Nolly: In Conversation with Writer Russell T Davies and Executive Producer Nicola Shindler

Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning actor Helena Bonham Carter (The Crown, Enola Holmes 1 and 2, The King’s Speech, Harry Potter, Burton and Taylor) stars as Noele (or Nolly to her friends) who was a legend in her own lifetime. As flame-haired widow Meg Richardson in the long-running soap opera Crossroads, she 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, Noele Gordon found herself thrown out of the show that was her life for over 18 years.

Join WFTV for a conversation with two of the key creatives behind the new series, writer Russell T Davies and executive producer Nicola Shindler.

The first commission for Quay Street Productions, Russell and Nicola will be discussing the making of the series, sharing insight to the research and development process and working with on-screen talent Helena Bonham Carter to bring the iconic figure of Nolly to screen, as well as the resonance the story has for audiences today.

The full series will be available to watch on ITVX on Thursday 02 February.

Speakers

Nicola Shindler, Executive Producer and Chief Executive of Quay Street Productions

Nicola Shindler OBE is a prolific, multi award-winning British television producer, who has worked with some of the most lauded names in television and created some of its most memorable series.

With over 25 years’ experience in television, Nicola has produced some of the UK’s most successful and award-winning dramas, including It’s A Sin (Ch4/ HBO), Harlan Coben’s The Stranger (Netflix), Years and Years (BBC/HBO), Happy Valley(BBC), Queer As Folk (Channel 4), Ridley Road (BBC/ Masterpiece), Traces (UKTV), Last Tango in Halifax (BBC), Butterfly (ITV), Finding Alice (ITV) and most recently Harlan Coben’s Stay Close for Netflix, No Return for ITV, and Traces series 2 for UKTV. Forthcoming series include the first Quay Street Productions drama Nolly, written by Russell T Davies and starring Helena Bonham Carter, and comedic-drama Significant Other starring Katherine Parkinson and Youssef Kerkour, both for ITVX.

Renowned for her relationships with writers, Nicola has worked with an array of the UK’s most prolific and exciting writing talent including Russell T Davies, Sally Wainwright, Lenny Henry, Paul Abbot, Dan Sefton, Tony Marchant, Amelia Bullmore, Danny Brocklehurst, Matt Greenhalgh and Sarah Solemani, on series starring some of the world’s leading on-screen names.

In 2019, Nicola was awarded an OBE and took home one of BAFTA’s highest honours, the Special Award, for her services to British Broadcasting.

Prior to launching Quay Street Productions in 2021, Nicola founded RED Production Company in 1998, where she was Chief Executive for over twenty years, and she also previously served as chief executive and chief creative officer at StudioCanal UK.

Russell T. Davies, Writer

Russell was awarded the 2006 Dennis Potter Award at BAFTA for his writing services to television and an OBE in the Queen’s 2008 Birthday Honours list for services to drama.

Russell was born in Swansea in 1963. A graduate of Oxford University, he completed the BBC Director’s course before becoming a TV producer. He started writing whilst working in the Manchester department of Children’s BBC. He has created several award-winning series including the ground-breaking Queer As Folk, Bob And Rosefor which he won the British Comedy Award for Writer of the Year and Best Comedy Drama, The Second Coming for which he won the RTS Award for Best Network Drama and Broadcast Award’s Best Single Drama. He went on to revive the classic British science fiction series Doctor Who which received numerous awards and for which Russell won the BAFTA for Best Drama Series, and Torchwoodfor which he won the BAFTA Cymru for Best Drama Series. He created the trilogy Cucumber, Banana and Tofu for which he won the BAFTA for Best Drama Writer and BPG Innovation Award in 2016. He adapted A Very English Scandal on BBC 1 for which he won the Rose d’Or Award for Best Limited Series and TV Movie and Broadcast News Award for Drama of the Year 2018. He wrote the 6-part drama Years and Years for BBC One/HBO starring Emma Thompson and Anne Reid and more recently, he wrote the acclaimed 5-part series It’s A Sin for Channel 4/HBO MAX which depicts the lives of a group of gay men and their friends who lived during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the UK, which has received numerous awards. Currently, he has written a 3-part drama called Nolly starring Helena Bonham Carter which will be transmitted in 2023. and he has also taken over as showrunner on Doctor Who.

In 2015 he received the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Award for his Outstanding Contribution to Writing and in 2017 he was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Edinburgh TV Festival.  In 2019 he received the h100 award in the Television Broadcast Category, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Pink News and also the Judges Award at the 2019 RTS North West Awards. In 2021, Russell accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Royal Television Society at the RTS Programme Awards.

How will the online event work?

This event will be live streamed via Zoom.us. Viewing details will be sent via your confirmation.

Attending participants will not be visible to others and will be muted throughout the session. After the talk, there will be an opportunity for audience members to ask their questions to the panel by using the Q&A feature.

If you are not a member and would like to join, membership costs just £100 + VAT/yr , please click here or email admin@wftv.org.uk

At WFTV we’re really keen to ensure that all our events are accessible for everyone. So if you have any particular access needs, please can you let us know before an event and we will do our best to accommodate you. We would be grateful if you can give us as much notice as possible – please contact admin@wftv.org.uk