Melanie Jane Hill is an English actress, best known for playing Hazel Redfern in Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Aveline in Bread, Rita Dolan in Kay Mellor drama Playing the Field, Maggie Budgen in BBC school-based drama Waterloo Road, Julie Travers in popular BBC drama The Syndicate and Cathy Matthews in ITV soap operaCoronation Street
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, 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. In April 2011, she appeared in the BBC television comedy drama series Candy Cabs and in November, appeared in the fantasy seriesMerlin 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. In 2012, she made her debut on long-running school dramaWaterloo Road her character, Maggie Croft, is head of the canteen and house mistress of the building that is a home to many pupils and also married Grantly Budgen, making her Grantly's new wife. In August 2013, it was announced that Hill had joined the cast of the BBC Two sitcom Hebburn. 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, which Hill was nervous about as Roy's deceased wife, Hayley, was loved by the nation. Hill also starred in the third series of The Syndicate in June 2015.
Film
Hill appeared in Brassed Off as Sandra. She appeared as the witch Ditchwater Sal in the 2007 film Stardust and the 2008 film White Girl.
