While Russell T Davies fans are anticipating his return as Doctor Who showrunner later this year, the It’s a Sin creator has two upcoming ITVX series making their way to our screens soon.
As well as romantic drama You & Me, Nolly is also being released this February and stars Helena Bonham Carter as Noele Gordon, the late Crossroads actress and former ‘Queen of the Midlands’.
The new three-part drama explores events after the revered actress was axed from the long-running soap opera, as well as “how the establishment turns on women who refuse to play by the rules, the women it cannot understand and the women it fears”.
With Academy Award nominee Bonham Carter in the leading role, we’re sure the new series will be a hit with soap and drama lovers alike, but what more can we expect from it? And who else stars in the series alongside the The Crown star? Read on for everything you need to know about Nolly.
Nolly release date: when is it coming out on ITVX?
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Nolly will begin streaming on ITVX from Thursday 2nd February. The drama will also be accompanied by a documentary entitled The Real Nolly which will also be available from the same date.
Nolly cast
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Alongside Bonham Carter, Augustus Prew (The Morning Show, The Rings of Power) joins the cast as Tony Adams, Nolly’s Crossroads co-star, devoted friend, confidante, and her occasional chauffer.
Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, Doctor Who) joins as inimitable entertainer Larry Grayson, who also shared a close and enduring friendship with Gordon, and Richard Lintern (Silent Witness) is Ronnie Allen, who played Crossroads’ suave hotel manager David Hunter.
The rest of the Nolly cast is as follows.
- Antonia Bernath as Jane Rossington
- Clare Foster as Sue Lloyd
- Chloe Harris as Susan Hanson
- Lloyd Griffith as Paul Henry
- Con O’Neill as Jack Barton
- Tim Wallers as Charles Denton
- Bethany Antonia as Poppy Ngomo
Speaking to RadioTimes.com about the series last year, Davies previously described Nolly as being “about the mechanics of TV and the whims of TV and the cruelty of it, but in the end the love of it”.
He said: “It’s very much a story of how women are treated by the industry, but it’s not a Me Too story, that’s what I liked about it.
“We’re fortunate in this day and age that Me Too stories are coming out and are being said, but I think they only scratch the surface. The problems that women have with men are not only sexual problems – men have power and authority and tempers and whims on a level that goes far beyond the sexual.”
Nolly plot
Whether you’re familiar with Crossroads or not, this upcoming series will be nostalgic for many – but Davies has previously said that the story of Nolly is not just about Crossroads.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, he said: “It’s quite an extraordinary story, and quite an eccentric story. It’s very mad in places. A whole generation will remember Benny and Miss Diane of the Crossroads reception, so there’s a lovely sigh of recognition. But that’s not what it’s about.
“It’s also genuinely about the hard work of making a soap opera,” he added. “This still goes on today. Those actors work so phenomenally hard and never get appreciated for it, so I hope it’s waving a flag for all of them.”
The new series follows Noele (or Nolly to her friends), who was a legend in her own lifetime. She starred as flame-haired widow Meg Richardson in the long-running soap opera Crossroads and 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, Gordon found herself thrown out of the show that was her life for over 18 years.
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According to the synopsis: “Nolly brings the true Noele Gordon once more into the spotlight. The Queen of the Midlands, 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.”
It continues: “Nolly is a love letter to a legend of television, and to the madcap soap she starred in, Nolly is an outrageously fun and wildly entertaining ride through Noele Gordon’s most tumultuous years, and a sharp, affectionate and heartbreaking portrait of a forgotten icon.”
With each of the episodes directed by Peter Hoar, Nolly is set to be an outrageously fun and wildly entertaining ride through Noele’s most tumultuous years and a sharp, affectionate and heartbreaking portrait of a forgotten icon.
Is there a trailer for Nolly?
We have a first-look trailer for the new ITV drama, which shows Bonham Carter as Nolly shortly after she received the news that she was being sacked from the show.
Watch the trailer below.
Nolly will air on ITVX on Thursday 2nd February 2023. For more news, interviews and features, visit our Drama hub, or find something to watch now with our TV Guide and Streaming Guide.
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