Helena Bonham Carter Roped In To Play UK’s Forgotten Soap Star Noele Gordon In ‘Years & Years’
Bonham Carter admitted she hadn't previously heard of Gordon prior to receiving Davies' script, but was drawn to her public struggle as a woman battling sexism in the industry.
Helena Bonham Carter to play forgotten British soap star in limited series(Pic Credit: Wikipedia, IMDb)
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Actress Helena Bonham Carter will be seen playing one of the UK’s forgotten soap stars in a new limited series from ‘Years and Years’ and ‘It’s a Sin’ writer Russell T. Davies and producer Nicola Shindler.
‘Nolly’, commissioned by commercial broadcaster ITV, looks at the reign and fall from grace of TV legend Noele Gordon, who was a mainstay on long-running ITV soap opera ‘Crossroads’ for 18 years until she was unceremoniously fired, reports variety.com.
“What’s extraordinary is that this woman was at the absolute peak of the powers, and this was the biggest show in the country, and she was fired without any kind of explanation, and without any kind of right to respond,” Shindler told Variety.
“In a post-#MeToo world, it’s fantastic to look at the theories and to examine what she (went through) at the time, and the way that she was treated, and how that was acceptable,” the producer continued.
The three-part drama will be written by Davies, and produced by Shindler’s new production company Quay Street Productions, which is backed by ITV Studios.
The project is the first for Shindler’s new outfit, which was formed earlier this year following her 2020 exit from Studiocanal-backed RED Production Company.
‘Nolly’ appears to be a very specific British story.
Known as the Queen of the Midlands, Gordon had a reputation as a tough and haughty actor who would sweep into rehearsals from a Rolls Royce, but she was beloved by cast and crew.
Her sacking from ‘Crossroads’ in 1981 sparked a public outcry that created such pressure on the writing team that an alternative ending had to be written for her character, Meg Mortimer.
“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,” said Davies.
“At last, the truth can be told!”
Bonham Carter’s turn as Gordon marks something of a return to British broadcasting for the Oscar-nominated actor, who last appeared in a recurring role on terrestrial television in 2016 with ‘Love, Nina’.
More recently, she starred as Princess Margaret in ‘The Crown’. She also has a guest role in the forthcoming UK adaptation of ‘Call My Agent’.
“She’s someone who can inhabit a really extraordinary, interesting, strong, eccentric kind of dynamic woman,” said Shindler of the actor.
“It needed to be someone who was iconic in her own right, because Noele Gordon was so iconic at the time. And it needed to be someone who has a sense of humour, which (Bonham Carter) clearly has.”
Bonham Carter admitted she hadn’t previously heard of Gordon prior to receiving Davies’ script, but was drawn to her public struggle as a woman battling sexism in the industry.
“Noele Gordon was a fascinating, complex, brilliant and gutsy woman a” none of which I knew before I read Russell T Davies’ script,” said Helena Bonham Carter.
Helena Bonham Carter added: “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.”
The show is directed by Peter Hoar while Karen Lewis is producing. Production will begin in 2022.
