Nolly

This is drama so warm you could toast a crumpet on it – with Bonham Carter delivering a bold, wounded character you can root for. Nolly serves as a love letter not just to Gordon, but to popular television itself.

A splendid showcase for Helena Bonham Carter, “Nolly” zooms in on a very particular time and character in British history, revolving around the unceremonious firing of Noele Gordon, the star of a popular soap opera. While not the usual corseted stuff for which PBS’ “Masterpiece” is known, the three-part limited series serves as a reminder of how actresses who spoke their minds were often summarily labeled “difficult,” then and now.

It’s a warm, smart, and concise portrait of British actress Noele Gordon, known as Nolly.

It is a riotous watch but also a touching and sad one, which I'm sure Gordon, who died of cancer in 1985, would have appreciated.

It is warm, thoughtful and gorgeous, and by the end of it, I was a little bit in love with Nolly myself.

The story of Noele Gordon's sacking might not sound fit for prestige television, but Bonham Carter and Davies' belief in righting her bosses' wrongs makes for a touching series, with lessons that are still relevant decades on.

It is so well written, so well cast and executed, it finds a way to thrillingly reanimate a slice of British pop culture history from the analog era. It may be a romanticized look back, but it’s an endearing and meaningful one all the same.

The compression here feels more manic than economic; Davies’ writing floats intriguing statements of purpose – a defense of soap as a popular form, a study of how to bow out – only for them to dissipate as we shuttle back and forth through a six-decade career.