TV's drama queen who kept it real
Kay Mellor Writer and actress BORN MAY 11, 1951 – DIED MAY 15, 2022, AGED 71
AT THE heart of celebrated scriptwriter Kay Mellor's popular TV dramas lay ordinary people living extraordinary lives. The Leeds-born writer, who wrote Fat Friends, The Syndicate and Band Of Gold among others, championed women and workingclass northerners, creating authentic characters through razor-sharp dialogue and detail.
Raised on a council estate, Mellor's father was physically abusive towards her mother and walked out when she was four.
Mellor had her first daughter, Yvonne, at the age of 16, with her future husband Anthony, then 17. They married in 1967.
Her tough start in life didn't suggest a Bafta-winning career spanning 30 years was on the cards but Mellor was happy to take inspiration from her life for her storylines. Her breakthrough came with Band Of Gold, an ITV drama about a group of prostitutes, starring Geraldine James, Cathy Tyson and Samantha Morton.
Mellor chanced upon the idea after she and Anthony accidentally took a wrong turn one night on their way to a party and turned into a red-light district in Bradford.
A young blonde girl dressed in a mini skirt and white high heels stepped forward.
“She looked about 14,” Mellor recalled. “I kept thinking, ‘Whose daughter is this? What kind of a society do we live in where children have to sell their bodies?'”
Mellor didn't expect Band Of Gold to be a success but it was a hit and ran for three series.
Fat Friends launched the career of James Corden and featured Alison Steadman, Ruth Jones and Mellor's daughter Gaynor Faye.
Mellor was born Kay Daniel, the second child of George Daniel, a Catholic, and his wife Dinah, who was Jewish.
In the 1950s, before George left the family home, tailoress Dinah had a six-month affair with her Polish neighbour.
Dinah was devastated when he was killed in a fight some months later. She told her daughter 30 years later and gave her permission to write about it in the drama A Passionate Woman.
After having her two daughters, Mellor went back to education and studied for a drama degree at Bretton Hall College. She started her career writing for Coronation Street and Brookside and created Children's Ward with Paul Abbott.
She remained married to Anthony, who survives her along with her daughters Gaynor and Yvonne Francas. Her cause of death has not been revealed.