Mel Giedroyc and Martin Clunes are exploring Dorset’s literary heritage
Mel Giedroyc and Martin Clunes Explore Britain by the Book Wednesday 9.00pm ITV1
Ed Grenby - 1 September 2023
If you’ve ever wanted to watch Mel Giedroyc try to keep her lunch down on a fishing boat while Martin Clunes reads Thomas Hardy to her, this is your lucky week. “The premise of this show,” explains Giedroyc, “is that I accompany Martin around the area where he lives, and together we explore this place via its books and literature. Sorry, I’m making it sound so dull...”
Why did you choose to explore Dorset and not, say, Surrey, where you’re from, Mel?
MARTIN CLUNES Well, who lives in Surrey?
MEL GIEDROYC Cliff Richard used to! We could have asked him to show us around...
CLUNES Well, I’m very happy to be the Cliff Richard of Dorset. I’ve lived here for 25 years, but it was lovely to go to places I’ve somehow never been. I don’t think I’d ever been to Lulworth Cove, for instance. It’s been a joy to share this time with my old friend Mel, too. We’ve known each other for 27 years, and she’s terrific company. I haven’t laughed so much in ages. And some of our encounter is usable!
What are your previous experiences of Dorset, Mel?
GIEDROYC I actually went there on my honeymoon, which I felt pretty peevish about at the time. Four days in the New Forest? I wanted to go to Mauritius! Plus I was four and a half months pregnant, so feeling nauseous.
CLUNES You were pretty poorly this time, too...
GIEDROYC When they said we were going to go on a boat and get lots of beautiful shots of Durdle Door, I thought it was going to be a ferry or something, but we ended up with this tiny fishing boat, and we were on it for an hour, so I could feel the sick just rising in me. It wasn’t good. But you were absolutely fine, Martin, weren’t you? You could actually read.
CLUNES Well, that must have been a surprise! But no, you’re right, I was OK, and I was trying to distract you by reciting Thomas Hardy out loud.
This queasiness had nothing to do with your trip to a cider mill?
CLUNES The cider farm was brilliant. And it’s true that none of us left empty-handed.
GIEDROYC I was worried about Joe, though, the farmer there. We were in his cow barn, where he was supposed to be getting married a week later, and let’s be honest, it stank of dung. He’d done nothing to get it ready. He was great, though – just one of the brilliant people we met.
Any non-nauseous highlights?
GIEDROYC It was lovely to meet Raynor Winn, who wrote The Salt Path [the million-selling true story of her epic walk on the South West Coast Path with her terminally ill husband]. When she read to us from the book, that was hairs- on-the-back-of-your-neck stuff. Though I also remember that day because I sat down on this bench nestling by a hedgerow – and it fell apart like balsa wood. So we just set it back up and left that to happen to the next person, too.
CLUNES Benchmugging, we call it in Dorset. There’s a whole set of those collapsing benches around, but nobody’s ever quite sure where...
You’ve done a lot of travelogues, Martin. It must have been nice to be the expert rather than the tourist.
CLUNES Oh, I still felt like a tourist! I go to Dorchester all the time but had no idea that Hardy’s Cottage was there. When I make programmes, it’s not from the point of view of somebody who knows about something; it’s other, interesting people telling me things. My ignorance has always been my strong point.
And was Martin a good guide, Mel? There are plenty of other local celebrities you could have chosen. David Mellor is a Dorset lad — could you have re-enacted The French Lieutenant’s Woman with him, as you did with Martin?
GIEDROYC I don’t like the idea of doing The French Lieutenant’s Woman with David Mellor at all. Now you’re making me nauseous all over again...
Mel Giedroyc and Martin Clunes Explore Britain by the Book Wednesday 9.00pm ITV1
If you’ve ever wanted to watch Mel Giedroyc try to keep her lunch down on a fishing boat while Martin Clunes reads Thomas Hardy to her, this is your lucky week. “The premise of this show,” explains Giedroyc, “is that I accompany Martin around the area where he lives, and together we explore this place via its books and literature. Sorry, I’m making it sound so dull...”
Why did you choose to explore Dorset and not, say, Surrey, where you’re from, Mel?
MARTIN CLUNES Well, who lives in Surrey?
MEL GIEDROYC Cliff Richard used to! We could have asked him to show us around...
CLUNES Well, I’m very happy to be the Cliff Richard of Dorset. I’ve lived here for 25 years, but it was lovely to go to places I’ve somehow never been. I don’t think I’d ever been to Lulworth Cove, for instance. It’s been a joy to share this time with my old friend Mel, too. We’ve known each other for 27 years, and she’s terrific company. I haven’t laughed so much in ages. And some of our encounter is usable!
What are your previous experiences of Dorset, Mel?
GIEDROYC I actually went there on my honeymoon, which I felt pretty peevish about at the time. Four days in the New Forest? I wanted to go to Mauritius! Plus I was four and a half months pregnant, so feeling nauseous.
CLUNES You were pretty poorly this time, too...
GIEDROYC When they said we were going to go on a boat and get lots of beautiful shots of Durdle Door, I thought it was going to be a ferry or something, but we ended up with this tiny fishing boat, and we were on it for an hour, so I could feel the sick just rising in me. It wasn’t good. But you were absolutely fine, Martin, weren’t you? You could actually read.
CLUNES Well, that must have been a surprise! But no, you’re right, I was OK, and I was trying to distract you by reciting Thomas Hardy out loud.
This queasiness had nothing to do with your trip to a cider mill?
CLUNES The cider farm was brilliant. And it’s true that none of us left empty-handed.
GIEDROYC I was worried about Joe, though, the farmer there. We were in his cow barn, where he was supposed to be getting married a week later, and let’s be honest, it stank of dung. He’d done nothing to get it ready. He was great, though – just one of the brilliant people we met.
Any non-nauseous highlights?
GIEDROYC It was lovely to meet Raynor Winn, who wrote The Salt Path [the million-selling true story of her epic walk on the South West Coast Path with her terminally ill husband]. When she read to us from the book, that was hairs- on-the-back-of-your-neck stuff. Though I also remember that day because I sat down on this bench nestling by a hedgerow – and it fell apart like balsa wood. So we just set it back up and left that to happen to the next person, too.
CLUNES Benchmugging, we call it in Dorset. There’s a whole set of those collapsing benches around, but nobody’s ever quite sure where...
You’ve done a lot of travelogues, Martin. It must have been nice to be the expert rather than the tourist.
CLUNES Oh, I still felt like a tourist! I go to Dorchester all the time but had no idea that Hardy’s Cottage was there. When I make programmes, it’s not from the point of view of somebody who knows about something; it’s other, interesting people telling me things. My ignorance has always been my strong point.
And was Martin a good guide, Mel? There are plenty of other local celebrities you could have chosen. David Mellor is a Dorset lad — could you have re-enacted The French Lieutenant’s Woman with him, as you did with Martin?
GIEDROYC I don’t like the idea of doing The French Lieutenant’s Woman with David Mellor at all. Now you’re making me nauseous all over again...
Mel Giedroyc and Martin Clunes Explore Britain by the Book Wednesday 9.00pm ITV1