Michael Melia

Michael Melia is a British actor who portrayed Eddie Royle in EastEnders between 1990 and 1991.

His battered nose may make Michael Melia look like an ex-boxer, but actually, he's an ex-teacher who's never been in a fight in his life. The hooter was shattered three times: Michael fell off a trolley at the age of five, bashed his nose on a gate and finally came a cropper playing football.

Michael, seventy-three and born in Berkshire, has been acting in television since the early 1970s, usually playing heavies or policemen, though he spent four years doing the classics with the National Theatre. At one stage he ran a bar in Spain and thought about applying for the tenancy of a pub over here, like his character. However, the idea was vetoed by his wife, a former actress turned teacher, Celia. Michael's years in Spain left him fluent in the language.

After leaving EastEnders, he appeared as Frank Dagley on Dangerfield; and, more recently, Jerry Block for over a hundred episodes of the footballing soap opera Dream Team. His rugged features have led to parts in numerous crime dramas: The Sweeney, Fox, The Bill, Minder in the Series 1 episode Monday Night Fever, C.A.T.S. Eyes, Campion, The Chinese Detective, Dempsey and Makepeace, Rumpole of the Bailey, Inspector Morse, Maigret, The Detectives, Daylight Robbery and New Tricks.

He has also had parts in many other established dramas including When the Boat Comes In, Coronation Street, Casualty and most recently Doctors and Emmerdale. He is also known for having appeared on Doctor Who in full alien costume as the Terileptil Leader in the 1982 story The Visitation and had a minor part on Blake's 7.