EXCLUSIVE: Comedy besties Mel & Sue, back with ITV gameshow Win, Win admit some of the bizarre passions of their fellow countrymen keep them up at night
Iconic comedy duo Mel and Sue admit that the weird and wonderful opinions of the British public are enough to keep them up at night, as their hit ITV gameshow returns.
Yes, Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins are back on Saturday night, with a second series of Win Win with Postcode Lottery.
The interactive show, which gives contestants the chance to win a life-changing £1 million jackpot – matched by a viewer watching at home, reveals exactly what the majority of the British public thinks about everyday dilemmas.
And Mel, 58, tells us that sometimes it has her wondering about the state of the nation. “The favourite flavour of crisp was something which worried us. I was all for ‘prawn cocker’ for the win. ‘Prawn cocker’ is my absolute, and has been since I could walk.
“And I’m not sure even if it featured in the top five! That has worried me. That has eaten away at me at 3 in the morning.”
There are also various mainstream opinions held by the British public that Mel violently disagrees with Sue on, she says: “Oh, smiling through gritted teeth. And carpeted bathrooms. And sitting beside your car, with the boot up, on deck chairs, eating a picnic beside a motorway.”
As for Sue, 56, she admits that the British public’s quirky predilections don’t even surprise her any more.
“The great British public is impossible to predict. I’m no longer shocked by anything. If the answer to the question ‘what do Brits like doing in summer?’ was ‘wearing duffel coats in a sauna’, I’d not be surprised.
Joking that she can’t give anything away about the new series as she has signed the ‘ITV Official Secrets Act’, Sue does recall one survey result from the last series which has the ability to tickle her to this day.
“Last season, the Nation’s Favourite Sandwich turned out to be Tuna Mayonnaise. Imagine that. Tuna Mayonnaise. I’m still not over it”, she says, admitting that this fact keeps her up at night.
“Tuna. Mayonnaise. Grey, fishy sludge sandwiched between bread. Imagine a world where mature Cheddar doesn’t get a look in when it comes to revered fillings. Or egg mayonnaise. Or ham and mustard. Or anything, really. Anything other than the bland oceanic ooze which is Tuna Mayo.”
She adds, “If we asked about the Nation’s Favourite Takeaway and the answer came back as Eritrean, I’d just nod and go, cool. Delicious.”
Aside from the laughs, however, Mel says what she loves about the show is what a life-affirming thing it is to be a part of.
She says, “First up, it was a totally joyous experience being in a room with, including ourselves, very overexcited people, because the prizes are just out of this world.
“With the first series, nobody really knew what it was – I think the excitement that built over the weeks in the studio was extraordinary because the same contestants come back week after week. That makes it completely different from any show on telly.
“So, it became just like a party. Lifelong friendships were formed, and you don’t see that with many quiz shows. It completely took us by surprise, all of that. We were bowled over. We just didn’t really know that was going to happen. It was the loveliest thing. “
Sue agrees that there’s no other quiz show like it, saying, Never in the history of quizzes have you had to do so little to win so big. Meanwhile, in the studio, we promise that one player will end the series with a million pounds. It’s the biggest haul in British TV history.
“I’ve never known an atmosphere on set like it. The last time I felt that much adrenalin course through my body was when I ate a warm seafood platter on a ferry crossing to Ireland.”
If the two funny women were contestants themselves instead of co-hosts, they tell us, they’re not sure how they would fare.
Says Mel, “After The Christmas episode of The Wheel, I think now I’m a lot more gung ho. I’m desperately competitive, and I would just go for the big one, and probably crash and burn. That would be my trajectory, I think.”
Sue has her doubts about competing alongside her old comedy pal, she tells us. “I’d be anxious about playing with Mel. I’d be too worried that she’d trade me in for another double act partner.
“That, and the fact that we’d end up winning a Tech Bundle. She thinks I know what that is, and how it all works – but in truth, I’ve no idea how to even plug it in.”
She also admits she’s never won anything in her entire life. “Though my darling, dearly-departed mutt, Tiggy, once won silver at a regional dog show. I remember it well. She was in the Best Old Bitch category -though they pinned the rosette on me, which I thought was strange. ..”
One of the most enduring British comedy duos of all time, Mel and Sue first met as students at Cambridge in 1988, and made their first foray onto the small screen writing sketches and appearing on French and Saunders.
Their big break, however, came in 1997 with the gloriously chaotic Channel 4 chat show Light Lunch, their national treasure status cemented when they became the original hosts of The Great British Bake Off in 2019, jumping ship in 2016 when it moved from the BBC to Channel 4, joking that they were ‘going with the dough’.
After four decades working together, the famously close pair cite their friendship as more important than their careers, describing themselves as “twins in a cot”.
WIN WIN with Postcode Lottery airs on ITV1 and ITVX at 7:30pm
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