Helena Bonham Carter gushes about ‘dream’ role playing Crossroads star Noele Gordon in Nolly

Helena Bonham Carter has gushed about her ‘dream’ role as Crossroads star Noele Gordon in the ITVX drama, Nolly.

The actress, 56, has already filmed the programme alongside Mark Gatiss, who plays the soap star’s best pal Larry Grayson.

According to The Mirror, she said: ‘When I read the script, it was like a gift. A dream. It’s like meeting someone and falling in love.

‘I watched Crossroads. So I knew Noele Gordon as a figure, but I hadn’t really taken on board the sacking.’

Mark added that his part was ‘a joy’ to film. 

The three-part miniseries, penned by Russell T Davies, will explore the all-powerful reign and fall from grace of the inimitable Noele, who died in 1985.

Noele was declared the ‘Queen of the Midlands’ thanks to iconic role as Meg Mortimer in Crossroads and was the darling of the establishment until it turned on her.

Uncanny: The actress, 56, said: ‘When I read the script, it was like a gift. A dream. It’s like meeting someone and falling in love’ (pictured, left in-character. Archive photo of Meg, right)

As flame-haired widow Meg in the long-running soap opera Crossroads, Noele became one of the most famous people in Britain. 

Then in 1981, at the height of the show’s success and the peak of her fame, she was axed without ceremony, without warning and with no explanation, with the soap eventually ending two years later.

With the boss’s words ‘all good things must come to an end’ ringing in her ears, Noele found herself thrown out of the show that was her life for over 18 years.

A love letter to a legend of television, and to the madcap soap she starred in, Nolly will be an entertaining ride through Noele’s most tumultuous years, and a sharp, affectionate and heart-breaking portrait of a forgotten icon.

Talented: She has already filmed the programme alongside Mark Gatiss, who plays the soap star’s best pal Larry Grayson

Of the role, Helena previously said: ‘Noele Gordon was a fascinating, complex, brilliant and gutsy woman – none of which I knew before I read Russell T Davies’ script.

‘I’m so thrilled to help tell Nolly’s long overdue and largely forgotten story.

‘Russell’s screenplay is a work of brilliance and I hope I’ll do him and Nolly justice. I can’t wait to start.’

Nolly has been commissioned for ITV by Head of Drama, Polly Hill, who commented: ‘Russell’s scripts are magnificent and a great tribute to Noele Gordon, but also to our national love of soaps and a celebration of the incredible women they create.

‘Helena Bonham Carter is going to be amazing as Nolly and we can’t wait for her to step into those shoes.’

Russell said: ‘One of my very first jobs in TV was a trial script for Crossroads, and I’ve wanted to write the story of behind the scenes on that show for 40 years. At last, the truth can be told!’

Noele, who had previously had multiple roles in the theatre before landing her part in Crossroads, played Meg from 1964 to 1981, and later returned for a two-episode stint in 1983.

After she was dropped from the show, Noele’s ill health prevented her from accepting many more roles, and she died in 1985 at the age of 66.

Nolly will become available on ITVX in early 2023, following the streaming service’s launch on December 8.

Throwback: Noele was declared the ‘Queen of the Midlands’ thanks to iconic role as Meg Mortimer in Crossroads and was the darling of the establishment until it turned on her (pictured in 1981)