and was saying, I don't know if I do want to stay over.

And I was saying, no, it'll be fine. But then like you, I was saying, I will obviously take you and I will pick you up if it's not fine. I will do that. Not everybody is able to do that. But also why and how, and I really wish it wasn't this situation where the kids are getting scared of going to festivals because they're only young.

I know. They're so young. So the thing is, I think generally festivals are great. But I know as parents we do worry about how our kids are going to be. Sometimes you only hear about the negative stuff and we forget that there's really amazing stuff that goes on at these festivals. The lots of kids have a really, really good time. Check in kids. Let us know that you're doing all right if you go off to festivals.

That's often the worry. I was at a festival this weekend, which I loved. We out here, Giles Peterson's festival. It's amazing. I think you would love it, Joe. It is such a great. Oh, God. It's endorse it.

It's so beautifully laid out. You can swim. You can swim in this lovely river. You can go paddleboarding. There's loads of people wandering around. You can have saunas and there's hot tubs. And the stages are wonderful. I'm obsessed with Kofi Stone, who I'd never seen perform.

Sampa the Great. Oh, my goodness me. Yeah. Both of them next level. Mike, fantastic rapical Mike. So I've seen so many, you know, they're new to me. I'm sure Nell will be like, oh, for goodness sake, Mom. How have you never heard of Kofy Stone?

and he's brilliant. He was amazing. He's from Birmingham. Goodness me. He's fantastic. But also these little disc, there's a secret disco. Ollie, who works on the pod, actually ran into him and his girlfriend, and she told me what the secret disco was. There's the Grove. There's just all these different places to go and dance. There's a roller rink, Joe, a roller rink. Come on. Did you? No, I didn't. I just thought, perhaps not. I couldn't. I just, but I, but I loved watching everyone doing it. It was great. Anyway, if you're looking for a festival to go to next year, I can fully recommend it. I've had some friends who've been going for a few years now.

And they were a bit like, shh, don't tell everyone, because it's still quite small. I think there was apparently a lot more people this year because Glasgowy hadn't happened. But it's fabulous. Thank you to Charles Peterson and his amazing team for putting on such a gorgeous weekend. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. So there's so many different boutique festivals that are going on all over the place. I ran into so many diggers in the wild. Firstly, every other person was like, Joe Wiley, Joe Wiley, hey Joe Wiley. There was a great guy who came to lend me in the lodgers some mustaches. And he was like, are you Joe Wiley?

I was like, no, you said, are you Sarah Cox? I was like, no, try again. Oh, God. It was great. Furn Cotton? Furn Cotton, I know, go through all of them. But I must mention Melissa, who was celebrating her 60th birthday. She had never been to a festival before.

She had gone big. She was with her grown-up kids. She was so lovely. I met her when we'd gone to watch Mike, I think. She also used to be a teacher. She's now a gardener. She's not a garden designer. She is a gardener.

So she's had that lovely career change. What a last. I'd like to mention Lucy, who was a really young digger who used to listen to me on the breakfast show. And she was so gorgeous. And she said, I'm so fully prepared now. I've learned all about the menopause.

So Lucy, gorgeous to meet you. and we were waving wildly at her friends. And also, would you believe it, in all the places in all the world, I ran into Tash clitoris, chrysalis lady. She just came up to me and she went, What are the chalmers about? I am the clitoris lady. Oh my God.

There's a picture of her there, which I love, because now obviously we've met lovely Tracy who danced her coil out. I've clitoris chrysalis lady. I can't believe this happens. I can't believe it. It happens to be great. And I also met lovely Claire and digger in the queue for coffee. So many diggers out in the wild and really lovely to see them all having so much fun.

We out here. Diggers, we love you and adore you. So we're both, we're done with our holidays now. And some people have still got to go on their holidays. But it's been such a lovely time just to be away for a couple of weeks and kind of just, yeah, get my act together personally. But just for everybody to have a break and just to enjoy each other's company. But sometimes I come back from holiday And I feel like I need another holiday

You know that feeling is just so much To pack and to do And all the paraphernalia that comes with it I don't know what you saw Fern, the lovely Fern Cotton did a thing about how she went on holiday Went to Ibiza And she forgot to pack any pants

For the holiday So she took everything else You know, it took all the essentials Except the pants So she had to go and buy Some pants from Pasha I think And that's, I think I've told this story Before and dig it

She bought pants from Pasha I mean if I went into Pasha I wouldn't be able to buy pants. They wouldn't fit me. They'd be like little tiny thong strings. They would go right on my bum. I would never. See, that would fill me with horror because there's no M&S or stripe and stare in a bea.

It would be a panic for me. I think I told this story before that I did. When I saw Fern do that, I was like, oh my God, I literally did exactly the same thing. But like, 12, 15 years ago when I took the boys, well, I took the family on holiday and then I left one vital suitcase at home. My dad called me up and he was like, I've just found a suitcase upstairs. And I went, oh, okay, we thought the airline had lost the suitcase. I've been on the phone to them for ages, getting really crossed. But we left Jude and Cassie's clothes behind. So they had nothing to wear. I mean, not just didn't have any pants, but they had no clothes to wear. So we went to Pasha and we bought them T-shirts. So they just wore that, like, literally I kept washing the same pair of pants every day. And they wore Pasha T-shirts. And that was their wardrobe for the whole time that we were in Aeitha. But it happens. It happens with the craziness of packing to go away. It does. I take way too much. I had a lovely conversation with my brother, Nick, who was celebrating his 50th. His last, Tiff, his girlfriend. We were talking about will someone next year say, these are the things you wore, you do not need a suitcase and a half. I'm always like, with the suitcase and a half, I'm like, that's my pod kit. That's my travelling pod kit. But it's actually full of toiletries as well. But I wish, yeah, I wish each year I could just remember that you basically, wear three things, three dresses, a couple of swimsuits and, yeah, and you can rotate your

pants because you can wash them and stick them on the radiator or stick them outside to dry. I think I always do the same thing with toiletries and whenever you have the way in, I mean, other people, Diggles will know this feeling of the suitcases go on and everyone just looks at me and the whole family start laughing and taking the mic and they're like, oh, let's see what mum says, I bet she's over, you know, excess baggage and sure enough, mine is always the heaviest. I think the heaviest has been 26 kilos at one point. But when we get on holiday and I get the, oh, mum, have you got any shampoo? Mum, have you got the condition?

If you got this medicine, that medicine, and I have it all because I've rammed it all into my suitcase. So that is why it always weighs the most because I've thought ahead for everybody else and I've packed for everybody else. Yeah, more than spray. You know, all the, you know, all the, you know, anti-sand, after buy. Yeah. I've got all that. Yeah. can I borrow that really nice body cream?

You've got, well, yeah, sure you can. Yeah, so that's why our bags way so much. It's not my really heavy, massive pants. Yeah. Should we have a look at, have a think about the things. And again, diggers do this with us. The things that you take on holiday with you without fail every single time, but you never wear.

You never get, you never unpack them, you leave them in the suitcase, you never ever get around to using them. And then the essential things that you always take and you just wear constantly or any random. things that you always take. So I don't know about you, but I've got them in front of me now because I've just been doing my unpacking and I just was like, yeah, didn't use those. So I always take face masks and I take them for everybody, take them for all the girls. I'm like, right, we can have one night. We'll do face masks and we'll have a really nice time. So I took a bunch of these,

which are amazing face masks. Didn't use them, didn't get them out of suitcase. Yeah. Never ever got to have a facial. So face packs, always take them, never use them. Nail varnishes. I always, always take my nail varnishes. Nail berry, really, really amazing. nail varnishes. Always take them, say, we're going to put nail varnishes on. We're going to have a beauty night. Never, ever does that happen, ever, literally, ever. And they're in glass bottles. They're going to weigh a ton. They are going to wear a tonne for those, aren't they? They do. They do. Yeah. For me, it's the clothes. It's just so many clothes. I did wear my gym kit twice. It's like, I'll take my gym kit. I'll take my, you know, Pilates bands.

You get an holiday. You just don't bother, do you? You just don't bother. We went to Cornwall. I took trainers and I took weights. I took dumbbells. I took dumbbells. with me. Never use them at any point on the holiday. Just like, so when I went, we went to Italy for the second week and I just, I left the trainers and I was like, I'm just not going to run. That's not going to happen. But what I did take, what I did use and I do this every single time, just going to reach forward and get my stash. So flip flops, my black haviannas, I have had these for decades and decades and they're in fashion this year. So suddenly I'm fashionable, but they're the only shoes I wore for the whole holiday pretty much. So I love my flip flops.

black haveanas can't go wrong with them migra leave always get a migraine whenever I go on holiday because because you get stressed and then the stress goes and then your migraine comes so I always take migra leave and I always end up using it sadly and a pillow I always take this mini

little pillow that I bought years and years and years ago from Designers Guild I think I can't get one again so I always take this on holiday it's great when you're on planes when you're in the car when your neck is aching and then to put between your legs when you go to sleep at night so I always always always take that pillow and if I ever leave it behind

I'll be absolutely done for. Brilliant. That's my essential packing tips. There we go. I've got so much unpacking to do because I had to get back from Abitha, do a really quick turnaround, go to London to see Wilco, who were incredible, and then go to a festival. So now

I've just literally come in this morning before the pod and thrown everything, the entire house. It's like oh my lord, so I've got to go and deal with that. But that'll be good. Back to the school vibes, go and do the washing. I just need to mention when we landed last night, we got to Heathrow and going through arrivals. And I saw these people and they were sharks. I saw these inflatable sharks waiting

to greet somebody off a plane. There was a pink one and there was a blue one. And then there was a slightly embarrassed man between the two of them. And I was like, I cannot leave this alone. I've got to find out the story behind this. And I was thinking maybe it's a child that they're greeting or something. But I went and spoke to Melissa and Spencer. So Melissa was the pink shark. Spencer was the blue shark. And they were waiting. for their friend who is a brilliant woman who I now follow on Instagram. She's called Sal. And she had just been to Mexico. They were waiting for her to come back from Mexico. And she'd had stem, I think a stem cell transplant. So her immune system was completely

kaput. So that's why they were in the shark suits and they could hug her, but they would all be safe. And she'd been away for a month. So they were beyond excited to have her back. And John was her husband, who was the one who looked incredibly embarrassed by his friend's dress of his sharks. And they were obviously all reunited. I didn't actually see the reunion, but I've now been hooked up with Sal. And she's an amazing woman. She's battling quite a lot of health issues, but she's as cool as anything, really into her music. And yeah, it was just the most amazing sight to see, though. So sharks waiting for someone to greet them off a plane. And I just want to say hi to all of them. So to Sal and to Melissa and Spencer and the embarrassed John, hello to you. You brighten my

evening. When I got off the plane yesterday, I was like, that's what an amazing thing to do for a friend who They obviously love her so much and they just wanted to make her laugh. They absolutely succeeded in that 100%. There you go, Sal. Take care, gorgeous girl. Maybe other diggers have also got dressed up as weird things at airports and to greet people coming off planes. So if you have, you can let us know just as show notes is where you go to.

Time for a quick break now, but the hilarious and brilliant and adorable Mel Gedroyd joins us next. Big treat for you this week from soggy bottoms in the bake-off tent to her poker face in Last One Laughing this week's guest is a comedy genius who's been entertaining us for over 30 years. She's a bestselling author, much-loved TV presenter, and of course, one half of the iconic duo Mel and Sue, and we love her. A big dig it, welcome to the brilliant Mel Gedroych.

Hello, Mel. Hi, Zoe. Hi, Joe. Hi, hello. How's your summer been, darling girl? Listen, now, here's the thing. It's back to school, isn't it? It's back. There's a whiff of autumn in the air, isn't there? A slight chill and just the sad truth of the brain being absolutely fudge and not remotely re-engaged or connected with anything to do with work slash anything serious. It's really exciting this week for you, Mel, because you've got your new book out, the comeback, which drops tomorrow if you're listening on Wednesday.

out this week if you're listening later in the week. Your first novel was a bestseller. A bit of a gap in between. You've been a busy girl. Yes. Yes. Bit of a gap in between. Sort of, yeah, for many reasons, a shambulism, that always comes into play, always slightly just putting it off. Just parking it. Do you know what I mean? Just saying, yeah, I'm happy with this. Just going to park it for a couple of years. Procustimate a little while, yeah. Luckily, got my act together sort of in the last year and actually really enjoyed it and thought, what the heck was I doing? I love writing. I'd like to write a few more of these, if that were possible. So, yeah, it was good fun to write. It's, hopefully, it's a comedy and it'll sort of

bring a few laughs in for people if they enjoy read. It's all about, it's about writing about women in midlife. There may be one or two of those watching Dig It, listening to Digit right now. So tell us all about Jill and the journey she goes on. Absolutely. Set in Leatherhead. Love Leatherheads. Up the road. Shout out to Leatherhead.

Come on, big shouts. Is that where you're from? Is that where you grew up? Yeah. Yeah. So you know it well. I was born in Leatherhead. Stayed there for 11 years.

Always been obsessed with it. And my aim is to, if the publishers are watching, is to write the Leatherhead trilogy. Love it. So the first one was set in Leatherhead. The second one is also set in Leatherhead. This one is also set in Leatherhead. set in the theatre and Joe, back to your question, Jill Piper, who is the heroine of this, of this particular book. She is a very, she lives and breathes theatre, basically. It's in her

bloodstream and she looks at anything in life and sees it as a potential to make a show. So she could be literally in a car park and she'll see that as a kind of space for a one woman, site-specific show about the rights for car park attendants and everything they're in. So she's kind of, there's a lot of the 80s, I would say, in Jill Piper. She's a lady of a certain age. I hate that expression. I'm sorry for using it. She's in a late 40s and she never quite made it as a performer, but she's coming back

to Leatherhead to try and reignite the youth theatre and recruit. She has to recruit something like 60, 60. youths of Leatherhead. And there's a massive clash, huge clash between her and the artistic director of the Edith Evans Theatre in Leatherhead, which is fictitious.

Who is... Who is a real... I'm going to just say it. She's a massive old ham. She's been there for way too many years. She had her sort of heyday in the 70s. She was kind of Britain's top totty, huge telly star in the 70s.

And she's been... She has an iron grip on power and on the theatre. So the idea that this newbie is coming in to try to sort of steal her thunder is the sort of, is the, hopefully brings the drama and also the comedy. Is there, is there an element of arriving at a point in your life and realizing that things haven't gone quite the way you imagined that your life hasn't panned out how you wanted it to be and how you come to terms with that and how you move forward? Yeah, I think, I think. it's about that and also thinking, hang on, the doors aren't closed yet. There are many doors that can open. I can maybe do something a little bit different, but along the same lines, or something totally different. I think pretty much every single character in the book,

and it is a big cast of characters. Note to self, next book I write, fewer characters, less plot, less pages, much less complicated. Anyway, there's a huge cast of characters this book. And I think every single one of them, in a way, has a second chance. So I think it's a book about second chances as much as kind of thinking, oh, I've reached the end of the road. Well, there's a bit of that. And there's got to be sort of light and shade of these things, I think, hasn't there. And there are, hopefully there are laughs in the book, but there are also sort of slightly tender, thought-provoking, bittersweet storylines woven through it as well. I feel like I know a lot of these characters, Janice and the love laces.

You know, you know people like this. You really, really do. Oh, thank you. And the youngans, were they quite fun to write as well? Oh, God, so much fun. So get this. I don't know why I did that. I just thought somebody might be looking at us.

So we've just come back from a wedding in Kansas in literally the middle of nowhere. Absolutely incredible. Yeah, incredible. The second cousin of my husband's youngest daughter, if you can say, okay, yeah, got it. And we're in Kansas at this wedding, and it was incredible.

So half of it was kind of real wholesome, downhome Kansas folk, wonderful, absolutely brilliant, amazing on the dance floor. And then the youngans in this family of second cousins are all influencers in L.A. Oh, what? So the other half of the Ruddy Wedding is this extraordinary bunch

that have just beamed in from L.A. I don't understand. I don't understand. I love them. I don't understand what it is they do. We were talking recently about the scrutiny of people, you know, like Holly and Claudia, having their second chance or having an opportunity to do something really fun and do it have a

yeah and then being you know lambasted or just being given a really really hard time unnecessarily is that something do you have a view on this i just think it's jealousy probably yeah i think there's a thing about and maybe it is a thing which is more targeted to women it's like you can do you can go so far but stay in your lane don't don't you be thinking that you know you can, God forbid, try something else. You know, I think it might be something to do with that, which really bugs me, frankly. I just think, you know, we should all be trying different things. And, you know, I've got this quote, actually.

I'm so sorry. God, I'm so pretentious. You're not. You're not at all. You're very, very normal. Can you read that without specs? Wow. Great eyesight.

I was going to pretend that I could, but they're going on. They're going on. Ever tried, ever failed, never mind. Try again, fail again, fail better, Samuel Beckett. Samuel Beckett. I love that idea of failing again and failing better. Failure, failure. And I have to say, the comeback, my book, is all about failure, picking yourself up.

I think that's that the risk of failure put so many people off trying new things. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember a therapist once saying to me, what if it wasn't a disaster? What if it didn't go wrong? What if it went well? And there's that thing that it's okay. But it might go, okay? If it doesn't, you've tried it.

You've given it a shot. Then try something else. I think, yeah, you're right. And we need the room, don't we, to be able to do that? And we need the love and support from our dear friends and our families and to just give something a shock because that's what we're trying to encourage our kids to do, isn't it? Do you hesitate, Mel, to do things sometimes

when jobs come along and do you just get the fear and think, I'm not going to put myself there? Or do you make, how do you make yourself seeds an opportunity? I sort of, I just, I don't know if it's an addiction to it, but I feel if I'm not a bit scared every few months, then something's awry and I start to worry. Yeah, is that what, that's probably a bit weird, isn't it? That's weird.

My dad always said if you, because I used to talk about nerves, I get so nervous about things. But he's like, you care. That's the passion. Yes. And he's like, and if you're not feeling that, then you've lost interest. So you need that sort of like, the nerves is excitement in a way. I think that's right. I think nerves are, it's all adrenaline, isn't it?

And adrenaline is our motivator and it gives us. But at the same time, you know, you don't want to be one of those people that is always having to go and do it. I'm not saying I'm doing a skydive or anything like that. But, no, you want to sort of relax. And also you want, I'm a great believer as well. And also it's bad if you're a terrible show-off slash exhibitionist. But to sort of, to let it be time for the youngans to come in and takes into stage. I am aware of that, you know, I don't want to sort of be that person that's always sticking their increasingly old face at the heart of things going, hello, me again.

You know. You've got girls, haven't you? you've got girls. So you do naturally, when you've got kids, you do that thing of stepping back and let, you know, those, it's like I'd always go into a dance routine back in the day when they were younger and do impressions and stuff like that. And then you realize you get older, you're like, Oh gosh, no, this is your too. Fall back. You and your friends. And it's actually, I really loved that feeling of it's all right. I don't have to be. Yeah. Yeah. Let me tell you about the time. Yeah. Yes. I have to say I'm now slightly champing at the bit to

get a bit more attention. Because I feel I've been doing that for 20 years and now is the time to no, hence my shrine which is literally the room, which is all posters of Sue and me. It's tragic. It's not tragic. It's wonderful. It's like Alan Partridge. It's like that awful, terrible scene

where he gets trapped in the shrine. In the shrine. He goes round the man's house. There you are. Do you remember? Do you remember when he's running, literally trying to get the car open? That's literally what I've created. But that friendship you've got is so valuable, isn't it? And I bet you don't speak to each other every day. Or maybe you do.

I don't know. Or is it one of those natural things that you'll suddenly slip into after a week or month? Yeah. To be honest, it sort of goes in phases. We'll have really intense phases where we're speaking to each other, seeing each other the whole time. And actually we're in one of those at the moment, which is just lovely. And we're going to Edinburgh tomorrow up to the festival, which is part of the book launch for the comeback, which I'm really excited about.

We've got an hour. Okay, talk about doing stuff to make yourself feel a little bit. Scared. We've got quite a big room tomorrow. The two of us for an hour, no idea what we're doing. That sounds like us doing Digit for the first time.

And it was terrifying. But actually, everyone will be coming to see you because they love you, Mel, and they love Sue. So to see you together. So I imagine she's going to talk to you about the book and maybe talk about some memories, because you did Edinburgh a lot together, didn't you? We did Edinburgh a lot together, yes, yes. And it's, you know, similar to you two, you know, there's a real friendship there and you've known each other for ages, you know that you've got

each other's backs. And I think that is such a lovely thing. And I think, obviously, there are some fantastic male friendships out there. That's lovely. But I think it's a very particular thing with female friendships that you've got the history, you've got, you genuinely support each other. You know, I think that's the key. And I'm not being disingenuous. You know, there's been times over the last 39 years or whatever that I've known Sue. I'm sure that we've had moments of, you know, little bits of jealousy or little bits of, sort of off with each other. But you know at base that you've got each other and that, it's just, it's everything. It really is everything. And the older I get, my God, the more I realize that, you know, you've got to cling

to your real, the real proper quality. My dad died recently, which I've been talking about on the podcast. I'm so sorry, Joe. It's okay. It's bloody. It's awful. Yeah, it's horrid. I'm so sorry.

But, you know, A, I've just been bowled over by the kindness of people, which I've talked about. But my female friends, oh my God, they have come through for me so strongly. It's in so many different ways, whether it's a text at night, because they know that I'll probably still be awake then, or showing up at the funeral and just organising stuff, doing stuff. They just seem to have this intuition of knowing what you need and they will go the extra mile.

I've been blown away by... It's very moving, isn't it? Yeah, it's really moving, isn't it? Yeah. I presume you've had that as well. Totally. I mean, I don't know everyone's grieving process and everyone's grief is different. I just felt when my parents died that you just feel like the roof's been blown off your house or something.

It's so, it's just so much. mad and I feel so lucky that I got to a grand old age before my parents died. You know, I feel so lucky that I'd known them for so long and, you know, but at any age, whatever age you are, it's a really, really massive thing. So my heart goes out to you. Oh, thank you. But it's, yeah, it was, you know, I was massively supported. That's what I wanted to make the point of that just by these female friends. I was also quite jealous because I saw your mum was very organised and she did funeral lists for you and told you exactly how she used to the few to run. My dad's I'll do that so much.

Oh, oh, okay. No, we literally, we just ticked everything off. I mean, mum, the detail. She'd been a nurse in her earlier life, and she was a very, very together woman, extraordinary, just a dynamo of lulls and quite strict as well. But my God, that list, it went on for,

it was a big document, let me tell you, down to things like the colour of the Prosecco and things like, And literally things like, don't let so-and-so drink too much at the way. Literally, literally, because you know what they're like. It was stuff like that. I guess you would do that, though. You would.

If you were conscious and you knew that your death was coming and you are a producer or an organiser or whatever it is, then you would, you know all these, the way people are going to behave and you would want everyone to be prepared. No, Joe, she did this five years before. she died. Bless her. Oh God. Well, it's kind of inspired me to do mine because mum's stuff was, you know, and she'd lost her husband, Rick, who was amazing. And when Rick died, it was carnage and chaos and he, you know, nothing who was in order. And I watched her go through sort of trying to sort of sort of all that out over the years. And so she'd got a little bit more organized. But she,

you know, she got sick and went very quickly. So, but we did have, there was laughter in that time because she'd be like, no, no, no, that is the funeral director and that's where Rick went and la la, la. And then my brother and I turned up, I don't remember coming here when Rick died. And it was totally the wrong funeral director. And there were all these fantastic, hilarious moments where she was so, no, that's absolutely how it will go. So I quite loved the carnage and the chaos in those moments that make you laugh. But I'm going to take a leaf out of your mum's book and do you know what? That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get a document together for my kids. Yeah. I mean, literally, mum had said things like, you know, I'd like the cake rack to go to, you know, cousin Ellie and the collection of wooden spoons to go. I mean, it's so everything just, you know, the level of detail.

That's brilliant. It made it slightly scary because we thought if we don't do exactly what she said, something awful is going to happen and she'll haunt us, which, you know, lovely in one way, but it's slightly scary in another. She'll come out of the bread bin or something. So we, that was a bit, that was a bit, that was a bit frightening. That was a little bit frightening. What did you get from her? What did you, what did you take from her? Is there something that she left you? Oh, so, I was really, I was really chuffed, actually.

Her mom, so my granny was an illustrator. And there was a little collection of illustration she'd done for a book in the 40s, I think, called the Snow Queen. Yeah. The Snow Queen? Yeah, they're little tiny. And they're just, oh, those. that's just everything. That is everything to me.

Real treasure. Yeah, real proper treasure. Yeah, super. Will you be going back on stage anytime soon? You were in company with the fabulous Jonathan Bailey, start of a 10. You've done so many amazing productions. It's such a treat to see you on stage, Mel. Thank you. Any plans?

Right, okay. Again, talking about scaring yourself. I'm lifting up in the seat very, very slightly as I say this. Tonight, tonight at the time of recording, it's a show called White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, and there's a different performer every night. I'm literally, I can feel my, literally, the stomach is just up there. La, la, la, la, like, right.

And I've got to turn up at the theatre at the time of recording, 5.30 this afternoon. Turn up at the theatre at half past five. The show is at 7.30. Wow. You go on stage, there is a brown envelope, waiting for you on stage, you open the envelope, you take out the script and then you perform it for an hour and 20 minutes. And you can...

On your own. On your own. You're the only person on stage. Oh, my Lord. It's terrifying. But how utterly fabulous. Why are you doing this? I presume you're not being paid thousands and millions and gazillions of pounds.

So what is it that makes you do these things? Well, do you know what? It's lovely to be asked. It's lovely to do it, you know? and any possible chance of getting on a stage, I do love and I find it really hard to turn down. But the guy that put this together is an absolute legend. He's just an extraordinary guy.

And he wrote a show called Echo that was on last year that I was involved in it. And again, it was a thing where it's a different performer every night and you do not know what you're letting yourself in for. That's the whole point of it. So you're told, don't read any reviews of this. Don't ask anyone else who you think. think might have been involved. Asim Chowdhry might have done it last week. But anyway, so that's tonight. Good luck. Oh God. Break her leg. Thank you. Thank you. I guess it's about the quality of the

writing and the production of the people you're working with and the prestige of doing something like that and then the joy of like doing it and doing it well, acing it. Well, I think, yes, I think that's the thing. He's a very clever guy and he knows what he's doing. Cut to. If not, If not, I'll just do some Morris dancing or something. I'll just pull something out of the bag. Do you know what I mean? I'll just do something. If you end out, do some Morris, get the bells out.

I love it. Always. I love gardening, Mel. Are you green fingered? And what's this about a quince tree? Right. Let's take that in the order it came. Yes, I do love gardening.

Green fingered, hmm, wish I was more green fingered. But I've talked to you about this before, Joe. and I know I've talked to you about gardening before and I know that you've sort of, you've just, you've evolved, haven't you? You absolutely love it and it's just, and it's cut, I got the feeling that it's sort of, it grows like a garden every year, your love for it.

Yeah, you learn more and you enjoy it more, yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's what, that's what I'm hoping. Okay. Well, getting there, hopefully. I'd love to get more into it, definitely. Now, the quince tree, I can actually see out of the corner of this eye, it's a great, great friend to me, this quince tree. Tell us why.

Well, unbelievably, its harvest was mega last year. And I think that might be down to a few different salts that I've been placing around its trunk fertilised. Yes, it's very near the garden gate, which is just down there. There's the quince tree. I don't know if you have this thing. I've had this for, well, since I had kids. I can't make it often to the loo. I can't make it to the loo.

So I have to have a fallback position, which is the quince tree. Fantastic. She's a feral weir. I always loved her. I knew it. It's that thing of not being able to get to the front door, isn't it? As soon as you get out the front door, you're like, okay, the toilet is in sight. I know I can get through the front door and pull my key in.

But then you just stop to go. I do a thing when I'm halfway. down the road where I feel the key in my pocket and I say it's okay, the key's there. The key to the front door is there. We're just going to work. I talk myself through it. I'm going to get the key out of my pocket. It's fine.

Absolutely. Here's the garden gate. Absolutely fine. And it's something about the garden gate opening and you sort of speed up and then it's just chaos. Absolute ruddy chaos. But thank goodness because the the quince harvest has been fabulous. Do you

have you got to the, do you make quince jelly or give them to anyone to make, you know, quince chutney or anything. Good Christmas present with the added extra ingredient. Yeah. Don't send me any. We do crate digging. We would love some of your cultural input now, things that you've been enjoying that you want to share with everybody.

Listen, there's an amazing all-female Morris dancing group out there. They're based in the Gloucester Stroud area called Boss Morris. And they are absolutely. wonderful and I've seen them a couple of times this summer and I'm now slightly obsessed with them and they are just everything that you want them to be. They're also really cool. They've brought the sort of cool into Morris dancing. They use fantastic DJs, composers. They all make these incredible. There's one of them that is an amazing sort of costume designer. They're just absolutely sensational. I think, is it wet leg? The band? I think, I think, I think,

I think wet leg might have asked them to sort of open their shows or something. That might be totally wrong. Oh, I hope it's true. Yeah, they're really, really brilliant. We should tell Emily Evis, I think what are they called, Boss Morris, opening the pyramid stage at Glastonbury next year. I mean, it couldn't be better, isn't it? Because it makes you smile.

There's so much joy in Morris dance. You can't be a miserable Morris dancer, can you ever? You have to be happy and smiling at all times. I'm full of exuberance and joy. Yes. They're incredible. I last saw them at the Gloucester Cheese Roll. Of course you did.

And they built this incredible new, I was about to say, hosepipe. What do they dance around? Maple. Maple. Popo. Built a huge new. I'm sorry. The trickle.

It's just a constant water reference. Now I want to go. Now I want to go. We're going to have to curtail. I need to get to the Quinstree. Yeah, the Quinstries calling. Three women who need to weed desperately. I love it.

I love it. Good luck with the comeback. Yes. It's amazing. Congratulations. What a brilliant week. What a brilliant book. Yes.

So funny. Have fun. With Sue, your comedy partner, do send her lots of love, won't you? Always. And don't make us wait too long

for the leatherhead tree, the trilogy. Good luck. Love you. Love the book. Bye. Thanks, Mel. Digit is a Percephonicah production.