Extremely enjoyable! As with most of the current wave of biopics 'Nolly' is a clichéd, caricatured dramedy with tongue-in-cheek pathos and the usual added fiction. It's a genre I normally avoid, but whilst idly previewing the first episode in the hope that it might be worth a shot I ended up binge-watching. I found it immensely engaging and was also drawn in by the 70's/80's retro-setting. Helena Bonham Carter was, for me, a good choice for 'Nolly' and went into character convincingly. She's well suited to dark comedic roles and gave a highly entertaining performance in 'Toast' - do watch it.
Clearly this production was quietly sending up the fickle side of the wonderful world of entertainment. You might wonder why a piece of faded forty-year-old TV history was dug up and dramatised. My guess is that scriptwriters in their never ending quest to find new storylines unearthed Ms Gordon's much publicized departure from Crossroads and parleyed it up into a three episode biopic - but very successfully. I'm not sure of the relevance of this drama with today's populous. The number of devout Nolly aficionados with living memory of the 1981 debacle will be considerably less today. Whilst people who didn't watch Crossroads, but were aware of Meg being written out of the soap were probably quick to consign it as yesterday's news. And as one columnist recently opined, 'surely, a lot of people will be asking - who is Noel Gordon'. To cover all viewer bases, it would have been better to present 'Nolly' as 'A new drama from ITV based on a true story'
My only recollection of Noel Gordon is from occasionally watching thrice-weekly day-time show 'Lunchbox', which she hosted. It ran from 1957 to 1963. My interest in the show was long-departed Jerry Allen and his jazzy playing on the Hammond organ. I was aware that Ms Gordon had later joined the cast of a daytime soap but events after that were completely off my radar.
Television companies, whilst having a viewer-friendly façade are driven by hard-nosed commercialism and zero sentiment. Careers in the entertainment world can be very volatile and often controlled by they in suits. For example, Benny Hill, despite decades of global popularity, was dropped by Thames Television because they considered he'd passed his sell-by date - business is business. Allegedly the decision to sack Ms Gordon was a tactical ploy to reduce the popularity of Crossroads and subsequently dispense with it in favour of more expensive and opulent dramas.
But all that aside, even if 'Nolly' were to have been a wholly fictitious storyline it would still be a ripping good drama. For that reason I've given a ten star rating.
Clearly this production was quietly sending up the fickle side of the wonderful world of entertainment. You might wonder why a piece of faded forty-year-old TV history was dug up and dramatised. My guess is that scriptwriters in their never ending quest to find new storylines unearthed Ms Gordon's much publicized departure from Crossroads and parleyed it up into a three episode biopic - but very successfully. I'm not sure of the relevance of this drama with today's populous. The number of devout Nolly aficionados with living memory of the 1981 debacle will be considerably less today. Whilst people who didn't watch Crossroads, but were aware of Meg being written out of the soap were probably quick to consign it as yesterday's news. And as one columnist recently opined, 'surely, a lot of people will be asking - who is Noel Gordon'. To cover all viewer bases, it would have been better to present 'Nolly' as 'A new drama from ITV based on a true story'
My only recollection of Noel Gordon is from occasionally watching thrice-weekly day-time show 'Lunchbox', which she hosted. It ran from 1957 to 1963. My interest in the show was long-departed Jerry Allen and his jazzy playing on the Hammond organ. I was aware that Ms Gordon had later joined the cast of a daytime soap but events after that were completely off my radar.
Television companies, whilst having a viewer-friendly façade are driven by hard-nosed commercialism and zero sentiment. Careers in the entertainment world can be very volatile and often controlled by they in suits. For example, Benny Hill, despite decades of global popularity, was dropped by Thames Television because they considered he'd passed his sell-by date - business is business. Allegedly the decision to sack Ms Gordon was a tactical ploy to reduce the popularity of Crossroads and subsequently dispense with it in favour of more expensive and opulent dramas.
But all that aside, even if 'Nolly' were to have been a wholly fictitious storyline it would still be a ripping good drama. For that reason I've given a ten star rating.