Elizabeth Bower

Elizabeth Bower (born 1 August 1976) is an English actress, known for her role as Dr Melody Bell in the BBC soap opera Doctors from 2007 to 2009.

Bower was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Educated in Solihull, Bower attended Langley School, before undertaking A Levels in Theatre Studies, Geography and Biology at Solihull Sixth Form College. After graduating from the University of Warwick with a BA hons in Theatre Studies and Performing Arts, Bower gained her post graduate diploma in Acting and Musical Theatre from the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

After an initial period solely on stage, Bower took a supporting cast role in The Ralf Little Show in 2002 and occasional turns presenting Five kids slot Milkshake! Probably best known, until recently, for starring in commercials for the UK celebrity magazine Heat, in 2005 Bower starred in Channel 4's comedy sketch show Spoons, and then took a guest lead role in British crime drama Silent Witness episode "Cargo" as DCI Helen Radley.

After starring in the television adaptation of the children's book drama series The New Worst Witch, Bower won the Edinburgh Fringe Report award for Best Actress: TV Drama and Comedy 2006. Regarding her win, it was written: "The award reflects Elizabeth Bower's outstanding performances in the core cast of Spoons for Channel 4, as Miss Widget in The New Worst Witch for Granada, as Detective Chief Inspector Helen Radley in Silent Witness, and in The Flat for the BBC. It also reflects her gifted theatre acting including NewsRevue in London and Edinburgh and the relationship drama Playing."

In 2007, Bower was cast as GP registrar Melody Bell on the BBC medical soap opera Doctors, who arrives in the series as a "scatty, very vocal and highly strung" doctor in training who has a lot of maturing to do. She departed from the series in 2009.