Ellie Taylor on Strictly, soft-play injuries and returning to stand-up

Ellie Taylor tangoed to the Casualty theme as part of 10 gruelling weeks of training and performance on Strictly and even made it through Celebrity Gladiators mostly unscathed.

But it was a trip to the soft play that would see her luck run out and have her hobbling off to A&E.

“It’s so ridiculous,” she tells P.S. “I survived Strictly, then being beaten around the head by women made of pure protein powder.

“Then I do a three-foot little ramp at the soft play and my calf muscle explodes.

“As my husband said to me after I did that, ‘welcome to your 40s, Ellie!’”

Rush hour

The last few years have been a whirlwind for the 41-year-old comedian, presenter and actress, who became a regular on our screens on the likes of The Mash Report, Bake Off: The Professionals and with a part in global smash-hit comedy Ted Lasso.

She’s combined the TV work with the early mornings and chaos of her two young children, a daughter aged five and a one-year-old son who she affectionately calls “ratbags”.

“The little boy’s a rhino at the moment,” she laughs. “He’s an absolute demon this child. He’s adorable but has just got so much energy.

“It’s been a busy time. It has been enjoyable, when I can actually get my head up for air occasionally. It’s really full-on. But that’s life, isn’t it?

“I heard someone call this bit of life ‘the rush hour’ which is exactly what it is, all go.

“Young kids, career, parents – there’s a lot going on from every angle. It’s head down and try to swim with the current. And remember to try to enjoy it.”

Before having her second child, Ellie wrote a best-selling book on parenthood, My Child And Other Mistakes. When going through the experience first time, she found she’d read a lot, but nothing that spoke to her about how life completely changes.

“It is this massive transformational process physically, emotionally, mentally,” she explains.

“Your brain changes. You’re just a different person and you have to get to grips with that. I hadn’t read that anywhere and I could’ve really done with a ‘by the way, babe, your life is going to feel like it’s absolutely imploded, but it’ll be OK’, something to shine a bit of light.

“For a lot of women it’s a very dark time and I’m really proud of the book and its legacy. People still message me about it and I get real joy that I can hold someone’s hand as they sit in the hole of newborn despair.

“I’m very happy I can jump down in the form of a book and give them a little cuddle and show them there is a way out. Maybe not just right now, but they’ll get there.”

Love of stand-up

Writing and performing is Ellie’s biggest passion, and she pinpoints an early moment being the thrill she’s constantly after every time she steps on stage.

“I remember being the Wicked Witch in a school play in Year 6,” she recalls. “I loved the response and the reactions and people telling me that was good.

“I think that’s basically the high I’ve been chasing ever since I was 10.

“Comedians are all after approval, affirmation. We travel around the country hoping to get a pat on the back from strangers.

“Stand-up is at the core of everything I do. It’s a strange sort of existence where you sit in a room by yourself trying to write things that are funny, and then you go out in the evening in a room full of hundreds of people and you see if they are funny.”

Ellie Taylor arrives for the Royal Variety Performance last week.

The tour show, Palavering, comes to Glasgow next spring, and is all about the changes her life has seen in the past few years, a state of the nation on Ellie Taylor.

It’s the first time she’s been on the road for a few years and she’s relishing getting back on stage.

“It’s definitely nice to go back to it,” she says. “I’ve doubled the amount of children. I’ve moved to the suburbs. I’ve turned 40. I’ve got an air fryer with two drawers. It’s all change! I’m a grown-up now.

“I hope the audience have a really lovely, fun, silly night and leave with cheeks that are a bit hurty from smiling and laughing. A lot of people go to stand-up and think ‘why don’t we go to stand-up?’ It’s so fun and takes you off your sofa.

“It’s lovely to be in the moment with loads of people who are not on screens, which I think these days is a rare occurrence. It’s really nice to actually focus and engage and be present for once.

“I’m lucky to have the varied career that I have, but there’s nothing like the immediate response and the special magic that happens in a theatre just for that one night.

“By the end of the evening, the weird little in-jokes you end up forming will disappear into the universe, never to be heard again. That group of people will never come together again.”

TV fame

Those who come along will have seen Ellie in a number of high-profile presenting roles in recent years, including on Bake Off: The Professionals – where she confesses that she’s located where the secret stash of chocolate is kept.

And she was also part of the cast of extremely sweet feelgood Ted Lasso, playing Sassy, the best friend of Hannah Waddingham’s character, Rebecca.

“I felt so fortunate and lucky to be a part of it. It’s complete luck and kismet that I happened to go to the audition and did well.

“It came out at the perfect time in the middle of lockdown. Everything was bleak and sad, and there was no hope. Then this show comes along that’s so uncynical and joyful, and it’s all about believing. It’s funny and warm.

“I imagine it’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I’d be incredibly lucky to be in another show that hits so perfectly for so many different people all around the world.”

Ellie hosting Bake Off: The Professionals.

Ellie, who is performing at this year’s Royal Variety, established herself on our screens in satirical shows like Mock the Week and The Mash Report, with her Message to Everyone from Women sketch from the latter going viral and being shared by the likes of Jennifer Aniston and Madonna.

She feels there’s a void left since the shows were axed in 2023.

“It feels sad that there’s not anything like that on telly now in the UK,” she says. “The Americans seem to do it really well. For whatever reason, it hasn’t stayed here, which is a shame.

“I loved doing The Mash Report and it’s something I’m really proud of. What a fun little role being that news anchor.

“I still get people sharing the clip I did of women telling everyone to f*** off. It goes absolutely bananas. The show will live forever in that.”

Playing a newsreader, Ellie was taking a more sideways look at the headlines than her Australian reporter husband, Phil Black, who she married in 2014.

“I gave him some tips,” she laughs. “He was great about it. It was funny.

“My first job, where I met him, was in marketing events for CNN. I used to walk past the newsroom and as someone who would like to perform, I was thinking, maybe one day I’ll do that…”

Strictly memories

Many will also have seen Ellie strut her stuff on the Strictly dancefloor on the 2022 series alongside partner Johannes Radebe.

Reflecting on her time in sequins, she says: “I had a wonderful experience, at times incredibly hard work and absolutely exhausting.

“You lose yourself a bit and you actually believe that you are a dancer.

“Two years on, I look back on it and just think what an amazing experience I had. It’s the kind of thing I’m really glad I’ve done and really glad I don’t have to do again.

“It hits so many different demographics who would never have come across me before. From young kids to the older generation.

“It’s lovely to be a part of something that means so much to people.

“As soon as someone finds out that you were on Strictly, it’s sparkle, it’s like little bits of stardust.

“All of my friends were so excited. I’ve never been part of anything that everyone’s so geared up for. It’s an institution – what a privilege to be able to have a go.”