Watch: Out Writer-Producer Russell T Davies Teams with Helena Bonham Carter to Tell Story of Controversial '80s Soap Star Noele 'Nolly' Gordon

An 80s soap opera scandal is center stage in Russell T Davies' new dramatic mini-series "Nolly."

Helena Bonham Carter takes on the lead role of actor Noele Gordon - one of the UK's biggest TV stars - who was famously sacked from motel-set soap "Crossroads" in 1981.

Davies was a huge fan of the show and says the shock of Gordon being written out has stayed with him through the years, leading him him to investigate what really happened.

So why did he think of Carter for the role of the unapologetic force of nature that is Nolly (as she was known)?

"Why did I think of a matriarchal power mad..." jokes Davies.

He then admits he's sent most of his scripts to Carter's agent for consideration.

And Davies has worked on plenty of award-winning shows over the years, like "Queer As Folk," "Years And Years," "A Very English Scandal" and "Doctor Who," which he's back working on now.

"I'm the one who's grateful, you wrote gold. I mean, really, honestly, it was like, if not the best part I've ever been given..." says Carter to Davies. "But maybe, you know, the second best part," she laughs.

Carter is hoping playing a plain-speaking person like Nolly will boost her own confidence.

"I am quite apologetic as a person," she admits.

"I talk very quickly, I ramble, like swallow words. My energy is actually quite introverted, I would say, but then I meet a character and it works. So it was a lot of finding her. And then it's great because then you have the chance, selfishly, just as a person, quite apart from earning a living. Sometimes I just want to be the person who, because I know hopefully they'll just rub off a bit on me and I'll get a residue of Nolly. And certainly her having certain boundaries and not being afraid to say how it is."

"Crossroads" ran on television in the UK from 1964 to 1988, with a brief revival in 2001.

Gordon played Meg Richardson, who turned her Birmingham home into the Crossroads motel, for eighteen years.

A low budget show, each episode was 19 and a half minutes long and shot as live. Producers couldn't afford reshoots, so all mistakes stayed in and were aired.

"Crossroads" was well known for its wobbly sets and fantastical storylines, which still amuse Davies and Carter today.

"They had bonkers plot lines and how people died were hilarious. I mean, even the fact that they were really properly considering killing Noele off with an airplane landing on her head," she says.

"There's a very famous story where Meg's husband, Hugh, died because he was held hostage in the Outback, in a ranch, and the police stormed the ranch. But while they were storming the front of the ranch, Hugh decided to climb out the window the back and had a heart attack in doing so - and all of that happened on the phone," explains Davies."

"You didn't see the second of it. Noele simply took the phone call where all of that was described to her, and she then passed that on. And I can remember, I must have been about 11 years old and I remember watching that thinking, Oh, that's so bad, that's marvelous."

"Nolly" is streaming on ITVX in the U.K. from Thursday 2 February.