# Coral Drouyn

Coral Drouyn née O'Neill, (born 1944), also billed as Coral Kelly, is an English Australian actress, singer and screenwriter/story editor best known for her work in television, including Prisoner, Neighbours, Blue Heelers, Pacific Drive and Home and Away

## Biography

Drouyn was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, to Terry O'Neill, an actor and son of an Irish tenor, and Peggy Haig, an actress. Her maternal uncle was the British actor Jack Haig and her maternal grandparents were Charles Coppin and Bertha Baker, both of whom were music hall performers billed as "Haig and Esco".
At the age of four, she appeared in an uncredited role as "Precocious Child" in the Hollywood film I Was a Male War Bride.
Drouyn emigrated to Australia in the 1960s, where she wrote comedy for her father's Melbourne-based program "Time for Terry" and worked as a singer, while writing material for theatre restaurants.
During her acting career, when she was often billed as Coral Kelly, she featured in the ill-fated TV soap opera Arcade as health studio receptionist Consuela McPhee.
Retiring from acting, Drouyn began writing for television, working as a scriptwriter for Grundy Productions series such as The Restless Years, Prisoner and Neighbours. During her time on Prisoner, Drouyn worked her way up from freelance writer to in-house story editor, creating characters and stories before leaving the series prior to its 600th episode.
Drouyn subsequently was involved in the creation of serial Pacific Drive before performing story editor duties on Blue Heelers and Home and Away.
Her book Big Screen, Small Screen, detailing the craft skills involved in screen-writing, was published in 1994.
Drouyn now works as a theatre critic.
Beginning in 2022, Drouyn has given extensive interviews with podcast series 'Talking Prisoner' where she has discussed in detail her creative work on Prisoner.

## Credits

Writer, script & production credits :
| Year | Title | Work | Notes |
| 1980–85 | Prisoner (Prisoner: Cell Block H) | Writer | Seasons 2–7 (63 episodes) |
| 1983 | Prisoner (Prisoner: Cell Block H) | Script editor | Season 5 (3 episodes) |
| 1983 | Prisoner (Prisoner: Cell Block H) | Storyline | Season 5 (196 episodes) |
| 1984 | Prisoner (Prisoner: Cell Block H) | Story editor | Season 6–7 (138 episodes) |
| 1985 | Neighbours | Writer | Season 1 (5 episodes) |
| 1986 | The Local Rag | Writer | TV movie |
| 1988 | The Gerry Connolly Show | Writer | Season 1 (2 episodes) |
| 1992 | Redheads | Script editor | Feature film |
| 1995–2004; 2003–05 | Home and Away | Writer | Seasons 8, 15, 17 (8 episodes) |
| 1995–2004; 2003–05 | Home and Away | Script supervisor | Seasons 16–18 (680 episodes) |
| 1996–97 | Pacific Drive | Writer | Seasons 1–2 (388 episodes) |
| 1999 | Chuck Finn | Writer | Season 1 (1 episodes) |
| 1999 | Change of Heart | Writer | Feature film |
| 1999–2000 | Blue Heelers | Writer | Season 7 (2 episodes) |
| 1999–2000 | Blue Heelers | Story producer | Seasons 6–7 (6 episodes) |
| 2001 | Wild Kat | Writer | Season 1 (2 episodes) |
| 2003 | Home and Away: Hearts Divided | Writer | Direct-to-video special |
| 2004 | Parallax | Writer | Season 1 (1 episode) |
| 2005–06 | Streetsmartz | Writer | Seasons 1–3 (9 episodes) |
| 2005–06 | Streetsmartz | Script producer | Seasons 1–3 |
| 2009 | Stormworld | Writer | Season 1 (3 episodes) |
Acting credits :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1949 | I Was a Male War Bride | Precocious Child | Feature film (uncredited) |
| 1954 | The Belles of St. Trinian's | Schoolgirl | Feature film (uncredited) |
| 1980 | Arcade | Consuela McPhee | Season 1 (35 episodes) |
| 1982 | Ginger Meggs | Mrs. Sarah Meggs | Feature film |
Self appearances :
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 2022 | Talking Prisoner | Podcast series (8 episodes) |