Kay Mellor created scripts for the British most popular TV series and TV shows. The famous writer and screenwriter was born in Leeds. She was adored by actors, journalists and the most ardent fans of her masterpieces. She was a special and very successful TV screenwriter. Learn more at leedska.
An innovative screenwriter became famous thanks to such popular series as The Syndicate, Band of Gold, In The Club and Fat Friends. Most of her stories took place in the harsh reality of Yorkshire life, unlike other series that showed the luxurious life of the rich. For example, Band of Gold depicts a violent struggle between prostitutes and pimps, who are connected to drugs and endless clashes with the police in the Red Light District of Bradford.
During her lifetime, Kay Mellor was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). This prestigious British honour recognises the extraordinary contribution to the development of the country and the significant influence of the recipient at the local or national level. Usually, these award ceremonies are held at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle or The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The award is presented by members of the Royal Family. In addition, Kay Mellor became a Fellow of the Royal Television Society in 2016.
Her way to success wasn’t easy, but despite everything, the charming Yorkshire writer Kay Mellor received the deserved recognition.
Difficult childhood and early marriage
Kay Mellor was born in Leeds on May 11, 1951. Her family wasn’t very rich. Her father, George, was a Catholic and sold vacuum cleaners. Her mother, Dinah, was Jewish. The couple’s marriage was unhappy, the husband often abused his wife, who, by the way, had a long-term secret affair. Little Kay’s worst childhood memory was when her father severely beat her mother and mercilessly abused her. After some time, the father left their life and the mother supported the family by herself, working as a seamstress. After the father left, her mother did everything possible to survive. She sewed carpets, glued wallpaper, cooked food and found time to read books to the children. When Kay was nine, her mother remarried to Abe Harris.
The main entertainment for young Kay and her two brothers was TV. She often recalled watching TV shows and wondering why women were given only supporting roles.
At the age of 16, young Kay met mechanic Anthony Mellor, who was only a year older than her. They married after Kay got pregnant. During the marriage ceremony, the vicar told the newlyweds that their marriage wouldn’t last long, but the Mellor family managed to disprove those predictions.
At the age of 20, Kay was already the mother of two charming daughters, Yvonne and Gaynor, who also connected their lives with acting and had TV careers. Mellor returned to her studies when the children went to school. She finished school and then went to study drama at Bretton Hall College. While studying at the drama college, Mellor wrote her first play, Paul, which was nominated for Best New Play at the National Student Drama Festival. After graduating in 1983, Kay and two of her friends founded the Yorkshire Theatre Company and started actively touring Britain in a transit van.
Then she found her path in the world of creativity and began actively writing scripts for the most prominent TV series of the 1990s and 2000s.
The heroes of her stories are ordinary residents of Leeds
Kay Mellor’s entire creative career has been largely built on the varied stories about the everyday life of working-class men and women in Yorkshire. For more than 40 years, the author faithfully described the chaotic routine of life in Leeds. Her own childhood, youth and adult life in one of the city estates had a significant influence on her work. She managed to achieve the impossible goal of rendering real Yorkshire dialogue, humour and humanism on screen through meticulously drawn characters.
Kay realised that it was easy to spot soap operas written by an all-male writing team. After all, in such a series, married women have never had any hobbies or interests other than taking care of children. Therefore, the audience had a demand for dramas that featured strong women characters. The characters who would be self-sufficient and influential, confidently lead their own lives, defy conventions and boldly defend their position. Kay believed that they were the invisible majority and she wanted to tell their stories.
Being in the writing team of the famous series of the 1980s, Coronation Street, Mellor managed to vividly show the everyday life of the northern working class. She told their stories without hiding their flaws. In addition, she didn’t stop entertaining the audience with her simple, funny and believable characters.
In 1988, Kay Mellor created a successful play for Yorkshire TV called Place of Safety. It was based on a child abuse investigation that took place in Cleveland. In addition, it was nominated for the Prix Italia, an international award in the field of television, radio and the Internet.
In tandem with the English screenwriter Paul Abbott, Mellor created the film Children’s Ward, which was generally aimed at younger audiences. It is a kind of ground-breaking story about cancer, drugs, alcoholism, HIV/AIDS, rape and child abuse. Then Kay Mellor wrote such series as Just Us, Playing the Field and Girls’ Night.
Mellor became one of the most active screenwriters on television. Every time, she managed to create new stories, true-life scenarios and incredible dramas.
Kay Mellor’s most popular scripts
Her big break as a writer was one of the most famous dramas of the 1990s, Band of Gold. Mellor told a story about a group of prostitutes in Bradford’s notorious Red Light District. Desperate and despondent sex workers fought against the men who exploited them and competed with local gangsters, fiercely resisting the police.
A chance meeting with an underage prostitute in Bradford motivated Kay to write this story. She was impressed not only by the appearance of the young girl but also by the fact that it was her first job. That girl was the same age as Kay’s own daughters, so she couldn’t let this story go. Since then, Kay Mellor has risen to the level of prominent television writers.
Then she wrote Fat Friends, cementing her reputation as an outstanding writer of dramas with several storylines. She was a pioneer storyteller who possessed a rare gift of expressing hidden female emotions in clever dialogue. Fat Friends touched many hearts, as the drama was focused on the lives of several members of a Leeds slimming club.
Her mother’s personal drama in A Passionate Woman
A Passionate Woman was a personal project for Kay Mellor. It was based on a 30-year-old secret of her mother. Mellor’s play shows a working-class woman who has had a failed marriage but longs for romance. For more than thirty years, the main character has lived in an unhappy marriage with a man whom she didn’t love. One day, she found old photos in the attic, which involuntarily brought her back to her memories of a passionate romance of her youth. In 2010, the play was turned into a two-part TV drama.
Kay Mellor had a phenomenal talent because she skilfully covered such difficult topics as bulimia, obesity, prostitution and drugs. Her most interesting characters were ordinary but atypical people. She left behind a huge legacy of real hits, which continued to gather more and more fans near the screens.