Kay Mellor

Kay Mellor Template:Post-nominals (née Daniel; 11 May 1951 – 15 May 2022) was an English actress, scriptwriter, producer and director. She was known for creating television series such as Band of Gold (ITV, 1995–97), Fat Friends (ITV, 2000–05), and The Syndicate (BBC, 2012–21), as well as co-creating CITV's children's drama Children's Ward (1989–2000).

Early life

Kay Daniel was born in Leeds on 11 May 1951<ref name="Guardian obit" /><ref name="Yorkshire Life">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> to a Catholic father, George, and a Jewish mother, Dinah.<ref name="Guardian 1999">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="family"/> Her parents' marriage was unhappy, and Dinah suffered from George's domestic violence. She had an affair before seeking a divorce. She raised her children as a single parent in Ireland Wood<ref name="family">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Yorkshire Life" /> and kept the affair a secret for more than 30 years.<ref name="rhlstp">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1967, Mellor become pregnant aged 16 and married the child's father, Anthony Mellor, who was 17. The couple had two daughters, television producer Yvonne Francas (born 1968) and actress Gaynor Faye (born 1971).<ref name="Mum">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="family"/>

When Mellor told her mother about being pregnant, she made her daughter promise to go back to her education later, should she get the chance. Mellor did so when her children were at school age, passing her O-levels and A-levels. She went on to Bretton Hall College and graduated with a BA Hons degree in 1983.<ref name="family"/><ref name="rhlstp"/>

Career

As a writer, she began working for Granada Television in the 1980s, writing for the soap opera Coronation Street.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1989, Mellor also wrote many episodes for the Channel 4 soap Brookside.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

She wrote for the anthology drama series Dramarama before co-creating the long-running children's drama Children's Ward with her Coronation Street colleague Paul Abbott in 1988.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The series was awarded Best Children's Drama in the 1997 BAFTA Awards.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She also created the soap opera Families which aired from 1990 until 1993,<ref name="Guardian obit">Template:Cite news</ref> and wrote and starred in three series of the family show Just Us (1990–1994).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She wrote the television drama serials Band of Gold (1995), Playing the Field (1998),<ref name="Guardian-obit2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Fat Friends (2000), Between the Sheets (2003), and Strictly Confidential (2006).<ref name="Between the Sheets">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Strictly Confidential">Template:Cite news</ref>

Commenting on the casting for Fat Friends, Mellor said she had wanted genuinely large people to play the parts, calling Ruth Jones and James Corden "the real McCoy". Mellor had seen Corden in a Tango advert and asked her casting director Beverley Keogh to find him for her because she thought he was perfect for the part.<ref name="rhlstp" />

In a parallel career as a television actress, Mellor appeared in her own adaptation of Jane Eyre (1997), and in other series and films such as the comedy drama Stan the Man (2002), A Good Thief (2002) and Gifted (2003).<ref name="Guardian Zoe Williams">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On stage, Kay acted in Three Girls in Blue and she wrote and starred in the one-woman show Queen at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In July 2006, Mellor's The Chase aired on BBC One. She wrote and directed the two-part drama A Passionate Woman which was based on her 1992 stage play and was broadcast on BBC One in April 2010. The play was inspired by her parents' marriage.<ref name="rhlstp"/>

In 2012, she wrote another BBC drama, The Syndicate, which ran for four series until 2021.<ref name="Guardian obit" /> It was set and filmed in Leeds, Bradford, Scarborough and Monaco.<ref name="Yorkshire Life" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2013 The Syndicate was remade in the United States as Lucky 7,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but was cancelled after one series.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2014, her BBC series In the Club was first broadcast followed by a second series in 2016. Mellor's drama series Love, Lies and Records ran on BBC One in November and December 2017, starring Rebecca Front and Ashley Jensen.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her ITV drama series Girlfriends, starring Zoë Wanamaker, Miranda Richardson and Phyllis Logan, premiered in January 2018.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The fourth series of The Syndicate aired in March 2021 with a cast including Neil Morrissey, Katherine Rose Morley, Kieran Urquhart, Taj Atwal, Liberty Hobbs, Emily Head, Gaynor Faye, Kym Marsh, Katie McGlynn, Mark Benton, Lorraine Bruce, and Joe Sugg.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Mellor was awarded the BAFTA Dennis Potter Award in 1997 for Outstanding Writing for Television.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Mellor was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and, in 2015, she was awarded the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Outstanding Contribution to Writing.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2016, Mellor was made a Fellow of the Royal Television Society<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and, in February 2020, Mellor was awarded Broadcast's Special Recognition Award.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2000 when she was surprised by Michael Aspel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She also appeared on the BBC's Desert Island Discs in 2017.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Outside of television, Mellor wrote screenplays for feature films such as Girls' Night starring Julie Walters, Brenda Blethyn and Kris Kristofferson, which played at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She both wrote and directed the feature film Fanny and Elvis starring Ray Winstone, which won the Audience Prize at the Dinard British Film Festival,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and one off drama Some Kind of Life,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which was BAFTA nominated for Best Single Drama in 1997.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2017, Mellor turned Fat Friends into a stage musical with Nick Lloyd Webber writing the music. Fat Friends The Musical toured the UK in 2017, and then again in 2022.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Mellor subsequently adapted Band of Gold for the stage, which premiered in Mellor's hometown of Leeds in 2019,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and toured the UK until it was shut down early due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>

Personal life

Mellor liked going to Roundhay Park, Golden Acre Park, and the Cottage Road Cinema in Leeds.<ref name="Yorkshire Life" /> She was also a frequent visitor and supporter of the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford.<ref name="Yorkshire Life" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Death

Mellor died on 15 May 2022 at the age of 71.<ref name="BBC 61478428">Template:Cite news</ref>

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Channel	Notes
1986	Albion Market	ITV	Writer and story editor<ref name="Guardian obit" />
1987–1988	Dramarama		Writer<ref name="Guardian Zoe Williams" />
1988	Place of Safety		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1990–1993	Families		<ref name="Guardian obit" />
1992–1994	Just Us		<ref name="Guardian obit" />
1995–1997	Band of Gold		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1996	Some Kind of Life		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1997	Jane Eyre		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1998–2002	Playing the Field	BBC One	<ref name="radiotimes"/>
1999	Fanny & Elvis	ITV	<ref name="Fanny & Elvis">Template:Cite news</ref>
2000–2005	Fat Friends		<ref name="radiotimes"/>
2003	Between the Sheets		<ref name="Between the Sheets" />
2006	Strictly Confidential		<ref name="Strictly Confidential" />
2006–2007	Template:Sort	BBC One	<ref name="radiotimes"/>
2010	Template:Sort		Also directed with Antonia Bird<ref name="Guardian Zoe Williams" />
2012–2021	Template:Sort		Also directed with Dominic LeClerc<ref name="radiotimes"/>
2014–2016	In the Club	BBC One	Also directed<ref name="Guardian obit" />
2017	Love, Lies and Records		<ref name="radiotimes"/>
2017–2018	Fat Friends The Musical	UK Theatre Tour	Also directed<ref name="radiotimes"/>
2018	Girlfriends	ITV	Also directed<ref name="radiotimes"/>

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0578117

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• Interview on BBC's Desert Island Discs