melanie jane hill (born 11 january 1962) is an english actress from sunderland, north east england. she is best known for portraying the roles of hazel redfearn in the itv comedy-drama series "auf wiedersehen pet" (1985–1986), aveline in the bbc sitcom "bread" (1986–1991), rita dolan in the bbc kay mellor drama series "playing the field" (1998–2002), maggie budgen in the bbc school-based drama series "waterloo road" (2012–2015), cathy matthews in the itv soap opera "coronation street" (2015–2022), and also in 2015 she played julie travers in the bbc drama series "the syndicate".