Deep optical imaging of Mkn 231 reveals twin (tidal?) tails, a linear nuclear feature at green wavelengths, and a very blue region 4 arcsec south of the nucleus. Much of the central part of the galaxy is red, but there are complex areas of blue luminosity outside this, and a sharp edge to the luminosity at a distance of ~16 arcsec from the centre. Overall, the host galaxy appears to have a normal optical luminosity and blue colour (B-R ~0.7) despite being one of the most luminous galaxies known in the infrared. Radio emission in the system is extended on one side on a similar scale to the optical tails, but shows no detailed correspondence with optical structure; in particular there is no radio counterpart to the optical ‘jet’. Examination of IUE archival data indicate that the UV flux is very weak and the UV spectrum is peculiar for a Seyfert galaxy. The UV observations provide evidence for considerable nuclear extinction in the system, in accordance with previously published optical and infrared work, but the UV extinction is unlike Galactic absorption and may be more similar to that seen in the LMC. Recent optical spectra of Mkn 231 show changes in both the emission line spectrum and in the strong broad absorption lines (BAL), compared with previously published observations. This places strong limitations on the size of the nuclear continuum source. We suggest that Mkn 221 is a recently merged system which is currently undergoing star-formation, and discuss the connection with BAL QSOs.