You're beret kind...TV writer Kay Mellor gets fashion aid at Palace

Delighted Kay Mellor, creator of award-winning dramas such as Children's Ward, Band of Gold, and Fat Friends, wore a red sequinned beret embellished with netting for her date at Buckingham Palace yesterday, designed by fellow OBE recipient Stephen Jones.

And the famous milliner – who has designed headwear for Boy George, Kylie Minogue and the Rolling Stones – could not resist tweaking his design when he spotted the Leeds writer at the Palace.

"He came up to me and adjusted it and said 'Do you mind, darling?'," she revealed, before describing her award as "amazing" and "gorgeous".

Ms Mellor added the Prince of Wales had promised to try and catch her latest work, A Passionate Woman, on the BBC in the near future.

"He said how lovely it was that I was getting an OBE. I told him I've got A Passionate Woman coming out at Easter, and he said 'I'll watch out for that'.

"He said 'Keep up the writing'. I knew he'd watched stuff before. I think he watched Fat Friends."

She added: "It's amazing that people have nominated me. It's wonderful to see my work on the screen, but now I have had recognition from those people out there and royalty. It's gorgeous."

A Passionate Woman, which stars Billie Piper and was filmed on location in West Yorkshire last year, tells the tale on a young wife who falls deeply in love with a Polish neighbour. It is based on Ms Mellor's late mother.

"It's a tribute to her," Ms Mellor said, adding that it was the work she is most proud of to date.

She was joined at the Palace by her husband Anthony and two daughters, the actress Gaynor Faye and TV producer Yvonne Francas.