Kay Mellor

My Left Nut

Based on the award-winning stage play, "My Left Nut" is a three-part coming of age comedy drama about friendship, family, grief and testicles. The series follows school-boy Mick and his journey after discovering a swelling on his testicle. He can't tell his dad; he died seven years ago. He can't tell his mum Patricia; she's got a million other things on her plate. He can't tell his schoolmates; there's an upside to rumours about the bulge in your trousers… And it’s not like it’s going to complicate things between Mick and his first girlfriend anyway, right?

Release Date:2020-03-01

Department:Production

Job:Executive Producer

Episode Count:3

Vote Count:4

Antonia Bird: From EastEnders to Hollywood

In this new documentary, Susan Kemp explores the life and work of the great British director Antonia Bird, who died in 2013. Bird blazed a trail from the radical hotbed of the Royal Court Theatre in the 70s, via the groundbreaking early days of EastEnders and Casualty in the 80s, all the way to Hollywood in the 90s and back again. She always had something urgent to say, but her career was a long struggle to get her voice heard. Featuring many of her close collaborators, including Robert Carlyle, Irvine Welsh, Kate Hardie and Mark Cousins, this documentary is the first to examine Bird’s legacy, and to place her where she belongs – among the most important British film, TV and theatre directors of her era.

Release Date:2016-05-12

Character:Self

Vote Count:1

In the Club

In The Club follows six pregnant women and their partners as they get ready for the arrival of their babies at the local parenting class. Housewife Diane, schoolgirl Rosie, newlywed Jasmin, businesswoman Roanna, midwife Vicky and writer and teaching assistant Kim all have their own issues to deal with.

Release Date:2014-08-05

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:6

Vote Count:6

The Syndicate

A drama exploring how winning the lottery transforms the lives of ordinary people.

Release Date:2012-03-27

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:5

Vote Count:22

A Passionate Woman

1950s period drama based on the true story of a housewife and mother whose life is turned upside down by a handsome Polish man at her local dance hall.

Release Date:2010-04-11

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:2

Vote Count:9

Strictly Confidential

Strictly Confidential is a six-part drama, written by Kay Mellor and originally shown on ITV during November and December 2006. It stars Suranne Jones as Linda, a bisexual ex police officer turned sex therapist, who shares a practice in Leeds with her brother-in-law, played by Tristan Gemmill. Her life is complicated by the fact that her husband Richard, her business partner's brother, played by Christian Solimeno, has low fertility and cannot give her the baby she wants. She is all for asking his brother to be a sperm donor, which does not sit well with his wife. Linda's husband is also not keen on the idea at all but lets Linda go ahead and ask his brother who consents to be a sperm donor. Sexual tension becomes obvious between the pair, and they soon begin sleeping together, with disastrous consequences for all involved, especially Angie, Linda's ex-lover who is still very much in love with Linda.

Release Date:2006-11-16

Department:Creator

Job:Creator

Vote Count:1

The Chase

Story line is set around Yorkshire's 'Chevin Chase Veterinary Surgery', The Chase follows the drama that surrounds the family who own the surgery, along with the practice nurses and surgeons. In true soap style, The Chase deals with the turbulent lives and relationships of said characters, adding a dash of authenticity and a pinch of humour to proceedings.

Release Date:2006-07-16

Department:Production

Job:Producer

Episode Count:20

Vote Count:3

Between The Sheets

Between the Sheets is a 2003 British television mini-series. This carnal, comedic drama is based around the love life and sexual hangups of several different couples that are all linked in some way. Emotional, touching, and sometimes humorous, the story follows these couples as they are forced to face their demons.

Release Date:2003-11-17

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:2

Gifted

Jamie Gilliam is a bright young rising star with Castlefield City, a first division club on the verge of promotion to the premiership. When lapdancing student Sharon goes out to a club with friends she bumps into him and ends up going back to his place. She wakes up the next day feeling ill and not being able to remember how she got naked in his bed. When she later goes to the police charging rape no-one believes her and the club settles with her privately to keep her quiet. But is Jamie as clean cut as he appears?

Release Date:2003-10-29

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

A Good Thief

Rita witnesses a murder, and believing she and her family are now in danger, she goes on the run with her daughter Leah and her elderly neighbour Lizzie. In hiding from the police and the villains, Rita resorts to shoplifting in order to survive.

Release Date:2002-07-22

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Character:Rita Pickering

Fat Friends

Fat Friends was an ITV drama, following a group of overweight people, their laughter and pain and addresses the absurdities of dieting in our modern age. The drama looks at people and how they relate to one another and use body weight as an excuse for all sorts of failings in their relationships, or not living their lives to the full. Four of the cast, Ruth Jones, James Corden, Sheridan Smith and Alison Steadman, went on to appear in Gavin & Stacey.

Release Date:2000-10-12

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:25

Vote Count:6

Fanny & Elvis

Yorkshire writer Kate finds out her biological clock is ticking down the same day that her husband leaves her. To get over the financial crisis this creates she takes in car-dealer Dave. He's homeless as Kate's husband has moved in with his wife. This leaves the problem of how to get promptly pregnant. Surely not with increasingly interesting Dave. They can't even agree on a baby's name - he thinks Fanny is silly and she finds Elvis, well, inconceivable.

Release Date:1999-11-19

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:4

Loose Women

A panel of four women discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs to celebrity gossip.

Release Date:1999-09-06

Character:Self

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:16

Girls' Night

Two British best friends and in-laws Dawn and Jackie work together at a factory. When Dawn is diagnosed with a brain tumor Jackie shares $100,000 she's got from her secret lover with Dawn to fulfil her dream - a visit to Las Vegas. They buy two tickets and fly there...

Release Date:1998-06-26

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Vote Count:9

Playing the Field

The on-the-field trials and tribulations and the off-the-field lives, loves and infidelities of 'The Castlefield Blues', an under funded, badly managed ladies football team from South Yorkshire in the north of England whose loyalty to the team, the game and each other far exceeds their chances of ever winning the championship.

Release Date:1998-03-08

Department:Creator

Job:Creator

Vote Count:5

Jane Eyre

After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meet the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Mr. Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Mr. Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?

Release Date:1997-03-09

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Character:Mrs Cooper

Vote Count:45

Some Kind of Life

Young housewife Alison tries to care for both her husband, who became brain-damaged after a motorbike accident, and their young child. Her husband's mother and best friend make things even more difficult.

Release Date:1995-08-22

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Band of Gold

A mother leads a life of prostitution after separating from her abusive boyfriend in order to support her family.

Release Date:1995-03-12

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Band of Gold

Band of Gold is a British drama series written by Kay Mellor and produced by Granada Television. It was originally shown on ITV between 1995 and 1997. Starring Geraldine James, Cathy Tyson, Barbara Dickson and Samantha Morton, the series revolves around the lives of a group of women who live and work in Bradford's red-light district. Three seasons of Band of Gold were produced (the third under the moniker of Gold, with only a small number of characters from the first two series).

Release Date:1995-03-12

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:14

Vote Count:8

GMTV

GMTV is the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV was broadcast on 3 September 2010.

Release Date:1993-01-01

Character:Self

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:12

Families

Families was a daytime soap opera produced by Granada Television and created by Kay Mellor. It followed two families; the Thompsons, based in Cheshire, England, and the Stevens, living in Sydney, Australia. It was produced and recorded at Studio 6 at Granada Studios in Manchester. The link in the storyline was businessman Mike Thompson, who walked out on his family on his birthday and flew to Australia to be with his true love Diana Stevens, whom he had left years earlier. Unbeknownst to Mike, Diana had given birth to his son Andrew and as complications ensued over the abrupt life changes for both families, Andrew travelled to England, where he met Mike’s daughter, Amanda, by his English wife Sue, and they fell in love, not realising that they were half-brother and sister. This plot line was somewhat similar to the opening storyline of the popular Australian soap opera Sons and Daughters which had successfully aired on ITV daytime since 1983. It was broadcast twice a week at 3.20pm with the first episode broadcast on 23 April 1990. Both episodes were also repeated on Thursday 10.40pm in the Granada TV region as part of Granada's "10.40-extra" strand. After two years, stories involving the Thompson and Stevens families—and the UK-Australian crossover angle—had run their course, with several characters either dead or left for pastures new. In their place came the wealthy Bannerman family, who were introduced during the summer of 1992, as they moved into the Thompsons' Cheshire mansion from a suburb of Manchester. In addition, some of the remaining Australian-based characters were re-located to England.

Release Date:1990-04-23

Department:Creator

Job:Creator

Vote Count:2

Children's Ward

Children's Ward is a British children's television drama series produced by Granada Television and broadcast on the ITV network as part of its Children's ITV strand on weekday afternoons. The programme was set – as the title suggests – in Ward B1, the children's ward of the fictitious South Park Hospital, and told the stories of the young patients and the staff present there. Aimed at older children and teenagers, Children's Ward was a long-lived series for a children's drama, starting life in 1988 as a contribution to the Dramarama anthology strand, "Blackbird Singing In The Dead of Night", then first broadcast as a series 1989 and running from then until 2000. The series was conceived by Granada staff writers Paul Abbott and Kay Mellor, both of whom went on to enjoy successful careers as award-winning writers of adult television drama. At the time, they were both working on the soap opera Coronation Street, and had recently collaborated on a script for Dramarama. Abbott, who had been through a troubled childhood himself, had initially wanted to set the series in a children's care home rather than a hospital, but this was vetoed by Granada executives. During the course of its run, however, Children's Ward won many plaudits for covering difficult issues such as cancer, alcoholism, drug addiction and child abuse in a sensitive manner. The programme won many awards, including in 1996 a BAFTA Children's Award for Best Drama, won by an episode in which a serial killer lures children to him via the internet and is – highly unusually for children's television – not eventually caught.

Release Date:1989-03-15

Department:Creator

Job:Creator

Vote Count:2

All Creatures Great and Small

All Creatures Great and Small is a British television series, based on the books of the British veterinary surgeon Alf Wight, who wrote under the pseudonym James Herriot. Ninety episodes were aired over two three-year runs. The first run was based directly on Herriot's books; the second was filmed with original scripts.

Release Date:1978-01-08

Character:Mrs Butterworth

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:42