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Dig It with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball
Dig It with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball

Mel Giedroyc: Failure, Grief & Feral Weeing

August 26, 2026

Summary

⏱️ 9 min read

Overview

In this lively episode of Dig It, hosts Zoe and Jo celebrate GCSE results, share festival experiences, and welcome comedy legend Mel Geduld who discusses her new novel The Comeback, set in Leatherhead's theatre world. The conversation covers everything from packing disasters to Morris dancing, with candid discussions about grief, female friendships, and the importance of taking creative risks at any age.

GCSE Results and Festival Season

Zoe shares the wonderful news that her daughter Nell has smashed her GCSE exams, getting into her chosen college with impressive results across all subjects. The hosts discuss the pressures of exam season and remind listeners that there are always options if results don't go as planned. The conversation shifts to upcoming festival season, with both Nell and Coco heading to Reading Festival, prompting discussions about festival safety and parental concerns about young people's festival experiences.

  • Nell did brilliantly in her GCSEs, smashing all her exams including English and maths needed for college
  • Big shout out to tutors Thomas (maths and geography) and Isabel (English) who helped Nell succeed
  • Reminder that GCSEs aren't everything - there are always options and alternative paths to success
  • Reading and Leeds festivals coming up this weekend, with concerns about youth safety at festivals
" It makes me want to cry, actually. I'm so, yeah... honestly, it makes me want to cry "
" It isn't everything doing well at GCSEs. Loads of people, me included, can go out and work and get jobs and do well without getting amazing GCSE results "

Festival Adventures and Meeting Diggers

Zoe recounts her amazing experience at We Out Here Festival in Dorset, describing it as a beautifully laid-out event with swimming, paddle boarding, saunas, and multiple stages featuring incredible performers like Kofi Stone and Sampa the Great. She shares the joy of running into numerous Dig It listeners at the festival, including memorable encounters with diggers celebrating birthdays and even meeting the famous 'clitoris chrysalis lady' from a previous episode story.

  • We Out Here is Giles Peterson's festival in Dorset with swimming, paddle boarding, saunas, hot tubs, roller rink and secret discos
  • Discovered amazing new artists including Kofi Stone from Birmingham and Sampa the Great
  • Met lovely Melissa celebrating her 60th birthday at her first ever festival
  • Ran into Tash, the 'clitoris chrysalis lady' from a previous Dig It story
" It's in Dorset, it's so beautifully laid out, you can swim, you can go swim in this lovely river, you can go paddle boarding, there's loads of people wandering around, you can have saunas and hot tubs and the stages are wonderful "

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