HEREFORDSHIRE enjoyed a double dose of prime time action when two local women appeared on the same TV show this week.

King’s Thorn author and “mumpreneur” pioneer Mel McGee was delighted to discover she was booked on the same episode of The Michael Ball Show as rising music star and former Lyonshall schoolgirl Ellie Goulding.

Mum-of-three Mel was invited to talk about her book Millionaire Mumpreneurs after her publishers arranged a prerecorded interview in London last week, while Ellie sang her latest single, before the programme aired on Monday.

“Ellie Goulding was lovely, we had a bit of a laugh about two Herefordshire girls meeting up down in London and she was just talking about how manic her lifestyle is at the moment, and said it’s all very surreal,” Mel said.

“It was really inspirational actually, because she writes a lot of her own stuff, she’s really a raw talent.”

Mel and fellow businesswoman Wendy Shand were called in to explain how mums can build a successful career from home and found themselves sharing the green room with celebrities like Ellie, Christopher Biggins, Christine Hamilton and Craig David.

“I had a few photos and it was a very exciting experience indeed, it all went very quickly though – it was literally just a five minute chit-chat,” Mel added.

“It still really hasn’t sunk in that, wow, I’ve actually got on ITV daytime TV with a proper star like Michael Ball.”

Mel’s first book Supermummy: The Ultimate Mumpreneur's Guide To Online Business Success previously reached number one in the Amazon entrepreneurship category, while Ellie’s debut record Lights entered the album chart in the same position earlier this year.