Sue Perkins facts: TV presenter's age, partner, health and career explained

6 January 2021, 13:28

Sue Perkins has been one of the UK's best-loved TV presenters for over two decades thanks to her shows including The Great British Bake Off and The Generation Game.

But where is Sue from and how did she get started in TV? With fans pondering if she could be on The Masked Singer in 2021, here's all the important facts about the talented star:

1. Who is Sue Perkins?

   

   Sue Perkins is an English comedian, broadcaster, presenter, actress, and writer.

   First finding fame through her comedy partnership with Mel Giedroyc as Mel and Sue, Sue has since had a successful career as a radio broadcaster and TV presenter.

   She famously co-hosted The Great British Bake Off from 2010 to 2016 with Mel, and has presented Insert Name Here from 2016.

   While studying English at New Hall (now Murray Edwards College) at the University of Cambridge, she was a member of the Footlights where she met Mel Giedroyc.

   

   Sue Perkins reveals the wildest things she’s said ‘yes’ to

   The duo were short-listed for the Daily Express Best Newcomers award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1993.

   After a few years writing for comedy legends French & Saunders, occasionally appearing on their TV series, they co-hosted the lunchtime show on Channel 4 called Light Lunch, and an evening version, Late Lunch, in the late 1990s.

2. How old is Sue Perkins?

   Sue Perkins was born on September 22, 1969. She celebrated her 51st birthday in 2020.

   She was born in Croydon, where she grew up with her two younger siblings and parents.

   Sue's father worked as a local car dealer, and her mother was a secretary.

3. Who is Sue Perkins' partner?

   

   Since 2014, Sue Perkins has been in a relationship with fellow TV presenter Anna Richardson.

   Anna told Lorraine Kelly: "We met at a party and I was recently single and we just… all I can say, there was an understanding between us and for me the planets aligned and I just thought, this person, it’s not even about a woman, this person is absolutely extraordinary."

   Speaking to The Guardian about her relationship with the Naked Attraction presenter, Sue said: "She is much less chaotic than me and has done quite a lot to still the gyroscope of my whirring brain."

4. When did Sue Perkins have a brain tumour?

   

   In September 2015, Sue revealed that she had been diagnosed with prolactinoma, a benign growth on her pituitary gland.

   Sue explained that she had actually received the diagnosis eight years before.

   The side effect from the condition prevent her from having children.

   "I had a benign and extremely symptomatic brain tumour which then started to make its presence felt," she said on Desert Island Discs.

   "It was the beginning of a very, very dark time. I got diagnosed when I was 38. By the time I was 40, I literally destroyed my life from the inside out."

5. Is Sue Perkins on The Masked Singer?

   

   Dragon Performs: 'You've Got A Friend In Me' | Season 2 Ep.1 | The Masked Singer UK

   In the second series of The Masked Singer on ITV, viewers have turned detective to try and figure out who each secret performer is.

   One such guess that's doing the rounds is that Sue is in fact Dragon, due to the cute creature's singing voice and clues so far.

   Read more: Who is Dragon on The Masked Singer?

   We'll just have to wait and see if this is the case or not...