Noele Gordon - Crossroads

In the summer of 1964 Lunchbox came to an end after over 2,000 episodes. It was axed to make way for a new daily soap opera, The Midland Road, retitled Crossroads at the last minute, in which Gordon took the role of motel owner Meg Richardson (later Meg Mortimer).

First in 1969 and then during the following decade, she won the TV Times award for most popular television actress on eight occasions.

Gordon was the only member of the Crossroads cast who had a permanent contract; all other cast members were booked as and when on an 'ad hoc' basis. Gordon, however, had been a staff member on the board of ATV since her days of Lunch Box.

Gordon stayed with the programme until her sacking in 1981, when ATV was re-constituted into a new company, Central Independent Television. The decision to dismiss Gordon was taken by Head of Programmes Charles Denton and Head Of Drama Margaret Matheson - who wanted to ditch soap opera for more expensive and lavish drama production. Gordon made a brief return to the series in 1983, when Meg met up with her daughter Jill and son-in-law Adam on their Venice honeymoon.

In 1985 Matheson's successor Ted Childs ordered Crossroads to be revamped. This new-look was designed to bring back Noele Gordon on an 'as and when' basis, starting with a three month stint from April 1985. Gordon's return as Meg was devised by the new Producer, Phillip Bowman, who himself ended the involvement with the series of regulars Ronald Allen and Sue Lloyd in order for the motel to be sold - and thus Meg's daughter Jill was to face a tough choice of whether to agree to the sale, or hold on to the shares her mother left her in 1981. Meg's return was to advise Jill to sell the shares, as Meg, we were to discover, was good friends with the new to be owner - Nicola Freeman (played by Gabrielle Drake) and so Gordon's character would have many reasons to return to Crossroads once more. This storyline never came about as Gordon died before the planned return. The actor Edward Clayton, who had previously played Stan Harvey in the show, returning to take her place in the storyline.

Gordon had battled cancer publicly since 1982, undergoing two major operations. It didn't stop her making a return to Crossroads in August 1983 for two episodes during the honeymoon episodes of Jill and Adam, shot in Venice.