8.547 minSeason 1 • Episode 3
LatestTo save her career, Nolly returns to the stage in one of theatre’s hardest roles. Riddled with self-doubt, can she prove her detractors wrong?
Exploring the rise and fall of one of the most famous faces on British television in the 60s and 70s: Noele Gordon (or Nolly to her friends).
Acting
Bonham Carter's Nolly is towering, vulgar, heartbreaking.
Writing
Russell T Davies scripts dialogue that sings and stings.
Costume
Seventies glamour so loud it deserves its own credit.
Creator
Russell T Davies
Helena Bonham Carter
Noele 'Nolly' Gordon
Augustus Prew
Tony Adams
Con O'Neill
Jack Barton
Mark Gatiss
Larry Grayson
Max Brown
Michael Summerton
Bethany Antonia
Poppy Ngomo
Antonia Bernath
Jane Rossington
Lloyd Griffith
Paul Henry
Chloe Harris
Susan Hanson
Richard Lintern
Ronald Allen
Clare Foster
Sue Lloyd
Tim Wallers
Charles Denton
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The real Noele Gordon was fired from Crossroads in 1981 by ATV's new controller Charles Denton—her contract was literally torn up on a Friday with no warning, exactly as depicted.
Crossroads was critically despised but watched by 15 million people; Nolly's camp performance style influenced British drag culture for decades. The show treats her 'bad acting' as deliberate working-class authenticity.
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