The release of the 94-disc DVD set Crossroads: The Noele Gordon Collection, not to mention the Noele Gordon biopic Nolly, means that public awareness of Midlands-based soap Crossroads has never been higher. Appearing in Nolly, which was written by Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies and stars Helena Bonham Carter, is Carry On star Jacki Piper, an actress with first-hand experience of working with the formidable Miss Gordon.
“When I was at drama school, I did about three days of filming [on Crossroads] at different times,” recalls Jacki. “You got £5 a day to work as an extra, and each time I worked as an extra, Noele Gordon was in the filming. She was very regal, and everyone was slightly nervous of her, she was very much the queen bee.”
Bonham Carter, with whom Jacki shares a scene set on a bus, was much more down to earth, however.
“She was fantastic. She was such a trouper. On the second night at one o’clock or two o’clock in the morning, when we were all so tired on the bus, doing all the scenes again from different angles, she said: ‘We’d better do something to stay awake. Let’s have a sing-song.’ So, I found the words on my phone to Goodbye-ee! Goodbye-ee! and we were all singing that at two o’clock in the morning. I thought she was an absolute trouper.”
Birmingham-born Jacki became interested in acting from an early age.
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THE FEW ON SCREEN
Steven Taylor looks at the Battle of Britain across film and TV
Table Service
Rachel Toy looks at the history of Ridgway Homemaker tableware
Hever Forever
Claire Saul studies the newly refurbished Boleyn Apartment at Hever Castle & Gardens - a castle fit for a queen
Shining a Light
Tony O’Neil tunes into the history of the last manned lightvessel
The Man With the Goldeneye
Film stills photographer Keith Hamshere describes how he came to enter the world of James Bond
THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN BALLS
lan Wheeler looks back on 70 years of Tiger comic and Roy of the Rovers, and chats to the man who edited and oversaw both titles
To Play the Queen
Chris Hallam looks back on the life of one of the UK’s best known lookalikes
POOLING RESOURCES
Martin Handley looks at what life was like after the Vernons Girls
POSTCARD FROM= SUSSEX
Bob Barton indulges in pleasure piers and fairground delights, as well as fulfilling a long-held ambition to visit the home of Rudyard Kipling
Oh, Miss Jones
Chris Hallam looks back at the origins and legacy of Rising Damp, ITV's most successful sitcom