| Sue Perkins | |
|---|---|
|
Full Name |
Susan Elizabeth Perkins |
|
Born |
22 September 1969 |
|
№ of episodes |
1 regular show |
Susan Elizabeth Perkins (born 22 September 1969, East Dulwich, London), more commonly known as Sue Perkins, is a British comedian, radio and television presenter, actress, and writer.
Mel and Sue[]
Perkins is best known for her collaborations, especially presenting comedy material with Mel Giedroyc. As Mel and Sue the duo were short-listed for the Daily Express Best Newcomers Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1993. After a few years writing for French & Saunders (occasionally appearing on their BBC series), they hosted a lunchtime show on Channel 4 called Light Lunch, and an early evening version, Late Lunch. The two met whilst students at Cambridge, where Perkins was a student at New Hall, and were both members of the long established comedy performance club, the Footlights. Perkins graduated in 1990 with a degree in English Literature.
Television[]
Perkins has also been a presenter on Channel 4's RI:SE and appeared in Celebrity Big Brother during 2002 in aid of a number of charities. During the series she had some notable dancing moments with eventual winner Mark Owen of Take That. Over the years she has made numerous appearances on BBC TV shows Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week , Room 101, Celebrity Weakest Link, Question Time and Newsnight; she has often joked that the BBC pay her a regular wage for "blabbering on random shows".
Perkins hosted Good Evening, Rockall (second series), a short-lived news orientated panel game shown on BBC Choice. She appeared on the 7/10 and 9/10 episodes of BBC Four's 2006 language quiz show Never Mind the Full Stops. She was also a team captain on ITV's Win, Lose or Draw Late, appeared on Celebrity Masterchef in 2006, performed in early 2007 on Celebrity Poker and News Knight with Sir Trevor McDonald in 2007.
In April 2007 she participated in Edwardian Supersize Me for BBC with food critic Giles Coren, spending a week eating the equivalent of a wealthy Edwardian couple's food, whilst wearing a corset. The duo returned, in May 2008, with a series called The Supersizers Go... where they live, for a week, eating food based upon certain diets. The first programme saw them survive for a week on WWII rations, the second covers the English Restoration period, the third the Victorian period, the fourth the Seventies, the fifth the Elizabethan period and the sixth the Regency period.
In August and September 2008, Sue Perkins appeared in the reality TV talent show television series Maestro on BBC Two. During the series, a group of eight celebrities attempted (until eliminated) to learn to conduct orchestral, choral and operatic music. Perkins won the competition with her mentor conductor Jason Lai and conducted the orchestra at Proms in the Park, part of the BBC's Last Night of the Proms. Her "Maestro" section of the programme was broadcast live from Hyde Park, London on 13 September 2008, in front of a crowd of more than 30,000. During the programme, Perkins played three pieces and was accompanied during two of them by Lesley Garrett.
Also in 2008 Perkins narrated the series ....and Proud on Virgin 1.
Sue Perkins appeared in a second "Supersizers" series called The Supersizers Eat... with Giles Coren which started airing on BBC Two on 15 June 2009.
In September and October 2009 she hosted the Channel 4 panel game The Big Food Fight.
Perkins has filmed a documentary series with the working title A Band for Britain about brass bands. The series was officially announced in November 2009 as part of BBC Two's Winter/Spring 2009-10 season.
In 2010, Sue appeared on QI, where host Stephen Fry embarrassed himself by absent-mindedly calling her Mel. She responded by calling him Hugh.
Conducting[]
Perkins guest-conducted the London Symphony Orchestra on 11 October 2009, at St Anne's Church Garden in Soho, London, UK. She conducted two pieces, the Simpsons Theme by Elfman, and the William Tell Overture by Rossini, the latter for the first time.  On 30 October 2009, it was announced that Sue would conduct the Dinnington Colliery Band at the DW Stadium in Wigan. The band will be performing the national anthems before the Rugby League Four Nations match between England and Australia.
List of appearances[]
- Series 2, Episode 3
- Series 2, Episode 7 (Clips Show)
Radio[]
Perkins is also an occasional panel member of Radio 4's The News Quiz and has made regular appearances on BBC Radio 2's It's Been a Bad Week. She occasionally appears as a panelist on another popular Radio 4 show, Just a Minute, and has won the game in series 55, against Paul Merton (and others).
She was the chair of BBC Radio 4's The 99p Challenge until the show finished in 2004. Perkins appeared every day in the last half hour of Mark Radcliffe's afternoon radio show on BBC Radio 2, when he sat in for Steve Wright. Since 2006 Perkins has been a panelist on a Radio 4 show, The Personality Test, a quiz show about the host, presented by a different host each week. Past hosts include Gyles Brandreth and Rick Wakeman, and other panelists include Robin Ince, Lucy Porter, and Will Smith.
Perkins is a regular cast member of Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show.
While presenting a Radio 4 documentary on the Lake District's competition "The World's Biggest Liar", she rather controversially ended up winning it.
In December 2008 she was a guest on Private Passions, the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3.
Books[]
Perkins was a judge for the 2009 Man Booker Prize.
Edinburgh Festival appearances[]
Perkins has performed two stand-up comedy solo shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, "Spectacle Wearer Of The Year 2006" in 2005 and "The Disappointing Second Show" in 2006.
Personal life[]
Perkins went to the independent Croham Hurst School in Croydon with the BBC Breakfast News presenter Susanna Reid. She later studied at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University where she did her first stand-up show, before becoming a teacher.
Perkins currently lives in Penzance, Cornwall. She was outed as a lesbian in 2002 by her ex-girlfriend Rhona Cameron during Cameron's appearance on ITV's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
External links[]
- Sue Perkins at the Internet Movie Database
- Official MySpace
- Official Mel and Sue website (has not been updated in many years)