Melanie Hill

Melanie Jane Hill (born 11 January 1962) is an English actress, best known for playing Hazel Redfern in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1985–1986), Aveline in Bread (1986–1991), Rita Dolan in Kay Mellor drama Playing the Field (1998–2002), Maggie Budgen in the BBC One school-based drama series, Waterloo Road (2012–2015), Julie Travers in BBC One drama series The Syndicate (2015) and Cathy Matthews in ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2015–present)

Melanie Hill
Born	Melanie Jane Hill 11 January 1962 Sunderland, County Durham, England
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1984–present
Known for	Bread Playing the Field The Street Waterloo Road The Syndicate Coronation Street
Spouse(s)	Sean Bean ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 1997)​ Jimmy Daly ​ (m. 2017)​
Children	2

Acting career

Hill was educated at Monkwearmouth School before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she won the Vanbrugh award.

Television

Hill replaced Gilly Coman as the character of Aveline in the last three series' of Carla Lane's BBC television sitcom Bread. She has also appeared in such programmes as The Bill playing Marie Carver (née Graham), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet playing Hazel Redfern, Hot Money playing Liz Hoodless, Juliet Bravo playing Jean Simpson, Emmerdale playing Avril Kent and Cape Wrath playing Brenda Ogilvie.

On 17 March 2009, she featured in an episode of Holby City, a medical drama broadcast weekly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. This became a recurring role, as the actress appeared in subsequent episodes, following a story arc relating to the death of her on-screen husband. She also appeared in an episode of The Thick of It (series 3 episode 3).

In April 2011, she appeared in the BBC television comedy drama series Candy Cabs and in November, appeared in the fantasy series Merlin as Mary Howden. In April that year, she also appeared as Cissie Charlton, mother of footballers Jack and Bobby Charlton, in the BBC drama United, which was centred on the 1958 Munich air disaster involving Manchester United and in which Cissie's younger son Bobby was involved but survived.[1]

In 2012, she made her debut on long-running school drama Waterloo Road her character, Maggie Croft (now Budgen), is head of the canteen and house mistress of the building that is a home to many pupils and also married Grantly Budgen (Philip Martin Brown), making her Grantly's new wife.

In August 2013, it was announced that Hill had joined the cast of the BBC Two sitcom Hebburn.[2]

In February 2015, it was announced that Hill would join the cast of Coronation Street as Cathy Matthews. She made her first appearance as Cathy on 20 April 2015. She was introduced as a potential love interest for Roy Cropper (David Neilson), which Hill was nervous about as Roy's deceased wife, Hayley (Julie Hesmondhalgh), was loved by the nation. Hill also starred in the third series of The Syndicate in June 2015.

Film

Hill appeared in Brassed Off (1996) as Sandra. She appeared as the witch Ditchwater Sal in the 2007 film Stardust and the 2008 film White Girl.

Personal life

Born to Anthony Hill and Sylvia (née Pratt) in Brighton, Hill was raised in her mother's native city of Sunderland. She married English actor Sean Bean in December 1990. The couple have two daughters, Lorna, born October 1987, and Molly, born September 1991.[3] They divorced in August 1997. She is a supporter of Sunderland A.F.C. She married writer and producer Jimmy Daly on 29 April 2017 at a pub in Muswell Hill, North London.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Hawk	Norma
1994	Shopping	Sarah
1996	When Saturday Comes	Mary Muir
	Brassed Off	Sandra
2001	From Hell	Ann Crook's Mother
2007	Stardust	Ditchwater Sal
2011	United	Cissie Charlton
2012	Unconditional	Mum
	Twenty8k	Elizabeth Fitch

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Juliet Bravo	Jean Simpson	2 episodes
1986	Auf Wiedersehen, Pet	Hazel Redfern	6 episodes
1989	Screenplay	Pauline	Episode: "A Night on the Tyne"
	Boon	Susan	Episode: "The Relief of Matty King"
	The Bill	Polly Beacher	Episode: "The Mugging and the Gypsies"
1989–1991	Bread	Aveline Boswell	Series regular
1992	Spender	Sue Styles	Episode: "Fee"
1993	Casualty	Janice Hutchins	Episode: "Wild Card"
	The Bill	Lynda Chambers	Episode: "Living It Down"
1994	Cardiac Arrest	Sister Pamela Lockley	6 episodes
	Finney	Lena	Main role
	Crocodile Shoes	Emma Shepperd	Main role
1995	Performance	Laura	Episode: "The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd"
	Circles of Deceit	Angie Norman	Episode: "Dark Secret"
1996	Cruel Train	Phyllis Pratt	TV film
	Crocodile Shoes II	Emma Shepperd	Main role
1998	The Broker's Man	Tracey Smeeton	Episode: "Playback"
1998–2002	Playing the Field	Rita Dolan	Series regular
1999	Silent Witness	Liz Davies	Episode: "Gone Tomorrow"
2000	Close and True	Maureen Taylor	Episode: "Hurry Up and Wait"
2001	"Child in the Forest"	Mam	TV film
	Hot Money	Liz Hoodless	Tv film
2001–2002	NCS: Manhunt	DS Ruby Sparks	Series regular
2003	The Bill	Marie Carver	Series regular
2005	The Afternoon Play	Bonnie Reilly	Episode: "The Singing Cactus"
	The Fugitives	Glenda Banks	Main role
	Emmerdale	Avril Kent	Recurring role, 11 episodes
	The Brief	Rennie Nicholson	Episode: "Blame"
2007	Cape Wrath	Brenda Ogilvie	Main role
	The Street	Val Taylor	3 episodes
2008	White Girl	Sonya	TV film
2009	Holby City	Kathy Hewitt	2 episodes
	The Thick of It	Julie Price	1 episode
2010	Joe Maddison's War	Selina Rutherford	TV film
2011	Candy Cabs	Stella	Main role
	The Body Farm	Nicole Henderson	1 episode
	Merlin	Mary Howden	Episode: "Lamia"
2012–2015	Waterloo Road	Maggie Croft/Maggie Budgen	Series regular
2013	Hebburn	Christine	2 episodes
2014	Cilla	Big Cilla	Main role
2015–present	Coronation Street	Cathy Matthews	Series regular, 400+ episodes
2015	The Syndicate	Julie Travers	Main role
	After Hours	Liz Matthews	Episode: "Love Love Love"

References

1. "United (2011)".
2. Dipper, Andrew (21 August 2013). "Hebburn series two: Melanie Hill joins the cast". Giggle Beats. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
3. Roberts, Genevieve (11 March 2012). "Sean Bean: 'I got pretty good at walking in high heels'". The Independent.

External links

• Melanie Hill at IMDb
• Salut! Sunderland Interview (29 November 2010)