Sue Perkins - “My Late ADHD Diagnosis Changed My Life”

You might know Sue Perkins from her long-running partnership with Mel Giedroyc, presenting The Great British Bake Off (The Great British Baking Show for our American friends), or from TV and radio shows including The Supersizers..., Just a Minute and her many travel documentaries. A comedian, broadcaster, writer and presenter, Perkins has been a fixture on British television for more than 25 years. In 2023, she was diagnosed with ADHD, inspiring her latest Audible Original, Attention Please!, an exploration of neurodivergence, dopamine and what it means to navigate life with a differently wired brain.

In this episode of How To Fail, we discuss Sue's late ADHD diagnosis and how undiagnosed neurodivergence shaped her childhood and school years; the traumatic experience of having a pituitary tumour dismissed by a male doctor because she didn't have a husband or boyfriend, and the lasting impact that had. We also talk about grief, shame and friendship, as Sue reflects on drifting apart from her university friend, Shayla, before her tragic death, and what this loss taught Sue about showing up for the people we love.

Questions this episode tackles:

How do I manage my ADHD?

How do I cope with the death of my friend?

How do I discuss my fertility with doctors?

IN THIS EPISODE 

00:00 Introduction 

03:04 Dopamine and Maestro

06:09 Sensitivity and the News

07:36 Childhood and Being Seen

10:09 Rejection Sensitivity

11:32 School Test Trauma

15:01 Undiagnosed ADHD at School

16:56 Diagnosis and Lockdown Spiral

19:42 Sponsor Letter to Future Self

21:10 Parenting Yourself After Loss

21:31 Health Scare and Fertility

21:56 Emailing the wrong person

22:04 Pituitary tumor diagnosis

23:51 Not advocating in care

25:36 Fertility grief and acceptance

27:16 Parenting yourself instead

32:26 Bake Off kindness ethos

35:37 Shayla and comedy beginnings

38:28 Drifting apart and loss

42:36 Shame, guilt and friendship lessons

46:14 Closing reflections and goodbye

 

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER: 

My fertility has nothing to do with my partner, and it has nothing to do with my sexuality.

I think it’s my role in this life to be a great aunt and to be a great godparent.

If you feel something, it’s not enough to feel it, you must act on it… make the thought, the feeling, the need and the love real.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: 

Sue’s new audio book, Attention Please! available here: www.audible.co.uk

Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content 

Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com 

📚 WANT MORE? 

Mel Giedroyc (2026) - http://swap.fm/l/HTFMelGiedroyc

 

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Website: www.elizabethday.org 

 

Elizabeth and Sue answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://lnk.to/7i0moR  

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Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan   

Engineer: Matias Torres 

Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson 

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot 

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless 

 

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.   

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