ITV reveal cast details for Noele Gordon drama ‘Nolly’

The show celebrates the world of Noele Gordon and her surprise sacking by Jack Barton in 1981. Additional casting has been announced, and a first look image released, for multi-BAFTA Award-winning writer Russell T Davies’ and multi-BAFTA Award-winning executive producer Nicola Shindler’s brand new three-part drama for ITVX and ITV, Nolly.

The drama is the first production from Shindler’s new production company Quay Street Productions, which is part of ITV Studios. The first glimpse of Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning actor Helena Bonham Carter as Noele “Nolly” Gordon has been released as filming on the series commences.

Augustus Prew joins the cast as Tony Adams, Nolly’s Crossroads co-star, devoted friend, confidante, and occasional chauffeur. Emmy and BAFTA-winner Mark Gatiss joins as inimitable entertainer Larry Grayson, who also shared a close and enduring friendship with Gordon.

Richard Lintern is Ronnie Allen, who played Crossroads’ suave hotel manager David Hunter. Antonia Bernath is Jane Rossington, who starred in Crossroads as Jill Richardson, Meg’s daughter. Clare Foster is Sue Lloyd, who played Barbara, wife of hotel manager David. Chloe Harris is Susan Hanson, who played Crossroads fan favourite Miss Diane. Lloyd Griffith is Paul Henry, who for over a decade played Crossroads’ handyman Benny.

Con O’Neill also joins the cast as Jack Barton, producer of Crossroads, and Tim Wallers plays Barton’s boss, and ATV’s Controller of Programming, Charles Denton. Bethany Antonia joins the cast as Poppy Ngomo, a young actor thrown into the world of Crossroads.

Noele (or Nolly to her friends) was a legend in her own lifetime. As flame-haired widow Meg Richardson in the long-running soap opera, ATV produced for ITV, Crossroads, she was one of the most famous people in Britain. Then in 1981, at the height of the show’s success and the peak of Nolly’s fame, she was axed without ceremony, without warning and with no explanation. With the boss’s words “all good things must come to an end” ringing in her ears, Noele Gordon found herself thrown out of the show that was her life for over 18 years.

Nolly brings the true Noele Gordon once more into the spotlight. As Terry Lloyd noted in her ITN funeral report “The Queen of British soaps” was a star who could be tough, haughty and imperious, grandly sweeping into rehearsals from her Rolls Royce, but also a hard-working actress who was fiercely loyal and loved by cast and crew alike. And at last, the biggest question of all can be answered – why was she sacked? Nolly reveals the truth, the consequences, and the legacy of that terrible day.

This latest ITV Dramais the 11th collaboration between Russell T Davies and Nicola Shindler. The partnership is known for producing relevant, timely and emotionally charged dramas having previously created hit series including It’s A Sin, Years and Years, Queer As Folk, Casanova, Cucumber, Banana, Bob & Rose and The Second Coming.