My culture picks: Kay Mellor

2 January 2018

Kay Mellor is an acclaimed writer, director and actor, and the creator of shows such as Fat Friends and Love, Lies and Records. As her new TV drama Girlfriends begins on ITV, she shares the television, book and song currently on her cultural radar.

Tin Star is a crime drama set in the Canadian Rockies starring Tim Roth, Genevieve O'Reilly and Christina Hendricks.

Kay admits that this sort of show isn't normally her thing, but Tin Star won her over. "It's got a great cast; Ian Puleston-Davies is in it, and Tim Roth’s fantastic - he’s a sheriff taking over this Hicksville town. It’s compelling to watch."

However, in the Mellor household, TV has to appeal to both Kay and her husband most of the time. She say: "I love Curb Your Enthusiasm which is hysterically funny but Anthony doesn’t get that at all, he’ll come downstairs and say ‘I can’t be doing with this!’"

Tin Star is currently available on Sky's streaming services. Image courtesy of Sky Atlantic.

Fiona Mozley was working part-time in a York bookshop when she wrote her first novel, Elmet, which was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. It concerns Daniel and Cathy who grow up with Daddy in the house he’s built for them, foraging and hunting in Yorkshire’s West Riding.

Kay says: "I loved it because it’s all set in my neck of the woods, and so I found that I could read it easily and thought it was really interesting, it left me feeling a bit depressed, but apart from that, it stayed with me.

"I remember thinking it’s really well written, intriguing, you didn’t know quite where it was going, it wrong-footed you a few times. I thought it might win the Booker actually because a lot of people were talking about it."

Elmet is published by Algonquin Books. Watch the Booker-shortlisted author discuss her novel with BBC Arts.

Corinne Bailey Rae (pictured) performs a cover of the Motown classic that is used in Kay's latest drama Girlfriends.

Kay says: "Ain’t No Mountain High Enough is great. I shouldn’t say it really because I’ve used it in Girlfriends, re-recorded by Corinne Bailey Rae, but it’s absolutely gorgeous - she’s got a beautiful voice has Corinne.

"It reminds of my friend Linda, and my close group of girlfriends - we've belted it out at karaoke probably! So that’s a kind of special song for me."

Photo by Gus Stewart/Redferns via Getty Images.