
Acting
Michèle Winstanley
Born
1964-01-26 (62)
Place of birth
Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Known for
Acting
Credits
38 titles
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 Ham…
Known for
4.3The 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
1985
6.2Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.
Casualty
1986
7.6A team of exceptional forensic pathologists and scientists investigate heinous crimes and use their skills to catch the people responsible.
Silent Witness
1996
6.6Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
Play for Today
1970
7.2Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.
Minder
1979
6.8The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
The Bill
1984
Film credits
1990s · 2 titles
6.6Four 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.
1995
5.3Very 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
1994
1980s · 10 titles
6.7January 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
1986
6.5William 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
1987
4.3It'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
1983
5.6A 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
1987
NRJohn Stewart is Scottish Junior Judo Champ. He has come to London to live. His new club and his new school want him to win competitions for them. His Dad wants him to bring glory to Scotland. The school bully badly needs teaching a lesson. But John no longer seems to enjoy tough competitive judo where the aim is to beat someone else. He wants something else - a different style, a deeper satisfaction. But few understand.
Judo Champ
1981
9.0Influential, 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
1983
4.5A 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
1982
NR"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
1982
9.0A man wakes one day to find a zip on the front of his body. Dare he see what's inside?
The Zip
1988
NRTourists 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
1988
Series credits
4.3The 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
1985
6.2Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.
Casualty
1986
7.6A team of exceptional forensic pathologists and scientists investigate heinous crimes and use their skills to catch the people responsible.
Silent Witness
1996
6.6Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
Play for Today
1970
7.2Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.
Minder
1979
6.8The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
The Bill
1984
6.8The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
The Bill
1984
6.8The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
The Bill
1984
7.6Jack 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
1992
7.9Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses.
Inspector Morse
1987
6.4Birds 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
1989
8.1Only 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
1981
7.4The Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, who do parodies of films, literature and sometimes major events.
The Comic Strip Presents...
1982
5.5Detective Superintendent Tony Clark is an ambitious member of the Complaints Investigation Bureau, an internal organisation that investigates claims of corruption inside the police in England and Wales. Along the way Clark overcomes strong influence from his superiors and problems in his private life, most notably the break-up of his marriage following an affair with WPC Jenny Dean.
Between the Lines
1992
7.7Shine 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
1982
7.2Sitcom following the misadventures of laddish flatmates Gary and Tony
Men Behaving Badly
1992
6.5No synopsis available yet.
Eurocops
1988
Donald Maddocks is happy with his disorganised life but his wife, Sheila, is fed up with having to make all the decisions in their marriage.
Coming Home
1981
4.7Armchair Thriller is a British television programme, broadcast on ITV in two series in 1978 and 1980. Owing something to some of the off-shoots of the earlier Armchair Theatre, the new series used scripts adapted from published novels and stories. Although not properly a horror series it included several supernatural elements. Armchair Thriller was produced by Thames Television, but it included serials made by Southern Television.
Armchair Thriller
1978
6.9On holiday in Spain, London police officer Lawrence Jackson recognises absconded criminal turned informant Eddie Myers, now a wealthy art dealer under the pseudonym Phillip von Joel. Extradited back to England after a nerve-wracking Scotland Yard Operation, Myers agrees to tell what he knows — but only if Jackson is his interrogator. So begins a deadly game of cat and mouse between the master criminal and his determined minder. Which comes first — duty or temptation?
Framed
1992
8.0A group of 16-year-olds—Sean, Sammy, Roger, Dikey, Gerry, and Cathy—graduate from Meadowcroft Comprehensive School and are now out in the world looking for work.
Going Out
1981
Kids' sitcom starring Tony Hawks as a Morris Minor mechanic, and his band Morris Minor And The Majors.
Morris Minor's Marvellous Motors
1989
7.3The father, an ex-military man, sees the 'handwriting on the wall' as to where his country's economy is headed. In an effort to prepare for this, he moves his family of wife, two sons and two daughters out of the city to a secluded old mansion -- a fortress, a castle, as it were. In a confidence he shares only with his youngest son, he acquires stores, goods and foodstuffs, for the tough times he sees coming.
Noah's Castle
1980
9.0Floodtide is a British television crime drama was produced by Granada Television, first broadcast on ITV from 14 June 1987 to 12 February 1988. The series focuses on a dogged inspector's pursuit of a group of cocaine smugglers across Europe and his bid to bring them to justice. A total of thirteen episodes aired over the course of nine months. Co-produced and partly filmed in France, it was one of the first ITV dramas to be co-produced with an international production company. Written by acclaimed The Sweeney scriptwriter Roger Marshall, the series was released on DVD by Network DVD for the first time on 19 July 2010. Although further series of the programme were planned, lead actor Phillip Sayer was diagnosed with cancer in 1988 and eventually died in 1989. Marshall concluded that it would be wrong to re-cast the part and instead decided to bring the series to a natural close.
Floodtide
1987
Mixture of fictional and non-fictional thought-provoking short films aimed at students of school and college.
Scene
1968

