Nottinghamshire &amp; Derbyshire


<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wilts/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2025/02/Scummy-Mummies-landscape-2.jpg" alt="Scummy Mummies Helen Thorn and Ellie Gibson" class="wp-image-35999" /></figure>



<p>With a smash-hit podcast, 12 sell-out live tours and a Guinness World Record behind them, <a href="https://www.scummymummies.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Scummy Mummies</a> are on a roll. Better still, they’re coming to Buxton this week – you can catch them at <a href="https://www.exetercornexchange.co.uk/whats-on/scummy-mummies-hot-mess/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buxton Opera Ho</a><a href="https://www.exetercornexchange.co.uk/whats-on/scummy-mummies-hot-mess/https://buxtonoperahouse.org.uk/event/scummy-mummies-hot-mess-2025" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">use</a> on 1 July. Muddy caught up with comedy duo Helen Thorn and Ellie Gibson to chat menopause, marathons and what happened when Helen’s catsuit burst open on stage…</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spill-the-beans-on-your-new-show-what-s-it-about">Spill the beans on your new show. What’s it about?</h2>



<p><strong>Helen:&nbsp;</strong>It’s called&nbsp;<em><a href="https://www.scummymummies.com/pages/live-show" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hot Mess</a></em>. The name’s a play on us feeling hot with the menopause but also because our lives are a hot mess a lot of the time. &nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Ellie:&nbsp;</strong>When we started out a decade ago, we were very much in the baby wipes, nursery and puke stage. Now the show isn’t so much about that stress and panic early motherhood, it’s more about how you manage teenagers who can’t be bribed by&nbsp;<em>Peppa Pig</em>, argue with you and take all your money and food. It’s like being mugged on a daily basis. Our lives have changed too.&nbsp;Helen’s divorced and she’s been on the dating scene, while I’m navigating being married for a long time.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-can-we-expect-your-signature-sparkly-catsuits">Can we expect your signature sparkly catsuits?</h2>



<p><strong>Helen:&nbsp;</strong>For sure. We’re in red and pink sparkly catsuits this time round, with a hint of gold. The gold is our signature look, there’s something fabulously funny, showy-offy and silly about it.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wilts/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2025/02/Scummy-Mummies-1000x667.jpg" alt="Scummy Mummies Helen Thorn and Ellie Gibson" class="wp-image-35983" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-three-words-would-your-friend-and-family-use-to-describe-you-both"><strong>What three </strong>words<strong> would your friend and family use to describe you both?</strong></h2>



<p><strong>Helen:</strong>&nbsp;Joyful, chaotic, tired.</p>



<p><strong>Ellie:&nbsp;</strong>Greedy, funny and cold. As in physically cold.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-who-or-what-is-guaranteed-to-make-you-laugh">Who or what is guaranteed to make you laugh?</h2>



<p><strong>Ellie:</strong>&nbsp;Helen, often unintentionally.</p>



<p><strong>Helen:</strong>&nbsp;Helen&nbsp;Lederer is wonderfully clever and bonkers. We had her as a guest on our&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-scummy-mummies-podcast/id680583512" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">podcast</a>, and it was so nice to meet one of our comedy heroes. The podcast has given us the chance to sit down with amazing comedy legends, like Arabella Weir, Jenny Éclair and Mel&nbsp;Giedroyc.&nbsp;They’ve all been joyful to hang out with and incredibly supportive. They really want to lift other women, they don’t pull the ladder up.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-do-you-unwind-after-a-show">How do you unwind after a show?</h2>



<p><strong>Helen:</strong>&nbsp;Our favourite thing is to find a local curry house and have a couple of pints. We’re often quite wired, we don’t get to sleep until one or two in the morning.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-been-the-highlight-of-your-career-so-far">What’s been the highlight of your career so far?</h2>



<p><strong>Ellie:</strong>&nbsp;Making the Guinness World Record for the highest ever stand-up comedy gig, up Mount Everest last year. It was incredibly difficult, cold and stressful, but it was an amazing moment. It was minus 25 degrees, so we had loads of layers under our catsuits. The night at Everest Base Camp was intense too. We wore all our clothes and slept in two sleeping bags.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wilts/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2025/02/Scummy-Mummies-base-camp-1000x667.jpg" alt="Scummy Mummies Helen Thorn and Ellie Gibson " class="wp-image-35998" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ever-had-any-total-clangers-on-stage">Ever had any total clangers on stage?</h2>



<p><strong>Helen:&nbsp;</strong>At the Hay Literary Festival, we had 500 people in the audience and my catsuit burst open. Jeremy Bowen was in the front row and Jeanette Winterson was there. That made an impression.</p>



<p><strong>Ellie:</strong>&nbsp;In our previous tour, we had a parody around&nbsp;<em>Sarah and Duck</em>, the kids’ TV show. Two days before the tour began, we ordered a huge yellow duck outfit on Amazon, with a big orange beak. We didn’t have time to try it on, and the first time we did the skit,&nbsp;Helen&nbsp;accidentally put it on backwards. Her face was inside the back of the duck’s head, and you could just see her hair below the beak. Watching her stumbling around on stage in a duck costume, unable to see, was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. The audience wet themselves, and so every night for 100 shows she put the costume on backwards. Sometimes disasters turn into comedy, and that’s a prime example.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-helen-you-ve-got-seriously-into-running-recently-how-did-that-happen">Helen, you’ve got seriously into running recently. How did that happen?</h2>



<p>After my divorce in 2020, my perception about what I was capable of really changed. I was going through a really hard period in my life, and running was fantastic therapy. It was great for getting my rage out, and my mental and emotional recovery went hand-in-hand.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wilts/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2025/02/Helen-Thorn-medal-1000x667.jpg" alt="Scummy Mummies Helen Thorn " class="wp-image-35995" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tell-us-about-your-marathons-there-have-been-quite-a-few"><strong>Tell us about your marathons, there have been quite a few…</strong></h2>



<p>I love a medal, and I love a race. Since 2021 I’ve done nine marathons, including Tokyo in March. That’s when I finished the world’s major marathons, so it was a big day. There are less arduous ways of seeing the city though.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-are-you-raising-cash-for-charity">Are you raising cash for charity?</h2>



<p><strong>Helen:</strong>&nbsp;Yes, I ran to raise funds for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.justgiving.com/page/helen-thorn-borne-tokyo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Borne</a>. Ellie is an ambassador, so I’ll hand this over to her….</p>



<p><strong>Ellie:&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.borne.org.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Borne</a>&nbsp;is a premature baby charity, set up by an obstetrician at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. It funds life-saving research into preventing premature birth, which is a huge issue – 15 million babies are born prematurely every year and they don’t all survive. My son Joe was born two months early in 2014 and luckily he was fine, but it was traumatic and I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through that if it could be prevented.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-any-top-tips-for-women-struggling-to-find-their-fitness-mojo">Any top tips for women struggling to find their fitness mojo?</h2>



<p><strong>Ellie:</strong>&nbsp;We’re currently working with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sweatybetty.com/?gad_source=1&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiA8fW9BhC8ARIsACwHqYrdFwgBjdQrxzCy3GOv2U9zHPMXgw4phvIRvTp5n2L7OSrImeSrRZIaAnv6EALw_wcB" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sweaty Betty</a>, which really recognises that it’s about doing what you can. It isn’t all about medals, competition and constant striving. Some days that might be walking to Tesco Express, buying a chocolate bar and walking back again.</p>



<p><strong><em>The Scummy Mummies are currently on tour with Hot Mess, for tickets click&nbsp;<a href="https://www.scummymummies.com/pages/live-show" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>. </em>&nbsp;</strong></p>


Hot mess! Muddy meets The Scummy Mummies

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