Melissa is a five-part British television crime drama series, written and produced by screenwriter Alan Bleasdale, that broadcast across five nights from 12 to 20 May 1997 on Channel 4. Based upon the 1964 play by playwright Francis Durbridge, the series stars Tim Dutton, Julie Walters and Adrian Dunbar in the principal roles, and is the fourth adaptation of the play for television, following the 1964 original, an Italian adaptation in 1966, and a BBC adaptation in 1974 starring Peter Barkworth and Joan Benham.Notably, the first three episodes are based entirely upon a single line of dialogue featured in the original play, and have been described as somewhat of a "prequel" to the original. The complete series was released via 4DVD on 12 June 2006, available as an individual title or in a box set with two of Bleasdale's other Channel 4 productions, G.B.H and Jake's Progress.