Helena Bonham Carter has done posh, goth and quirky, and she's played a royal or three. She was Princess Margaret in The Crown, Margaret's mum Elizabeth in The King's Speech and the Red Queen in the Alice in Wonderland movies.
Now she's another sovereign and another real card - "Queen of the Midlands" Noele "Nolly" Gordon. In the 1970s UK soap Crossroads, Gordon's character Meg Mortimer ruled the series much like Elsie Tanner did on Coronation Street.
Or she did, until 1981, when Gordon was unceremoniously axed by the bosses at Associated Television (ATV), where she had had a career since the mid-1950s as a pioneering presenter and producer before the soap started in 1964.
The national uproar over her sacking and her defiant last months as a television star are the starting points for Nolly, an ITV drama starring Bonham Carter, who, but for Gordon's flaming red hair, might recall one of her previous characters.
"At first look, I thought she's got the same armour and uniform, in a way, as Princess Margaret did with the fur coat and the cigarette in The Crown," she says. "Although she wasn't posh, she had that grandeur.
"I found her ferocity, her sheer spirit, really inspiring and hilarious, too. She's a powerful woman. For a woman who was forced to retire, there was nothing remotely retiring about her as a personality."
Denne historien er fra April 08-14 2023-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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Denne historien er fra April 08-14 2023-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.
Staying ahead of the game
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Grasping the nettle
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Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.