Helena Bonham Carter

Russell T Davies' new series look at the unceremonious sacking of the star and matriarch of 'Crossroads'

“Upstairs, in their suits and their pipes and their looks!”) and another where Gordon finally recounts the story of her doomed throuple with a theatre impresario and his wife, while her acting troupe watches on, slack-jawed, and the strings swell. [Helena Bonham Carter](/topic/helena-bonham-carter)), the star and matriarch of Crossroads – the Midlands-based soap opera that ran from the 1960s through to the end of the Eighties. A love letter both to Gordon herself and to a world where little things mattered, where a soap opera could stop the presses. Particularly egregious examples include a sequence where Nolly and co-star Tony (Augustus Prew) ride a bus packed with an illustrative cross-section of society (“Men!” Nolly exclaims. His three-part drama, [Nolly](/topic/nolly), streaming now on ITVX, has a similarly telescopic scale: a portrait of a woman, and a portrait of a nation. Streets and squares, farms and motels; all the triumph and despair of human existence compressed into a few houses, a few lives.

The British actress played Princess Margaret for two seasons of Peter Morgan's regal drama, which is kind of based on the real Royal family, but also imagined ...

The Crown is due to wrap on filming for the sixth series any day soon, and has shot the controversial death scene of Diana, Princess of Wales, that happened in Paris in 1997. But she did praise Morgan for his 'amazing' research, adding: “That is the proper documentary. Back in 2020, Bonham Carter also agreed – alongside people like Judi Dench and Oliver Dowden – that more distinction needed to be made about the fact it was a dramatisation of events.

The British monarchy with all its glitz and glamour, pomp, and ceremony has been one of the most scrutinized institutions ever. The reasons for that vary ...

“And I think he’s always felt 10 years is the minimum amount of time that he can see something in a historical context, to allow him to really understand it. With a fifth season that drew sharp criticism, and as the series approaches modern times, one of the show’s alum believes that perhaps it is time the series came to an end. Currently, a sixth season of The Crown will be coming out at some point. The trailer and snippets of the new season were released not long after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II prompting certain people to tag the move as being insensitive. The reasons for that vary greatly, the institution is no stranger to media presence, and Netflix currently has a series that covers all of it. Season 5 of the series has teased some of the darker moments of then-Prince Charles’–now King Charles III–marriage to Princess Diana, and as the series draws closer to more history and events, Carter was asked about the future of the series.

Ask a certain generation of TV viewers about Crossroads actor Noele Gordon and the same descriptors will come up: difficult, arrogant, a bitch.

Chiefly, Nolly is about giving a TV legend the narrative that was, at least in Davies’ eyes, cruelly taken away from her, and shining a glaring light on the elements that allowed her to be sidelined: the ruthless combination of sexism and ageism. What a joy to have her back on our screens. While Bonham Carter plays Nolly with a steely wit that could be mistaken for her apparent bitchiness, Davies’ writing injects the pathos needed to make her a sympathetic lead. Even those with no interest in – or indeed memory of – the soap will be entertained by this adoring time machine. The series starts some two decades before Crossroads hit the nation’s screens, when, in 1938, a young Gordon became the first woman in the world to appear on colour television. The chemistry between Bonham Carter and Augustus Prew, who plays Nolly’s co-star and closest friend Tony Adams, is beautiful.

Helena Bonham Carter revealed she doesn't think it would be a good idea for "The Crown" to continue filming, since the lines between fiction and reality are ...

[CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP](https://www.foxnews.com/apps-products) "As you get older you go: ‘Whatever.’ The curse of being young is you take your complex too seriously. "She was just 5ft, so there was something in her posture to maximize every little millimeter: she had her car seat elevated, so she could be seen," Carter said. One thing she made sure to get right was the way in which she smoked, explaining that was one of Margaret's requests. So, she took this opportunity to get the real When ‘The Crown’ started it was a historic drama, and now it’s crashed into the present."

The three-part biographical drama highlights how Noele Gordon was sacked from the soap Crossroads.

Noele Gordon was the first woman to appear on colour TV and she became a showbiz icon in the UK. She’s a powerful woman." "So I want to get it right and she was a marvelous person added to which the writing is so good, it's there on the page. [ITV](/latest/itv)X and it sees Helena Bonham Carter transform into the red-haired actress and presenter. "So, I was aware of it, but I wasn't a follower of the series. She was seen as the matriarch of the cast and was always on hand to offer guidance and support to colleagues old and new.

Helena Bonham Carter, who starred as Princess Margaret on Seasons 3 and 4 of 'The Crown,' says the show has changed since shifting to modern events.

[Judi Dench](http://decider.com/tag/judi-dench) calling the depictions of the monarchy on the show “ [cruelly unjust](https://decider.com/2022/10/20/judi-dench-the-crown-season-5-cruelly-unjust/),” and crew members reportedly pushing back against [filming scenes of Diana’s death](https://decider.com/2022/10/17/the-crown-fights-netflix-princess-diana-death/), with one source telling [The Sun](https://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/20126722/netflix-the-crown-fury-recreate-princess-dianas-death-paris/) last year, “With some of those moments still so fresh and upsetting, it feels as though a line is being crossed.” While starring on The Crown, Bonham Carter helped portray the monarchy of the 1960s and ’70s, an era far enough removed from present day to feel like a “historic drama,” the actress said in an interview with [Helena Bonham Carter](https://decider.com/tag/helena-bonham-carter/) received two Emmy nominations for her portrayal of Princess Margaret on [Netflix](http://decider.com/platform/netflix)‘s [The Crown](https://decider.com/show/the-crown/) during Seasons 3 and 4 of the show, but now that her time in the drama is up, she thinks the show should wrap altogether.

The actor, who starred in two seasons of the series, explained her reasoning in a new interview with The Guardian.

The actor is flamboyant, frank and funny as a Crossroads legend. It's a joy to watch this warm, thoughtful tribute to soaps, fabulous older women – and ...

In the end, this is a posthumous defence of Nolly, poorly treated by the industry she loved and sent out to pasture long before her time. The friendship between Nolly and her younger castmate Tony Adams (played by Augustus Prew, with a fine moustache), who takes her window-shopping and shows her off to delighted fans on buses, is very touching, and there is a willingness to linger on long scenes of conversation between two characters. For all of Nolly’s flamboyance – both the character and the show itself – there is a real sweetness and empathy at its core. The early scenes of Nolly in full flight, as she conducts the cast and crew to her own tune, are funny and vibrant. This show follows Nolly through the very public sacking and its fallout, and paints a sympathetic and adoring picture of the woman behind the headlines. [Helena Bonham Carter](https://www.theguardian.com/film/helena-bonham-carter) is brilliant as Gordon, known to her friends and fans as Nolly, and we meet her in the twilight of her career.

The actress is "championing every woman of a certain age" by playing ex-Crossroads star Noele Gordon.

"The movie industry's dying, unfortunately," she says. "We're barely in the cinema. But it was different in the 1970s and '80s, when it was tough to get beyond the typecasting. And so for years there weren't many roles, but that's basically why I did costume dramas - because I thought those are good parts, that's where the writing is." Even by the end of The Crown (in which she played Princess Margaret for two seasons) we'd plumbed the depths, it's time for someone else to take over!" "Yet when I spoke to the cast, it was the opposite picture. and like anybody, I have imposter syndrome, so I want to get it right. And there's a silent army of women with no name," Bonham Carter explains. London-born Nolly never married and had no children, which was considered a curiosity at the time - although her devoted on-screen children Jill (Jane Rossington) and Sandy (Roger Tonge) called her mother off set as well as on. She was literally calling the shots. Nolly was a much-loved star and the show, watched by 15 million people a week in its heyday, had revolved around her. Nolly played Meg Mortimer/Richardson, owner of the Crossroads motel, from 1964 until she was sacked out of the blue in 1981.

The Crown star Helena Bonham Carter has said she doesn't think the historical drama series should "carry on" and admits the show is "very different now".

They are different entities." "I’m in it and I loved my episodes, but it’s very different now. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.

Helena Bonham Carter, who starred as Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister Princess Margaret in seasons 3 and 4 of "The Crown," has called for an end to the ...

it’s not a drama-doc, we’re making a drama.’ So they are two different entities,” she said on an episode of the show’s official podcast, according to [The exiled royal](https://nypost.com/2023/01/11/harry-meghan-to-be-invited-to-kings-coronation-but-not-expected-to-attend-report/) was then asked if he did any “fact-checking” while watching the show, prompting an animated response from Harry followed by laughter from the audience. [Colbert asked](https://nypost.com/2023/01/11/prince-harry-tells-stephen-colbert-he-wrote-about-killing-25-afghan-fighters-to-reduce-suicides/) if “The Crown” was one of the shows, saying he “had to have watched some” of it since it’s based on Harry’s late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. The season premiered in November. [Prince Harry recently admitted](https://pagesix.com/2023/01/11/prince-harry-watches-and-fact-checks-netflixs-the-crown/) to not only watching the hit Netflix show but to “fact-checking” it. [“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”](https://twitter.com/colbertlateshow/status/1612987658120183808) last month, the Duke of Sussex discussed the controversial drama series when asked if he’s “binged” anything on TV lately.

Helena Bonham Carter opens up about the future of Netflix's The Crown in new interview: “I don't think they should carry on, actually”

Prior to the premiere of season five, In the last episode of season five, [Princess Diana](https://www.stylist.co.uk/entertainment/tv/the-crown-season-5-martin-bashir-diana-panorama-interview/730040) bumped into Mohamed Al-Fayed at a ballet, where he invited her to spend the summer holidays with him on his yacht, so it’s clear that the next season will delve deeper into the Diana-Dodi tale, as well as other significant moments from the late 1990s. Series creator Peter Morgan has already confirmed that season six is set to be the final season of the show, but that didn’t stop Bonham Carter from issuing a warning. It’s complicated and it’ll get taken out of context. When The Crown started it was a historic drama, and now it’s crashed into the present.” However, she added that the decision of where to end the show was “up to them”. “I should be careful here too, but I don’t think they should carry on, actually,” she remarked.

Four decades after the shock sacking of star Noele Gordon, ITVX checks back into the Crossroads Motel for a three-part series that explores the reasons ...

And the fact she was right most of the time. And she was probably cleverer than most of the people on the show and they resented her power. “There's a whole sort of Bible of how to act in Crossroads,” said Bonham Carter. and I applied for a job and I visited the set – and I got very, very close. Some of them worked with her in the 60s and still speak there was so much love and affection. And yet when I spoke to the cast, the opposite picture came out. Bonham Carter recognised the motherly side of the actress. I thought ‘why the hell have I not been aware of her!’,” said the actress. “I always thought there was a story in there. Helena Bonham Carter takes the lead role of Noele Gordon in Russell T Davies’ three-part drama about the sacking and its aftermath. It was a genuinely odd thing to happen for someone to be brutally and publicly axed like that. Suddenly, and at the height of her powers after 17 years behind the Midlands motel's reception desk, Gordon is sacked by the show’s producers.

The ITV series set in a motel in the Midlands? The answer for most of the young must be no; for oldies the name conjures up nine notes of music portentously ...

But although the hair colour is unforgiving, the dresses like nighties and the figure matronly, this role reminds you how beautiful Helena Bonham Carter is – flashback to those lovely cheekbones in A Room With a View. He is the best friend who rallies round Nolly at every turn and tells her unpalatable truths when she needs it: “Why don’t you f***ing ACT?”, he says, when she’s in the doldrums playing Gypsy in Leicester. It’s hardly a spoiler to say that the plot revolves round Nolly’s sacking from Crossroads after 18 years in charge of the motel. “Look at Adams here,” she says, gesturing to her faithful co-star and Meg’s on-screen accountant Tony Adams (Augustus Prew) with his cut-glass RP, who was born, as they said back then, on the wrong side of the blanket. When a new character, Poppy, played with ingénue enthusiasm by Bethany Antonia (Crossroads was ahead of the game in having black cast members), starts speaking Birmingham, Nolly is having none of it. [ITV](/topic/itv) series set in a motel in the Midlands?

"When The Crown started it was a historic drama, and now it's crashed into the present," the former Princess Margaret actor says.

However, since [Prince Harry and Meghan Markle](https://www.avclub.com/harry-meghan-netflix-documentary-1849903578) announced that they would be stepping away from being working royals, fans of The Crown have clamored for the show to dig into even more recent events. Anyways, The Crown team seems to already have enough on its hands with filming the fallout from [been confirmed](https://www.avclub.com/the-crown-season-six-cast-prince-william-kate-middleton-1849490045) that the forthcoming final episodes will include the early days of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s relationship. When The Crown started it was a historic drama, and now it’s crashed into the present. “It’s complicated and it’ll get taken out of context. “I’m in it and I loved my episodes, but it’s very different now.

Helena Bonham Carter, who portrayed Princess Margaret on 'The Crown' in seasons 3 and 4, weighed in about the show's future — read more.

[exclusively told Us Weekly later in November 2022](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/andrew-morton-says-the-crowns-disclaimer-is-ridiculous/). [currently filming season 6](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/queen-elizabeth-ii-dead-the-crown-pauses-season-6-production/) starring [ Imelda Staunton ](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/the-crown-ending-with-season-5-imelda-staunton-to-play-queen/)and Jonathan Pryce — debuted season 5 last November amid backlash surrounding the story lines’ accuracy. [Dame Judi Dench](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/judi-dench/) even publicly [ implored the streaming giant to add a fictional disclaimer](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/judi-dench-slams-cruelly-unjust-season-5-of-the-crown/) to the season 5 introduction. [premiered in November 2016](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/pictures/the-crown-behind-the-scenes-controversies-through-the-years/) and chronicled [the years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/queen-elizabeth-ii-25-things-you-dont-know-about-her/) following her June 1953 coronation. “[Watching the episodes] was like being transported back in time It was quite unnerving, quite frankly, because the woman who plays Diana — [Elizabeth Debicki](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/pictures/elizabeth-debickis-quotes-about-playing-diana-on-the-crown/) — absolutely [nailed everything about her mannerisms](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/the-crowns-elizabeth-debicki-recreates-dianas-revenge-dress-look/), her gestures, her speech patterns. I mean, it is a drama. By season 3, [Olivia Colman](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/olivia-colman/) and [ Tobias Menzies](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/the-crown-casts-tobias-menzies-as-new-prince-philip/) had taken over the roles. it’s not a drama-doc, we’re making a drama,’” the Alice in Wonderland star said She had her car seat elevated so she could be seen.” “She was just 5 [feet tall], so there was something in her posture to maximize every little millimeter. Margaret, Elizabeth’s younger sister who died in 2002, was played by [Vanessa Kirby ](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/vanessa-kirby/)in [the first two seasons](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/vanessa-kirby-on-prince-harry-meghan-markle-watching-the-crown/) with Bonham Carter [stepping in during the third season](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/helena-bonham-carter-joining-the-crown-as-princess-margaret/), which was released in November 2019. “I’m in it and I loved my episodes, but it’s very different now.”

Helena Bonham Carter, who portrayed Princess Margaret in seasons three and four of Netflix's historical drama, discussed the The Crown's current plotline ...

At this point, only Morgan himself truly knows [where season six might head](https://www.eonline.com/news/1362534/the-crowns-new-set-photos-suggest-a-spice-girls-storyline-is-coming-to-spice-up-season-6). Season five [only just recently debuted](https://www.eonline.com/news/1354232/the-crown-season-5-fact-checking-the-most-dramatic-moments) in November 2022. The actress recently discussed creator Peter Morgan's drama coming to an end, admitting she "should be careful" about how she answered questions [regarding its season six timeline](https://www.eonline.com/news/1355030/everything-we-know-about-the-crown-season-6). "She was just 5-ft., so there was something in her posture to maximize every little millimeter: she had her car seat elevated so she could be seen. "The real Margaret didn't mind about being No. "I'm in it and I loved my episodes, but it's very different now.

A new ITVX series from 'It's A Sin' creator Russell T Davies focuses on the life of soap icon Noele Gordon.

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Nolly stars Helena Bonham Carter as 1980s soap star Noele Gordon and the camp role it is a career high for the actress.

Russell T Davies is singular in his vision of extracting joy from and celebrating the lives of people that have had a raw deal. Russell T Davies is singular in his vision of celebrating the lives of people that have had a raw deal. Davies has a way of bringing stories to life through an ensemble supporting cast, and much care has been given to the development of smaller roles – actors on the Crossroads set, fans Gordon meets on the bus – in order to create a holistic picture of Gordon’s world. But it’s the characters that can be heard the loudest, creating a lavish image of Noele Gordon’s life and the places she inhabited in her health and in later years when she became ill. She has clear shades of the actor’s turn as Princess Margaret in The Crown, Bonham Carter exuding a natural campness that is so much fun, and makes her look perfectly at home with a cigarette and whiskey in hand. Noele Gordon was the lead star of Crossroads, a soap opera that ran from the sixties to the eighties that was seen by many as famously bad.