Victoria Coren Mitchell's marriage to David Mitchell and sad reason for three-year break

Victoria Coren Mitchell has been married to her famous comedian husband David Mitchell for more than 20 years. The Only Connect presenter, who is hosting Have I Got News For You on BBC One tonight, had an immediate connection with the comedian when they first met.

Victoria, 52, who is also a professional poker player, previously confessed that she knew she wanted to marry the Peep Show star, 50, after the first couple of hours of meeting. But despite the success of their first meeting, the couple actually only went on their first date three years later.

At the time, Victoria was still mourning the recent loss of her father, Alan, a writer and satirist who was a regular panellist on the BBC radio quiz The News Quiz and a team captain on BBC TV show Call My Bluff. Alan passed away in the summer of 2007 from lung cancer, with Victoria meeting David shortly after.

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The couple were first introduced to each other by fellow comedian David Baddiel, who played matchmaker when they both attended the same film premiere in 2007. Victoria admitted: "He specifically said to me, 'There’s David Mitchell over there, I think you should probably marry him, I’ll get the ball rolling by introducing you. I thought that was ridiculous but, a couple of hours later, I thought I would probably marry him."

The pair got along like a house on fire, but they didn't actually go on their first date until 2010, as Victoria explained her father had just died and the timing wasn't right. David told The Guardian: "The problem is, I hate the sort of dating thing. I just, I just find it incredibly awkward… I don’t dislike being single enough to put myself through the pain.

"I waited three years. Isn’t that weird? Aren’t I odd? I can’t explain it other than to say I couldn’t do anything else. If only I’d known I just had to wait three years… I would gladly have suffered 10 times as much." The couple married two years later in 2012.

David has been open about his deep affection for Victoria, describing himself as "hopelessly in love" with her. In his book, he wrote: "She's not only too wonderful, she's too right for me. She's funny, bright, sexy, nervous, and confident in ways that could have been meant for me. I feel very lucky."

He continued: "I am just incredibly proud that someone like Victoria wants to be with me. She has these amazing qualities, but fundamentally, we clicked. I fell in love with her."

Victoria has also expressed her admiration for David, telling The Telegraph in a previous interview: "I mean, he's a hugely successful television comedian, he could have had a gorgeous 24 year old skinny wife with a tiny nose and a string bikini, but he chose me! Me! I am filled with this bizarre mix of thinking David could have done a lot better than me and feeling we're so alike and complement each other so wonderfully that we are the ideal match and couldn't possibly be with anyone else."

They welcomed their first daughter, Barbara Elizabeth, in 2015 and announced the arrival of their daughter June Violet in 2023. Victoria shocked fans as she revealed she had given birth aged 51, writing on social media: "Many people are assuming this was a Halloween costume. Not at all; last week I had a baby and nothing currently fits me except cloaks. Luckily, Only Connect is a pre-record. Happy All Saints Day!"