
Acting
Joe Melia
Born — Died
1935-01-23 — 2012-10-20
Place of birth
Islington, London, England, UK
Known for
Acting
Credits
49 titles
Joe Melia (Giovanni Philip William Melia) was a English actor. He first came to notice in Peter Nichols’s "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg " in 1967.
Known for
7.2Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.
Minder
1979
7.0ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.
ITV Playhouse
1967
7.2Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.
Theatre 625
1964
4.2An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.
Thirty-Minute Theatre
1965
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
6.0Screenplay was a drama anthology television series, broadcast on BBC between 1986 and 1993. Numerous episodes were produced including one named "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" starring Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie.
ScreenPlay
1986
Film credits
1990s · 2 titles
8.0A romantic comedy written by and starring Alexei Sayle. A couple on a first date in London are determined to find a drink after closing time, to prove to themselves that they are not careworn and middle-aged. What follows is a series of misadventures
Sorry About Last Night
1995
5.5Raymond Gold, a 40-year-old Walter Mitty character from Philadelphia, is recruited to pass secrets of the atom bomb to the Russians in the 1940s. His girlfriend Danica discovers that he is a fantasist while the FBI suspect him of spying. His world falls apart, with tragicomic results.
The Fallout Guy
1991
1980s · 8 titles
Michael Frayn's play about a college reunion.
Donkeys' Years
1980
4.4The girls of St Trinian's decide they are being asked to do too much work so they go on strike.
The Wildcats of St Trinian's
1980
6.5Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson try to track down the Great Mogul, the second-largest diamond in the world.
The Sign of Four
1983
NRThe hardships faced by a woman trying to survive a bloody civil war while caring for the abandoned child of the deposed former ruler.
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
1985
4.9It is 1947, the year of the communist rebellion in Malaya and the British army's SADUSEA (Song And Dance Unit South East Asia) are called to the Malayan Jungle to entertain the troops. The eccentric, bible-bashing Major Giles Flack (John Cleese) is in command of the unit. Flack is accompanied by an ageing, theatrical drama queen, Terri Dennis (Denis Quilley) who hopes to entertain the troops with his flamboyant impressions, but the bored troops find other ways to enjoy themselves.
Privates on Parade
1983
7.5Biography of Russian physicist & dissident Andrei Sakharov focuses on his first acts in his civil rights.
Sakharov
1984
6.3An unusual documentary from the Brothers Quay and Keith Griffiths about the history of the Punch and Judy puppet show.
Punch and Judy: Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy
1981
6.1A story of adventure in the pop music world. A schoolboy pop group who call themselves The Pirates find themselves involved with a different sort of piracy when they discover a secret video tape-copying factory
Pop Pirates
1984
1970s · 10 titles
6.0Peter Pan is a 1976 musical adaptation of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, produced for television as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame, starring Mia Farrow as Peter Pan and Danny Kaye as Captain Hook, and with Sir John Gielgud narrating. Julie Andrews sang one of the songs, "Once Upon a Bedtime", off-camera over the opening credits. It aired on NBC at 7:30pm on Sunday, December 12, 1976, capping off the program's 25th year on the air. The program did not use the score written for the highly successful Mary Martin version which had previously been televised many times on NBC. Instead, it featured 14 new and now forgotten songs, written for the production by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse.
Peter Pan
1976
5.7Adaptation of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, a historical drama that attempts to bring an epic visual style to the Bard's original stage play. The story concerns Marc Antony's attempts to rule Rome while maintaining a relationship with the queen of Egypt (Hildegarde Neil), which began while Antony was still married. Now he is being forced to marry the sister of his Roman co-leader, and soon the conflict leads to war.
Antony and Cleopatra
1972
5.9Arthur Harris is a happily married man who returns from his job to discover that his wife, Fiona, is leaving him. Devastated he gets really drunk and tries to commit suicide. After a few setbacks and while he is trying to electrocute himself with a lamp, the door bell rings. An odd man in a leather coat asks if there are any odd jobs that he can perform. Arthur hires the man to kill him. The next day his wife returns, but the man he hired is still trying to kill him...
The Odd Job
1978
8.0They are all 'in' for life so the pleasures are sparse, and strictly of their own making.Their really big event is the Christmas pantomime, only this year they have lost their star. Mother Bear has escaped. Still, there is some consolation. The new arrival looks a likely Goldilocks. "There's one or two who'll be after him", says Woodbine - and he knows all their weaknesses.
Her Majesty's Pleasure
1973
6.7When one of Regan's snouts complains that his girlfriend's recent suicide was murder, the flying squad detective feels compelled to investigate. He uncovers a conspiracy that reaches the heart of the government, and finds himself fitted up, suspended and under the scrutiny of Special Branch.
Sweeney!
1977
A rock star is kidnapped at the end of a concert.The record company ask the question is he worth more dead than alive?
It's Only Rock 'n' Roll
1977
Sam and Ingrid start out with dreams of marrying someone rich who will make life easy. When they find they do not match up to each other's dreams however, they decide to set about making another dream come true. Buying their own home.
Sam's Song
1979
NRWeird tale of a sci fi convention and a family who are apparently being taken over by vegetables.
Amazing Stories
1976
NRMartin Ellis (Alan Dobie) is a blocked screenwriter who invites Helen, an actress (Kika Markham), to a hotel in central London to discuss an idea for a play he is writing with her in mind. As they discuss the play, Martin discovers that a businessman and an escort named Carol are sat at a nearby table and appear to be speaking lines from the as yet unwritten piece. Martin becomes anxious at what will eventually become of the girl, already knowing that the play will not have a happy resolution
Double Dare
1976
3.5In a Cheshire village, Jack, an electrician, is rewiring the house where a dissident Russian professor is staying. From mutual dislike and suspicion they move towards tolerance and eventually mutual respect.
Light
1979
1960s · 5 titles
5.3Modesty Blaise, a secret agent whose hair color, hair style, and mod clothing change at a snap of her fingers is being used by the British government as a decoy in an effort to thwart a diamond heist. She is being set up by the feds but is wise to the plot and calls in sidekick Willie Garvin and a few other friends to outsmart them. Meanwhile, at his island hideaway, Gabriel, the diamond thief has his own plans for Blaise and Garvin.
Modesty Blaise
1966
6.6The working-class Smiths change their initially sunny views on World War I after the five boys of the family witness the harsh reality of trench warfare.
Oh! What a Lovely War
1969
5.2This Western spoof stars Richard Widmark as an American gambler who wins the deed to a Mexican ranch from a cunning outlaw. At the ranch, the gambler discovers that his new lands have entangled him in an ancient Aztec curse. The ranch's patriarch tries to persuade the newcomer to marry his daughter and explains that the family's women are doomed to be especially fierce and prolific in their romantic encounters.
A Talent for Loving
1969
6.1A chance meeting with a Schlecht agent forces a humble coffee shop manager into the secret world of spies in Swinging London. With the help of his MI5 friend, he poses as the recently dead Major Cavendish who had managed to infiltrate the dreaded organization; he knows that they are intending to assassinate someone - could it be the famous Russian ballerina who has recently arrived for an appearance at Covent Garden?
The Intelligence Men
1965
6.3The parallel stories of two couples in crises and their connections to a drowned woman found in a river.
Four in the Morning
1965
1950s · 2 titles
6.2Norman Truscott is a store worker who dreams of stardom. Vernon Carew is a singer whose star is fading. Vernon manages to get a recording of Norman singing and passes it off as himself.
Follow a Star
1959
7.4Accident-prone Fingers runs a pretty unsuccessful gang. They try and rob wealthy but tricky Billy Gordon - who distrusts banks and fears the Inland Revenue - but he sees Fingers and the boys off. So they decide to kidnap his daughter, only to end up with his wife Lucy. Gordon makes out he couldn't be more pleased, spuring Lucy to take charge of the hopeless bunch of villains.
Too Many Crooks
1959
Series credits
7.2Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.
Minder
1979
7.0ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.
ITV Playhouse
1967
7.0ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.
ITV Playhouse
1967
7.2Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.
Theatre 625
1964
4.2An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.
Thirty-Minute Theatre
1965
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
6.0Screenplay was a drama anthology television series, broadcast on BBC between 1986 and 1993. Numerous episodes were produced including one named "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" starring Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie.
ScreenPlay
1986
8.2Public Eye is a British television drama broadcast from 1965 to 1975 on ITV1. Produced by ABC Television for three series, and Thames Television for a further four, the programme follows the investigations and cases handled by the unglamourous enquiry agent Frank Marker.
Public Eye
1965
7.7A British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s, combining surreal sketches and situation comedy.
The Goodies
1970
Drama 61-67 is anthology drama series which took a different title, based on year of transmission, each year. It alternated with Armchair Theatre from ABC in the Sunday evening slot. The series was described at the time as epitomising ATV drama.
Drama 61-67
1961
Widowed middle-aged sisters Martha and Mildred decide to set up house together as an economy measure.
Winning Widows
1961
8.1Don't Panic! The story of Arthur Dent, an average Englishman whose life was spared by his friend, who turned out to be an alien, while the planet Earth is destroyed. His friend tells him about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a guide with anything you ever needed, and wanted to know. They travel across the galaxy, meeting friendly, and not so friendly characters in order to find the great question (the answer being 42).
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
1981
7.6'The Larkins' is a British television sitcom which was produced by Associated Television and aired on ITV. It aired for four series between 1958 to 1960. An additional two series aired from 1963 to 1964.
The Larkins
1958
8.2A young and idealistic Doctor Stephen Daker arrives at Lowlands University to work at the Health Centre, but has to cope with an eccentric set of colleagues.
A Very Peculiar Practice
1986
Full House was a live entertainment for Saturday, presenting a mixture of music, plays, poetry, prose, comedy, films, the visual arts - and a few surprises.
Full House
1972
A young man on a council estate becomes suspicious of his mother's employer and, with help from a friend and an Inland Revenue investigator, starts a tax fraud investigation, using the nickname 'Ghostbusters' ror their undercover work.
The Ghostbusters of East Finchley
1995
7.7Two teams of three alternate between giving and guessing the meanings of obscure English words.
Call My Bluff
1965
5.2Refined civil servant Jasper Pye is sent to the rural Suffolk–Norfolk border to close the Office of Output Statistics, which has outlived its usefulness. Instead, he's seduced by the small idyllic world he discovers, making his task far more difficult than he'd imagined. He soon finds himself entangled with the local aristocrat's three beautiful daughters.
Love on a Branch Line
1994
6.0It happens in almost everyone's life. There is a special day - a day of unusual significance. A turning point in life, perhaps in career, romance or fortune; a day to remember. This anthology of plays, each as individual as the people and events portrayed, looks at seven such Red Letter Days.
Red Letter Day
1976
9.0Byron Flitch is not enjoying his anniversary party. Instead of making him a partner in their classic car business, his father Burke has demanded he work harder. His mistress Judith could arrive to gate crash the celebrations at any moment and to top things off midway through the line 'I'm going to live forever' from his karaoke Fame rendition, Burke keels over with a heart attack. Amidst this chaos, Burke's wife Lili sees a chance to make her escape and ducks out of the party to leave for an impromptu holiday in Tenerife. When she returns, she is a changed woman and intent on taking up marathon running. With Burke critically ill and Lili off guard, the rest of the family squabble for control of the business.
Born to Run
1997
A look at Soho life through the eyes of likeable rogue Fiddler and his two cronies, Bishop and Checkie.
West End Tales
1981
An anthology of seven plays. Against The Crowd dealt with people whose views differed from those of the majority - people who are against the crowd as it were.
Against the Crowd
1975
