Nolly was a trailblazer – it makes her sacking all the more shocking...
RUSSELL T DAVIES TELLS OF HIS DETERMINATION TO GET JUSTICE FOR CROSSROADS STAR NOELE GORDON WITH HIS NEW ITVX SERIES, NOLLY. ELLIE IORIZZO CATCHES UP WITH THE WRITER
WALKING into the first rehearsals of Nolly, the new drama which tells the story of soap actress Noele Gordon, was “like feeling the ground rock beneath my feet”, says creator Russell T Davies.
Entering the room, he was met with what felt like the reincarnated characters of the soap Crossroads in which Noele – better known to her friends as Nolly – starred, causing fond memories from his adolescence to flood back.
“I had to have a little 20 seconds to myself, sitting in a chair and not saying anything, because it was quite strange,” says the Doctor Who writer, 59, who also created 11-time Bafta nominated It’s A Sin.
Russell says he was “ready for years” to tell the story of Noele Gordon, as he was “obsessed” with the pioneering soap opera in which she played Meg Mortimer from 1964 to 1981.
In Nolly, a three-part drama starring Helena Bonham Carter in the title role, he has documented the rise and fall of the actress who was controversially sacked at the age of 61 after 19 years on Crossroads.
Likening it to a “story of a queen losing her crown”, Russell explains: “I think the more I work in television and the more I work with actors, the more mysterious that treatment seems.
“We’ve all seen actors being chucked out of soaps and we’ve all seen people falling from grace, but the very public and ruthless nature of that seemed odder and odder as time went on.”
Russell recalls a “lovely lockdown” spent largely on video calls chatting to the cast of the original soap, investigating the story.
It was then, he realised, how much Noele was “loved by fellow cast members and yet treated so badly by the system”.
“Part of the reason I got interested in the story was, in the industry she’s very much spoken of as... a bit of a monster,” he muses.
“And yet when I went and spoke to the cast, the opposite picture came out. I thought, ‘You’ve given me the public version’, but I scratched and scratched... and I realised it was true... She was adored.
“Of course, there’s the whole MeToo movement, which is brilliant and vital and needed, but actually I think the sexual stories are just scratching the surface of how women are treated.
“They’re not always treated badly because of a sexual story. The whims and tempers of men are vast and that’s what happened to Nolly.”
Russell adds that despite loving Noele in the soap, which was set in a motel in the Midlands, he had “no idea the breadth of her experience”.
He says: “To me, she was just a soap star. But it turns out she has an extraordinary history.
“She was the first woman in the world to appear on colour television, put there by [inventor and engineer] John Logie Baird himself, the first woman in Britain to interview a prime minister and the first woman to have her own daytime chat show. “She was properly a trailblazer, and also a theatre star... It makes her sacking all the more shocking.”
Bafta and Emmy winner Helena, 56, says she found Noele to be an “extraordinary woman” who showed “gumption and fierceness” after her sacking.
“I honestly didn’t particularly know Noele Gordon until I read Russell’s script, and she came into my life like a life force straight from page one.
“I thought, ‘Why the hell have I not been aware of her’?
“She told it how it was, she was really appallingly badly treated and she said exactly what she felt – she wasn’t going to be bullied.
“Any other person might have crumbled. She didn’t.”
Talking about casting Helena,
Russell says: “My lovely producer Nicola Shindler was very clever.
“She said, ‘Let’s try Helena Bonham Carter’. And I just thought there wouldn’t be a chance in the world. And then, miracle of miracles... We couldn’t believe we were so lucky.”
Also joining the cast is League of Gentlemen’s Mark Gatiss, who plays comedian and good friend of Noele, Larry Grayson.
Then there’s Augustus Prew, who recently appeared in Prime Video fantasy The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power.
In Nolly he plays Welsh actor Tony Adams, who starred in
Crossroads, and he describes the invaluable meetings he had with the actor before portraying him on the series.
“He’s a magical man. He was just so progressive for his time and I just wanted to honour his spirit,” notes Augustus.
“He loves his mother, he sort of idolises powerful women, which was the opposite of the time.
“It’s a time of action movies and it’s the beginning of big muscles and Tony is this wonderful breath of fresh air that at the time was very contrary to what was going on.”
The Crown star Helena praises Russell as the “champion of the underdog”, adding: “I know he felt that Nolly deserved better treatment than what she’d received in real life. This is a proper sendoff.”
Helena says Nolly just “fizzed off the page” of Russell’s script, adding that it was a “sensational piece of writing”.
“I do think she was in her prime when she was sacked,” she adds.
She told it how it was, she was really appallingly badly treated and she said exactly what she felt – she wasn’t going to be bullied. Any other person might have crumbled. She didn’t.
Helena Bonham Carter on Noele
“I feel like championing her means that I’m championing every woman of a certain age, who might be cut off because we’re deemed too old.
“It was an era thing, but I do think we’ve still got to get equal pay, and people get bumped off because of age.”
The Oscar-nominated actress, known for roles in Harry Potter, Fight Club and Sweeney Todd, explains how she cultivates characters inside her in the hope “they pop out when the camera turns on”, and says she wore fake teeth to help her prepare “mentally” for the role.
Now she jokes she could compete on quiz show Mastermind with her knowledge of Noele.
“She’s quite useful because she legitimatises my bossy side,” Helena concludes.
“I’ve loved having her around. I don’t think my family have, because she’s got an engine to her!
“I hope she carries on, she’ll help me out.”