What Would We Have Done About Nolly? The Noele Gordon and Meg Dilemma - Part 3

Back in 1981, we sent a suggestion to ATV about the future of the Meg Mortimer character in Crossroads. We felt that dropping her was a mistake and that the character had massive potential. We must make it plain, once more, that we don't agree with the Woke, misandrist burblings of Russell T Davies on the issue. Things were sometimes not easy behind the scenes at the motel, but it had nothing to do with a woman being oppressed by men. That's simply Feminist, Marxist model nonsense.

Whatever the difficulties, we felt they could be surmounted - the decision would have been Noele Gordon's - and Meg, the character, could have sparkled her way out of what we regarded as a miserable last few years.

Here, we've polished up and elaborated on our 1981 alternative Crossroads idea. This is Part Three of our little series of articles on the subject.

Part 2 is here.

Our version would have progressed pretty much as it did during the winter of 1981-1982, but with occasional added Meg content.

We would have condensed some of the Mavis's boarding house/motel garage scenes to accommodate some 'Meg Abroad' material. The boarding house and garage were a little too much in evidence during the motel's rebuilding we felt, and although we enjoyed both scenarios, it would have been worth condensing a few scenes for Meg.

So, on with the saga...

Jill returns from the QE2 and tells David what has transpired. David is very relieved that Meg is alright, and pleased that she wants to resume their friendship, but cautious about the notion of a new project. 'Does it involve the motel?'

'I'm not sure,' says Jill. 'I think it might, but I really don't know...'

'Well,' says David, 'I shall look forward to hearing about it when your mother returns.'

Meg visits Matthew in New York and spends some time with Anthony.

At this point we'd hopefully be able to secure a few appearances from Jeremy Sinden.

'It's amazing,' Meg says, looking at her blond haired grandson. 'He's your child and Jill's child, and also Hugh's grandson, my grandson and Charles' grandson. Life is a miracle, isn't it?'

Anthony tells Meg that Matthew has changed him. 'I always baulked at the idea of fatherhood. But I love it. Just watching him... even watching him sleep... I'd never have believed it, but there it is.

'I hope he'll be able to meet Sarah Jane one day,' says Meg. 'She is his half-sister after all.'

'I'm sure he will,' says Anthony.

'Family and friends are the two most important things in the world,' says Meg. 'Good family and good friends are such riches.'

Anthony tells Meg that he has discovered the truth about his father's finances: 'The dear old buzzard was at a pretty complex stage of the deal he was working on when the kidnapping happened. It left him pretty broke at that point, but he would have made a tremendous profit had he lived. As it is, it left a terrible mess for you.'

'I knew it must have been something like that,' says Meg. 'Hugh was far too good a businessman not to have planned everything meticulously for a successful outcome.'

At this point, our memories of Hugh are set free from the terrible cloud created by the writers when Meg was left in the financial lurch after the character died in 1978. We wanted less Meg-martyrdom, and we liked the character of Hugh. An astute and highly experienced businessman, who actually wrote a book on the subject, the scenario of Hugh actually being a financial twit never sat easily with us.

Jill breaks the news of the motel fire to Meg during a phone call in early 1982.

'But, darling, why didn't you tell me? I would never have gone away!' says Meg.

'Because you badly needed the rest and, unless you fancied taking up bricklaying, there was nothing you could have done here,' says Jill firmly.

'You treated me like a child,' says Meg.

'No, Mum, I treated you like someone who loves you and wants the best for you,' says Jill.

Meg accepts that and is touched. She is saddened by the news of Sam's death.

The continuing story of Meg is slotted into the established storylines about the motel, the Brownlows, etc. We loved a lot of the post-Meg storylines and want nothing else changed.

On returning to England, Meg visits Ruth and Andy. She and Andy talk about Granny Frazer - who is sadly no more. Re-establishing Meg's family - Matthew, Andy, etc, would have been important to us. She seemed to be operating in something of a vacuum - with Jill and the motel as her only life concerns - after Sandy's death.

Meg's return to the motel is set for the day of the grand re-opening. She arrives and gives an interview to the Castlewich Clarion about how she began the business in 1963, and how delighted she is at its continued success.

Jill is thrilled to see her mother and, after some initial reserve, it is clear David is also delighted to see her. Glenda, Kath, Doris and other staff greet her and Meg is pleased to be back.

'You know, darling, the place looks completely different, but it really is like coming home!' she tells Jill.

David and Meg discuss her living arrangements. David tells her there will soon be a new suite for a live-in director or manager. Meg says she'd just like to make use of two rooms - her sitting room and the room next door, previously Sandy's bedroom, as her bedroom. David agrees.

Meg and David go to the sitting room. 'I'm looking to the future with great enthusiasm,' says Meg. 'But it's lovely to have this room - a thread of continuity. Lots of wonderful memories!' 

She and David have a drink.

'I must say I'm intrigued by your planned project,' says David. 'Do you feel ready to discuss it?

'Yes, I do,' says Meg. 'I've been thinking everything through, and I want to continue my involvement on the board of directors and in the motel's day to day running, David. Reception stints, paperwork - even kitchen duties if absolutely necessary!' They laugh. 'I'd also like to involve Jill a little more in the running of the place. I think it would be good for her - and the motel.'

David agrees.

'I accept that you are the majority shareholder and in the driving seat, as it were,' says Meg. 'We may not always agree, but we will be able to disagree without rancour, I'm sure of that.'

'I'm very glad,' says David.

'But my idea also involves the motel site and would be an entirely new venture...'

'Do go on,' says David.

And Meg tells him her idea...

Part 4 coming soon...

What Would We Have Done About Nolly? The Noele Gordon and Meg Dilemma - Part 2

When Noele Gordon was sacked from 'Crossroads' in 1981, we wrote to ATV suggesting another solution: keeping Noele Gordon and revitalising Meg's character and situation. We were fobbed off with a very nice (we suspect pro-forma) 'thanks, but no thanks' letter. In recent years we've developed our idea, and this little series is based on our alternative 'crossroads' for the series in 1981, giving the show and the character of Meg a boost, while also resolving backstage difficulties. The first part is here.

Having reached Meg's cabin on the QE2, Jill is greeted by her mother. The fact that Meg's note to Jill was 'still in that pigeon hole' (at least as far as Meg was aware) would be established, but there would be a change to the plot here: 'I suppose that means David hasn't got his note either,' says Meg. 'Never mind. You can sort that out when you get back.'

Meg tells Jill that she is going on holiday. 'I want to take a break, see Matthew, travel a little - I have a longing to explore the sights of Italy, perhaps revisit Tunisia - and then come back to the motel, refreshed.' 

'Sounds wonderful,' says Jill.

'I've seen the doctor,' says Meg. 'He's advised me about weaning myself off the tranquillisers. This is a new beginning, darling.'

Meg explains how the turbulence of the last few years has exhausted her. 'I think I was emotionally punch drunk: Hugh dying, you and Stan splitting up, then Sandy. I was so tired. The battle with David... and yet I was seeing David not as an old friend, but as somebody who was simply behaving unreasonably.'

'You don't think he was?' asks Jill.

'After all the turmoil he's been through? Rosemary and the shooting incident last year. Chris. So difficult. Chris is David's son, after all [Meg doesn't know the truth of the situation]. He loves the boy. And then there's David's marriage being under pressure. It must be so hard for him.  But all I saw was the fact that he wanted to do things I thought were wrong with the motel.'

'Your friendship seemed to just... shrivel up,' says Jill.

Meg nods: 'Yes. As you know, darling, when your father died, I was faced with a choice. He'd hated the idea of the new road so badly. I was half tempted to sell the house and move us somewhere else. But you and Sandy were settled, had friends in King's Oak, and it suddenly occurred to me that the new motorway could serve us well. That's when I came up with the idea of the motel. I'd been languishing in depression for months after Charles died, but I suddenly knew that I had to get on with living - for you and Sandy.'

'I knew you were devastated about Dad, but I never knew you were depressed for so long,' said Jill. 'You were such a tower of strength to us.'

'I'm glad you didn't realise,' said Meg. 'You and Sandy were so young. You were both completely knocked sideways by your father's passing. The only ones who had an inkling were Kitty, and Andy when he came on leave. They were my towers of strength.'

Jill and Meg talk about Sandy: 'I felt I had to keep my grief inside - to carry on. But really, I should have given vent to it. I miss him so much, Jill.'

'Me too,' says Jill. 

'But Sandy's optimism and love of life has inspired me. I'd entered into a senseless battle with David. Perhaps it was a diversion, perhaps I was just trying to protect things past. But it made no sense. I see that now. I originally sold shares in the motel years ago. I always knew it was a business. I wanted to see it succeed - to thrive. It has. Now David is the majority shareholder and he has new ideas, He's also experienced dreadful traumas in the last few years. Why shouldn't he want to make new plans? Do something positive? Just as I did all those years ago. I may not like all his plans and I will voice any concerns I have. But I hope we can regain our friendship, it's meant a great deal to me over the years. It still does, and I'd like to go on being at the motel.'

'I'm so glad,' says Jill. 'Oh, Mum!' And she begins to cry.

'Jill, is something wrong?' asks Meg. 'I've got the strangest feeling... it's uncanny...'

Jill pulls herself together, deciding there and then not to tell her mother about the fire. Meg needs a break. Jill is convinced she would cancel her holiday and return to King's Oak immediately if she is told what has happened.

'Imagination! You're just worrying in case you've forgotten to cancel the milk or the papers! You're going on a lovely holiday, one you thoroughly deserve! So, enjoy it, Mum!'

They embrace and the announcement that the ship will soon be sailing is heard over the tannoy system.

'There's just one more thing,' says Meg. 'When you and David see the notes I left for you both, you'll see mention of a plan. I'm formulating a future project. I'm not at a stage where I can discuss the details, but it will be the beginning of my fresh start. In the meantime, you will have my proxy vote on all decisions at the motel whilst I'm away. I've made all the arrangements with the solicitors. Do as you think fit, and please don't be influenced by my previous opposition to David.'

'I won't,' Jill stands up to leave. 'When will you be back?'

'No definite date yet,' says Meg. 'Sometime early next year.'

'Good! Have a wonderful time!' 

They embrace again.

When Jill has left the cabin, Meg turns to her dressing table where a framed photograph of Sandy is standing. She smiles at it.

Jill is seen smiling and waving at Meg as the QE2 sails, with Meg smiling and waving back.

Part Three is here.

What Would We Have Done About Nolly? The Noele Gordon and Meg Dilemma - Part 1

A happy Meg Richardson at the motel in the 1960s.

We disapprove strongly of the Nolly TV series, and the ridiculous Feminist posturings of Russell T Davies and its star, Helena Bonham Carter. Both stink of misandry and an ideology that is now questioned more and more.

The Nolly story was hijacked into a Feminist 'men against women' issue, like so much nowadays. It's easy. It's lazy. It's untrue.

If the Patriarchy truly existed, then women would not have been allowed to set up the Feminist movement or gain positions in industries largely set up by men - like television. As it was, Lady Plowden was head of the IBA before the end of the 1970s, and decreeing Crossroads be reduced from four to three episodes a week.

But what would we have done after the IBA decreed that Crossroads was to be cut back to three episodes? Television journalist Hilary Kingsley opined in her 1988 book, Soap Box, that the decree seemed to panic ATV and its successor, Central, and contributed to the sacking of Noele Gordon.

We don't know what was going on behind the scenes, but it seems that the rest of the cast were not all happy with the leading lady.

We wrote to ATV after the sacking was announced. We'd come up with a way to freshen up Crossroads and keep Nolly very much to the forefront. We received a very nice 'thanks, but no thanks,' reply - a pro-forma, we think.

We found the tragedies and dramas inflicted on Meg rather too much, particularly in the last few years. We always pictured her standing in her sitting room, waiting for the latest hideous bolt from Dame Fortune to strike her.

So, assuming that the storyline had developed as screened up until the Sam Hurst storyline of late 1981, how would we have saved Meg and given the character a fresh spring in her step?

And what would we have done about Nolly?

The first thing would have been to sit down for a straight talk with Noele Gordon. Slobbering all over her memory and using Feminist ideology - misandry under another name - to disparage Jack Barton is really not on. Which is why Russell T Davies's hijacking of her story for Feminist ends is completely unacceptable.

Russell is too young to remember early Crossroads, and was only eighteen when Noele was sacked. If you peel away a few layers and look at things he has incorporated into his work in the past, it becomes obvious that he is not as sound as he thinks.

There had been difficulties with Noele behind the scenes, whether they were to do with personality clashes with production staff or anything else is immaterial. It needed laying on the line to her that, if she was the leader of the cast and the show's spokesperson, then she needed to behave in a way that fostered good relations between cast members, an understanding that actors acted and producers produced (she had this with Reg Watson) and an excellent team spirit. 

The decision to stay or go would have been hers.

We think this is an approach that would have worked well. Noele appreciated straight talking, and her advancement in the world of television had been all her own doing, as herself, not as some quivering, misandrist Feminist.

If more women weren't there it was because it was an unproven and developing medium and they didn't want to be. But as soon as it established itself, Feminists were attempting to kick the boardroom doors down in droves, screeching 'SEXISM!'.

Noele had simply gone out there and done what she wanted. And she had succeeded.

If she had accepted our terms and decided to stay, then we would have unwrapped our plans to revitalise Meg and Noele's role in the show.

Noele had recently experienced the death of her mother and, let's face it, the tragedies and tribulations of Meg were not exactly the best ingredients for a happy  life in the acting profession.

Noele was dedicated to her role and, one of the loveliest things about her, she cared about the show's fans. She knew what it felt like to be lonely, and the show's place in the affections of millions of lonely people (not that all Crossroads fans were lonely) obviously resounded with her. But playing Meg could not have been much fun in the last few years.

So, Meg would have sprung back. We'd have reverted more to the early Meg character with a major new challenge, her determination to make the best of change (as she did when her husband died and she started the motel) and maybe a little light romance later on.

So returning to 1981, loaded with Rubik's Cubes and the Royal Wedding and the inner city riots in parts of England, we would make our first change to the Crossroads plot at the point of her conversation with Sam Hurst/Norton.

The Sunday Times Review of the Year, 1981.

Sam's advice about being free of excess baggage and travelling in hope would have provoked a different response from Meg: 'Is it really that easy, Sam? And is it really necessary to physically move to drop the excess baggage?'

'Perhaps not, Mrs Mortimer. Travelling in hope, moving forward, doesn't necessarily mean moving house...'

Meg would have been seen, uncertain, unhappy, still tranqullising herself, and all would have gone as it did in the original show up to and including the fire...

Jill would have received the QE2 phone call from Meg, just as originally seen onscreen, and rushed to the docks.

But, from then on, things would have been different...

Part 2 is here

Russell T Davies: Nolly - with Helena Bonham Carter - Will We Be Watching?

Our favourite photo of Noele Gordon, giving an autograph to a young fan.

An email from 'Vera Downend':

Will you be watching the forthcoming TV drama 'Nolly', about Noele Gordon?

No. We've read the blurb, and it sounds like one of those dreadful Feminist 'Aren't Men Pigs?' type things, which makes excuses for Nolly's personality on the grounds that men are sexist towards women. It's rubbish. It's a misandrist narrative. We can't help thinking Nolly would be forthright in her views. Dramas built around ideologies are not, to our mind, enjoyable. 

Writer Russell T Davies has form - some of the worst purveyors of this type of bilge are chivalrous men. It's patronising to women and typical of the male desire to chuck its own sex under the bus and damsel women. Read this:

As well as delving into the past to find out why Noele Gordon was sacked from Crossroads without warning, this new ITV drama is also a bold exploration of how the establishment turns on women who refuse to play by the rules, the women it cannot understand and the women it fears.

Nonsense. That's rubbish - PEOPLE who don't play by the rules, are not understood and feared are usually eventually ousted, and women have always been part of the establishment. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Everything nowadays is reworked into sexism against women. Nolly was no damsel, she was a huge personality, as flawed as anybody else and brilliant, and her dismissal had nothing to do with her sex.

Every time a retro drama - 'based on facts' - is produced, we are not viewing the facts. We are viewing past events as seen through the lens of today. The 21st Century lens is as fogged and clogged with modern debris as any other.

In fact, chivalry has long encouraged a fawning 'innocent, lovely woman put down by awful men' mindset.

Women as 'done to' never 'doers'. Objects.

Noele Gordon simply got out there and did things. She lived life her way. 

If the Feminist mindset is so sheep-like its adherents imagine somebody had to leave the apparently quivering, spineless female flock to work in television before any other woman would  - and that men and women are  separate species, with men determined to 'oppress' women - they are sadly deluded.

It's a terrible view of the history of the human race, casting one sex as hideous tyrants and the other as jelly-spined nincompoops.

The whole thing reeks of Marxist style historical revisionism, victimhood culture, and narcissism.

Women as lovely, sensitive beings, men as not.

The fact that so many men go along with it, don't question - and never have - shows the truth of the situation.

We must also mention the 'glass cellar jobs' - well over 90% of workplace deaths are still male because they are still the vast majority doing those jobs. Come on, Feminists, surely representation should be more equal after all these years?

Russell has described his screenplay as a 'love letter to Noele Gordon'. Meg was not our favourite Crossroads character, although she was definitely one of them, and we adored Noele Gordon. 

But we prefer facts.

Trying to hijack Nolly's story for the purposes of the increasingly questioned Feminist ideology in all its misandrist "glory" is a terrible thing to do.

Celebrate Nolly, not nonsense.

Our Crossroads Favourites: Meg Richardson/Mortimer

My favourite photograph of Noele 'Nolly' Gordon, Meg of the motel - an autograph for a young fan in the 1970s.

Meg! Margaret Fraser/Richardson/Ryder/Mortimer! It was around the character played by actress Noele Gordon that the Crossroads format was built and Meg was the staunch leader of the motel pack from the very first episode in November 1964 until she lost her majority or equal shareholder role in 1979 - and finally took off for pastures new in November 1981.

Meg's husband, Charles Richardson, had died in the early 1960s and Meg had converted the land around their home into the Crossroads Motel, complete with chalets, residents' garden, cafeteria, reception, restaurant, bar, garage and swimming pool. The motel had opened in 1963 and was well up and running by the time of the first episode in November '64.

Meg's family consisted of her teenage children, Jill and Sandy (he was still at school), sister Kitty Jarvis, brother-in-law Dick, and nephew Brian. Meg also had a brother, Andy, who was in the Navy. He married widow Ruth Bailey and became a travel agent. A young man called Bruce Sorbell later became her ward, and she fostered a black girl called Melanie Harper in 1970.

Like all soap heroines, Meg was born to suffer - and boy did she!

In 1965 she met rich, suave businessman Hugh Mortimer. At first she wasn't sure if she could trust him, and became convinced she couldn't when he married somebody else a couple of years later. But all was later explained: Hugh had married Jane Templeton because she was terminally ill and he wanted to make her last days as happy as possible.

Meg survived the explosion of a wartime bomb, which destroyed the motel kitchen in 1967, and, in 1968, married smoothy Malcolm Ryder - who took out life insurance for Meg - and then tried to poison her to get at the money.

She went to prison briefly for swerving to avoid a cat while driving and hitting postman Vince Parker.

Her nephew Brian was accused of murder and her sister Kitty died in the late 1960s. Meg sold shares in the motel to Tish Hope and Mr Lovejoy - but retained a controlling interest.

Meg's children brought her much anxiety - Jill married a bigamist and had a miscarriage in 1970.

In 1971, Jill married working class Stan Harvey - but Meg could never really share his father Wilf's fascination with pigeon keeping.

Sandy was involved in a terrible car crash in 1972 and lost the use of his legs.

A happy arrival as a motel shareholder and director was David Hunter - who worked closely with Meg and became her good friend and confidante.

It wasn't all tragedy and high drama for Meg. She had some happy and funny scenes with Carlos Rafael, the motel's first temperamental chef in the 1960s, and some hilarious scenes with comedian Larry Grayson in the first half of the 1970s when he booked in as a difficult guest at the motel. There were other light hearted moments too, but these were outweighed by troubled times.

Meg developed amnesia after learning that her husband Malcolm, who she thought had died in a car crash, was still alive. He later turned up to menace her at the motel, but all ended happily when Hugh and the police finally intervened.

And then she married Hugh in 1975, which meant gaining a stepson - Anthony Mortimer.

Anthony had an affair with Meg's daughter Jill in 1977, and she became pregnant. This broke her marriage to Stan Harvey. Jill's son, Matthew, was brought up by the Mortimers.

Hugh wrote a book called Businessmanship, which was published in 1977, but then tragedy struck. Hugh had been working on a big business deal in Australia for some time and, in 1978, was kidnapped by terrorists - who had links to David Hunter's son Chris.

Hugh died of a heart attack while in captivity and Meg went into mourning.

In early 1979, Meg was forced to cease being an equal or the majority shareholder (I can't remember which) in the motel when it was revealed that Hugh wasn't so good at 'businessmanship' after all. He had debts - and Meg had to pay them. 

This storyline made me uneasy for Meg - and for Noele Gordon.

Accountant Adam Chance bought some of her shares to help her out, but, in 1981, sold 5% of them to Meg's old friend David Hunter - thus making him the majority shareholder. Meg's relationship with David had grown fraught as the 1980s began. And it grew even more so when he attempted to sell the motel to J Henry Pollard.

Finally, in November 1981, Meg gave up the struggle with David. After a conversation with Sam Hurst, or Sam Norton, the artist, who was staying at the motel and had a tragic background involving losing his family in a fire, Meg was left to contemplate her future.

She was on tranquillisers at the time, and considered an overdose. But then she thought of Jill and her recently deceased son Sandy and his love of life, and decided to start afresh.

She left the motel - and not a moment too soon because it burned down minutes later.

Ironically, Sam, the artist, who had blamed his own cowardice for the death of his family in a previous fire, declared to Benny that he wasn't afraid of fire any more, and died trying to recue a woman who wasn't even there.

Anxiety ran high - what had happened to Meg? Had she died in the inferno? But the truth was soon revealed: Meg had left a note for Jill which had been destroyed in the fire. She phoned her daughter and bade her a tearful farewell on the QE2. Jill didn't tell her about the fire - although Meg had an uncanny feeling that something was wrong.

Meg briefly reappeared in October 1983 - joining her daughter Jill and her husband Adam on their honeymoon in Venice. There were well-advanced plans to bring her back to the motel as a permanent occasional character in 1985. But Noele Gordon died before they could reach the screen.

What can you say about Meg? To many, she was the heart of Crossroads. It wasn't that way for me, but nobody could help admiring Noele Gordon's tireless devotion to the show - she was its official spokesperson. For me, some more light hearted storylines and a bit less of the soap character martyrdom - particularly in the last five years - would have helped to raise Meg higher in my own personal run-down of motel greats. Noele Gordon could portray a lighter, happier Meg with great ease. A shame the scripts didn't require it much.

But Meg's prime importance to the show - and to a huge number of its fans - is in no doubt at all. She was, quite simply, a soap legend - never to be forgotten.

Crossroads - the Drama Of A Soap Opera - By Dorothy Hobson - 1980s

Sara has written with an enquiry:

The book, Crossroads The Drama Of A Soap Opera was published in 1982, and Dorothy Hobson was obviously at the studios in 1981 because she was there when Noele Gordon was sacked. But books like "Cultural Closure - The Arts In The 1970s", edited by Bart Moore Gilbert, claim that her interviews with the female viewers were all done in the late 1970s (or so Stuart Laing says). Is this so?

Piffle and bunk. Crossroads emerged as a popular show with female viewers when Dorothy Hobson began conducting interviews in the late 1970s, but her Crossroads-relevant interviews took place in 1981, as story-lines from 1980 and 1981 are mentioned by the interviewees - as was the character Kate Loring (arrived in 1981), and the Brownlows (the family did not arrive until late 1979).

Ms Hobson first gained access to the Crossroads studios in the late spring of 1981 - according to her book. I quote:

In the event it was not until the late spring of 1981 that I managed to gain access to Crossroads, and the period when I was watching the production and viewing with the audience coincided with the period before Noele Gordon was sacked from the company.

So, from the horse's mouth, there you have it - Ms Hobson gained access to the studios in the late spring of 1981, and then began watching the production of the show and viewing it with the audience.

Many things (in general) written about the 1970s are actually about the 1960s and 1980s. I don't know why. I sometimes think it happens too often to simply be mistakes! It's as though the '70s must be hyped!

And on the same theme...

Gary Arnold asks:

Crossroads 2003 and Beyond claims that the show went into colour in 1970 -

"The programme goes into colour enabling Meg’s dresses to be seen in all their floral glory."

But I thought it was 1969?

Yes, it was 1969 (sigh). See what I mean?

1981: The Sacking Of Noele Gordon, The Departure Of Meg Mortimer...

The Sun, June 18, 1981. In her role as spokeswoman for Crossroads, Noele Gordon was absolutely tireless in her defence of the series against the crudities and jibes of an unkind press. In June 1981, Margaret Forwood, Sun TV critic, was on the attack after Noele had favourably compared Crossroads with Coronation Street... 

 "Coronation Street is drama while Crossroads is real," said dear, deluded Noele Gordon the other day. 

Who was she trying to kid? 

In their latest bid to oust the invincible Coronation Street as telly's top soap opera, the brains behind Crossroads have knocked down poor old Benny and left him covered in blood and about to be blinded. That should have knocked his hat off at long last! 

Benny, you will recall, is the illiterate local simpleton befriended by beauty queen, unmarried mother and occasional waitress Miss Diane. 

He was about to be married a couple of melodramas back but his fiancee was knocked off her bicycle and killed while on her way to a clandestine assignation with her gypsy lover on the morning of the wedding. 

Then he offered to wed reclusive plastic surgery patient Alison who had been left in the lurch by former international terrorist-turned-record producer Chris Hunter. 

But she had a miscarriage and decided to become a nun instead. 

Real, Noele darling?

Noele Gordon after news of her sacking from Crossroads was made public.

Whatever people thought of Noele Gordon and Crossroads, there was no doubt that the two went together like bacon and eggs - and had done since the very first episode way back in November 1964.

The announcement that Noele had been sacked from the show exploded upon the media on 22 June 1981. And Crossroads fans were stunned.

The "Save Our Meg" campaign - the Sun, June 24 1981.

Crossroads boss Jack Barton yesterday faced the cast of the TV soap opera for the first time since the Big Sacking Shock.

He saw them for a 20-minute crisis meeting folowing the surprise dismissal of Noele Gordon, the show's top star for the last 17 years.

Mr Barton, the programme's producer, left ATV's studios in Birmingham refusing to comment on the talks or the decision to scrap Noele's role as motel owner Meg Mortimer.

But it is understood that the meeting was called to assure other members of the cast that their jobs were safe.

Rumours have swept showbiz that Noele's departure was only the first of many from the much-loved series.

Noele was in tears before he arrived. But she left smiling, with co-star Tony Adams, 41, who plays Adam Chance in the series.

And later it was confirmed that she had been asked to play the mother of stripper Gipsy Rose Lee in a stage show opening in November at Leicester's Haymarket Theatre...

Sunday Mirror, June 28, 1981: 

 Sacked Crossroads star Noele Gordon made a dramatic eleventh-hour plea to ATV boss Lord Lew Grade to save her job. 

She asked if there was any way she could carry on for a further six months with a new contract. But Lord Grade was unable to help. 

He said yesterday that he had put Noele's request to ATV's Director of Programmes, Charles Denton. It was Mr Denton's decision to sack Noele, who plays the motel matriarch, Meg Richardson. 

Lord Grade said: "Noele's agent asked if there was any way for her to carry on.

"I asked Charles Denton if it would be possible to consider it. His reply was that he didn't want to change his plans, and that it would be nice to start the next season with something new and exciting. 

"I just put the point to Charles. I didn't ask him to reconsider. 

"I am not allowed by the Independent Broadcasting Authority to interfere in any programmes." 

Lord Grade also revealed that Noele had had a massive change of heart about Crossroads. 

"About a year ago, Noele came to me to say that she wanted to leave the programme, but I persuaded her to stay," he said. "She is a very sweet person, and has worked very hard for Crossroads and ATV. But I do not know whether she has any future role in the network." 

Mr Denton, 43, said that since Noele's sacking he had received hundreds of protest letters from fans, among them two death threats. 

One, he claimed, came from the Birmingham chapter of the Hell's Angels. "I really didn't know there were such Crossroads fanatics," he said...

Daily Mirror, 19 October, 1981: 

 Meg Richardson and her Crossroads crew were all at sea yesterday as yet another version of her departure from the TV soap opera was filmed. 

Meg, played by actress Noele Gordon, waved a fond farewell to her screen daughter Jill, played by Jane Rossington, from the stern of the liner QE2. 

The storyline of the scene, filmed at Southampton, has Meg quitting her motel and emigrating to Australia. 

But it is only one of seven possible endings which have been recorded. These include a fire which guts the motel, and some scenes have shown a funeral. 

The actual ending is being kept a big secret. No one except producer Jack Barton knows the answer - and even he's not sure. 

"I shall be deciding which ending to use on the day the programme is screened," he said.

Daily Mirror, October 27, 1981: 

 Crossroads star Noele Gordon pleaded for her life yesterday. She wants a happy ending when she is written out of the TV soap opera next month. 

So far the veteran star of the serial has filmed five endings - four tragic and one happy. They include losing her life in a motel fire, taking an overdose of pills and a graveyard scene. 

The one that will be finally used is ATV's best kept secret. But Noele is hoping her TV bosses will use the happy one where she sails off into the sunset on the QE2. 

She said: "During the QE2 scene the sun started to shine, the flag flapped at the right time and it all looked very pretty. That is the way I want to go." 

Noele started rehearsals yesterday for a leading role in the £250,000 musical Gypsy which opens at Leicester's Haymarket Theatre in December. 

But she is still bitter. She said: "After twenty-six bloody hard years with ATV, for someone to say to me 'All good things must come to an end and we don't want you any more' - well, I didn't like that."

The Sun, 5/11/1981. The article, by Baz Bamigboye, read: 

Crossroads mania swept the nation last night after the TV motel went up in flames with boss Meg Mortimer apparently inside.

Hundreds of weeping viewers jammed ITV switchboards demanding to know Meg's fate.

And some became so wrapped up in the drama that they phoned hospitals to ask about her injuries.

It was a nerve-wracking episode for the TV audience. First they saw Meg - played by Noele Gordon - apparently taking a drug overdose. Then came the fire.

From ATV, the company that makes the long-running series, the message to distraught viewers was: "Keep viewing."

Fans were promised that Meg's fate would be revealed in next Wednesday's show. An executive said: "That is the crunch episode, and people should watch it."

The Sun has already revealed that last night's episode would not be the end of Meg.

And we can now reveal that Sam Hurst, the painter in the series - played by Brian Badcoe - died in the motel blaze after rushing in and trying to rescue Meg.

Producer Jack Barton said: "In the run-up, fans have been led to believe that Sam was going to start the fire, but that is wrong."

In last night's episode, viewers saw Meg Mortimer walk into her room and put some pills on the table, along with a note to her daughter Jill (Jane Rossington).

At the last minute, as the motel staff were enjoying a bonfire-night party outside, Jill glanced around to see the motel in flames. She screamed: "Mum! Oh my God!"

The ending was the signal for viewers to seize their phones.

An ATV spokesman said: "There have been hundreds of calls at ITV stations around the country."

He added that the "whole nation had gone wild" about Meg - whose sacking from Crossroads caused an outcry.

An ATV switchboard operator said: "We've had scores of people crying down the phone, making no sense at all."

Crossroads addict Mrs Lynda Belcher, of Great Shefford, Berks, said: "I wish they hadn't left us in suspense. It's terrible that they are writing Meg out of the series."

The Sun, November 12, 1981.

The QE2 ending was used and Meg sailed away, unaware that the motel was in ashes.

Opposition leader Michael Foot is inspired by the blaze at the motel in this Franklin cartoon, November 5, 1981.

Daily Mirror, August 19, 1983. A brief return to Crossroads for Noele Gordon... 

 Meg Mortimer toasts the bride and groom in a TV scene that Crossroads fans thought might never happen. 

Meg, boss of the Crossroads Motel for 18 years, was written out of the soap opera two years ago. 

Now, in a new episode, she is reunited with her TV daughter Jill who is honeymooning in Venice with husband Adam Chance. 

Meg, played by actress Noele Gordon, is making two guest appearances in Crossroads. But she admits there are no plans for a permanent return. 

 In 1985, Phillip Bowman took over as Crossroads producer from Jack Barton and planned to bring Meg Mortimer back as what he called a "permanent occasional" character. Plans were well advanced when Noele Gordon, afflicted with cancer, died.

Christmas 1980...

Sir Billy Butlin died in 1980, and Butlin's introduced us to a new catchphrase: "Butlin it Once and You'll do it Again". On YouTube, I've found a clip of the Christmas 1980 episode of Crossroads, complete with commercial break.

At the motel, Meg was having a disco, and at the Brownlows' Arthur set the table cloth on fire (?!). The new Butlin's commercial, complete with the "Butlin it Once and You'll do it Again" ditty lights up the break, together with an advertisement for an indigestion remedy featuring a Space Invaders style turkey.

1980 was a different planet.