Sara Pascoe on Sewing Bee axe: 'TV is brutal, it can be taken away from you'

Comedian Sara Pascoe recently put the BBC on blast, accusing the corporation of having “replaced her with a younger woman” on The Great British Sewing Bee. Sara, 45, hosted the show from 2022 to 2025. But the latest series saw her axed in favour of actress Sophie Willan, 38.

But, speaking to the Mirror in the aftermath, Sara says she would like to backtrack on her comment, saying “I was sad” in the moment. Sara says: “It was me being snide, and to make a joke to make Harry Hill laugh on his podcast. I wasn't actually replaced because I was ageing myself out of sewing. The sewing audience is very happy with a middle-aged woman.”

Her firing, she adds, was par for the course in showbusiness. Sara says: “TV is brutal, and I say that as someone who is so lucky. For stand-ups, the live circuit is the spine of our career, that's our backbone. It can't be taken away from you, but the TV stuff is that delicious cherry on top, but it can be taken away from you.

“They let me take my dog. And because Joe Lycett , when he'd hosted it, had a little bed, the presenter now gets a little bed where you could lie down, because the sewing challenges take ages.

Most shows you'd have to do quite a lot of work, but they sew things for five hours and you pop in twice, so you can read a book or write a book or do your emails. And it's the opposite of Traitors. They would never ever put anyone in a coffin.”

Talking of the Traitors , Sara has been as glued to the latest series as the rest of us. She says: “I was the Richard E Grant of Last One Laughing. I laughed within the first 10 minutes, and he announced that he was a Traitor. It was also Joe Lycett who was his downfall, so we have that in common.”

Sara was eliminated first on the inaugural series of Amazon smash hit Last One Laughing, which saw funny man Bob Mortimer take the crown.

Sara, 45, says: “We sometimes take people for granted, these national treasures. But aren't we lucky to have Bob Mortimer? He’s so kind too. At the Last One Laughing screening, he didn't come in and watch because he doesn't like watching himself, and it was so odd, like ‘But you're the star of this!’”

Sara lives in North London with her husband, Australian comedian Steen Raskopoulos, and their two children. She was talking to the Mirror as an ambassador for Bupa Mental Health and their Bupa Mindplace centres.

Sara says: “I think mental health is a topic we can't talk about enough. We need to check in with each other more, especially as it gets to this time of year where some people can feel more isolated.

“Like lots of people who grew up working class, I thought I didn't deserve therapy, or that you had to be in a really bad way. I went to therapy a lot later in life than I should have done.”

Sara, who is mum to sons Theodore, four, and Albie, three, struggled with her mental health during her fertility struggles. She tried to conceive for more than 10 years before welcoming her children via IVF. Sara says: “It was so hard. Therapy was a lifeline. It was just so great to have someone that I could just cry for an hour that I didn't have to apologise to.

“I know I’m not alone - my story is the same as many women my age.