Mel Martin

Mel Martin is an English actress born on 7 March 1947. Her father was the artist Frank Vernon Martin, who died in 2005.

Martin made her Broadway appearance in 1974 in the play Sherlock Holmes. Her television career began in Britain with a role as Barbara Cartwright in Special Branch in 1969, followed by an appearance in Mystery and Imagination: Sweeney Todd in 1970. The role that established her prominence was the lead in LWT's Love For Lydia in 1977, a production adapted from the novel by H. E. Bates.

Over the course of her career, Martin appeared in a wide range of British television productions, including The Pallisers, Bergerac, Minder, Cover Her Face, Lovejoy, Cadfael, When the Boat Comes In, Inspector Morse, and The Men's Room in 1991. She took on the role of Fiona Samson, a double agent and the wife of Bernard Samson, played by Ian Holm, in the television adaptation of Len Deighton's trilogy broadcast as Game, Set and Match. She portrayed Vivien Leigh in the TV biopic Darlings of the Gods, with Anthony Higgins playing Laurence Olivier opposite her. In 1992 she played Lady Dant in Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris, and in 1993 she appeared in the Only Fools and Horses Christmas special "Fatal Extraction" as Beverley, Del Boy's love interest. In 1997 she played Dawn Langley in the Hetty Wainthropp Investigates episode "Daughter of the Regiment." In April 2002, she and her husband John Duttine played opposing barristers during Little Mo's trial in EastEnders.

Her film credits include Quincy's Quest in 1979, Business As Usual in 1987, White Hunter Black Heart in 1990, and Tom's Midnight Garden in 1999.

Martin was married to Paul Ridley from 1980 to 1982. Her second marriage is to actor John Duttine, whom she met during the filming of the television adaptation of Ruth Rendell's Talking to Strange Men. The two have appeared together on screen on several occasions, including the February 1995 Casualty episode "Branded," in which Martin played Mrs. Jackson while Duttine portrayed her character's transvestite former husband. In the Heartbeat episode "Troubled Waters," broadcast on 22 July 2007, Martin guest starred as Emily Merryweather, a widow drawn to local garage owner Bernie Scripps, played by Peter Benson, though she and Duttine, who was appearing in his regular role as Sergeant George Miller, did not share any scenes.