
Michèle Winstanley
Acting
Biography
British actress and playwright, known for her works with cult director Alex Cox, including 'Straight To Hell' and 'Sid and Nancy', and for playing Cathy in Phil Redmond's seminal teenage television series, 'Going Out'. Michèle Winstanley is also known for her role as Karen the barmaid at The Nags Head in 'Only Fools and Horses', as well as for playing Harry's mother in Safeways' long-running series of commercials, which follow the adventures of Harry, a thoughtful toddler, voiced by Martin Clunes OBE. In 2024, she had a regular role in the BBC series Silent Witness as a sign language interpreter, a role she also does in real life. As a playwright, Winstanley's works have been produced at Hampstead Theatre, Arcola Theatre and The Space Theatre.
Known For

The everyday lives of working-class residents of Albert Square, a traditional Victorian square of terrace houses surrounding a park in the East End of London's Walford borough.
EastEnders

Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.
Minder

Jack Frost is a gritty, dogged and unconventional detective with sympathy for the underdog and an instinct for moral justice who attracts trouble like a magnet. Despite some animosity with his superintendent, Norman “Horn-rimmed Harry” Mullett, Frost and his ever-changing roster of assistants manage to solve cases via his clever mind, good heart, and cool touch.
A Touch of Frost

The Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, who do parodies of films, literature and sometimes major events.
The Comic Strip Presents...

Only Fools and Horses.... Is a British sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally transmitted on BBC One from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas specials aired until 2003. In working-class Peckham in south-east London, ambitious market trader Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter and his younger half-brother Rodney, explore their highs and lows in life, in particular their attempts to get rich. Initially not an immediate hit and receiving little promotion early on, it later achieved consistently high ratings, and the 1996 episode "Time on Our Hands" (originally billed as the series finale) holds the record for the biggest UK audience for a sitcom episode, attracting 24.3 million viewers. The series bears a significant influence on British culture, contributing several words and phrases to the English language.
Only Fools and Horses

Birds of a Feather is a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC One from 1989 until 1998 and on ITV from 2013. Starring Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, it was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote some of the episodes along with many other writers. The first episode sees sisters Tracey Stubbs and Sharon Theodopolopodos brought together when their husbands are sent to prison for armed robbery. Sharon, who lived in an Edmonton council flat, moves into Tracey's expensive house in Chigwell, Essex. Their next-door neighbour, and later friend, Dorien Green is a middle-aged married woman who is constantly having affairs with younger men. In the later series the location is changed to Hainault. The series ended on Christmas Eve 1998 after a 9-year-run.
Birds of a Feather

Shine on Harvey Moon! is a British comedy-drama series made by Central Television for ITV from 8 January 1982 to 23 August 1985 and briefly revived in 1995 by Meridian. This generally light-hearted series was created by comedy writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. The series is set in the East End of London shortly after the Second World War. Upon being demobbed RAF serviceman Harvey Moon, played by Kenneth Cranham, returns home and finds his family involved in various troubles. His wife Rita, played by Maggie Steed, is not interested in resuming their relationship, and works in a seedy nightclub frequented by American servicemen. He becomes involved with the Labour Party and the union movement. The name of the series is a wordplay on the title of the popular 1908 song 'Shine On, Harvest Moon'. The first series was commissioned and recorded by ATV at their Elstree studios with the remaining series filmed at newly constructed facilities in Nottingham.
Shine on Harvey Moon

January 1978. After their success in England, the punk rock band Sex Pistols venture out on their tour of the southern United States. Temperamental bassist Sid Vicious is forced by his band mates to travel without his troubled girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, who will meet him in New York. When the band breaks up and Sid begins his solo career in a hostile city, the turbulent couple definitely falls into the depths of drug addiction.
Sid and Nancy

William Walker and his mercenary corps enter Nicaragua in the middle of the 19th century in order to install a new government by a coup d'etat.
Walker

Four policemen go undercover and infiltrate a gang of football hooligans hoping to route out their leaders. For one of the four, the line between 'job' and 'yob' becomes more unclear as time passes . . .
I.D.

Going Out was a six part, thirty minute episode, drama series written by Phil Redmond (Grange Hill, Brookside etc) and produced by the ex-ITV franchise, Southern Television. The series followed the first six weeks after Sean, Roger Sammy, Cathy and Gerry were released from school and onto Thatcher’s scrap heap. Along with Dikey, who'd already been drawing his Giro for a year, they tried to avoid the nutter Arty 'Haggis' Jackson and his 'crew'.
Going Out

A gang of bank robbers with a suitcase full of money go to the desert to hide out. After burying the loot, they find their way to a surreal town full of cowboys who drink an awful lot of coffee.
Straight to Hell

A group of Devonport-based Royal Navy ratings, due to sail to America for a six-month NATO exercise, go out on the town on their last night in port, hitting Plymouth's notorious Union Street district, with violent results.
Remembrance

Tourists arrive in Ibiza for the 'funseekers' package holiday. Jamie is upset when the annoying Tony moves into his room. He gets his revenge when he discovers that Tony is too old to be part of the Club 18-30 clientele.
Funseekers

Very much in love, Neil's wedding plans are sabotaged, beginning when he is abandoned, naked, on a Scottish island. A road trip ensues, with Neil encountering many obstacles as he makes his way to London for what he believes is to be his wedding day. Or is it?
Staggered

"When you get to a man in the case, they're like as a row of pins - For the colonel's lady an' Judy O'Grady are sisters under their skins." - Kipling. Polly writes for a magazine producing glamorous makeovers for young women. Befriending a member of the women's movement prompts her to re-examine her own feminist values.
Under the Skin
A reporter is asked to look into the mysterious death of a nun who died in a locked room at a convent. She had recently inherited a fortune. The reporter next leans off an apparition that haunts the hallways at night and seems to portend death. Flashlight in hand, she goes off in search of the "Black Nun."
Quiet as a Nun

Influential, cult classic, UK buddy road movie about two friends, one white and one black, who bond over their desire to escape from boredom and unemployment in Thatcher's Britain.
Fords on Water

It's New Year's Eve. Larry's parents are at the vicarage dance leaving Larry in charge of the house. Big mistake, because Larry's a party animal and tonight he's going to go wild - with a little help from his friends!
Party Party

A man wakes one day to find a zip on the front of his body. Dare he see what's inside?