There always has to be what Charmian calls a "Queen Bee" in the cast.  The most famous was of course, Noele Gordon, whose demanding manner on stage was backed by an equally generous nature off camera.

 

"I first joined Crossroads just before Noele was sacked so sensationally," says Charmian.  "She wasn't easy.  She wanted everything to be right and when half the time it was wrong she would say:  'I'm going back to my dressing room until.'

 

"But on my first day when I was feeling nervous and unsure, she was the only one who wished me luck.  The last time I saw her before she died of cancer was at a Crossroads celebration.  Tony Adams carried her in his arms up the stairs.  However difficult she might have been she is remembered with a great deal of affection."

 

"Now it's Gabrielle Drake's turn to be Queen Bee.  The way she was brought into the cast made life very difficult for her.  She had to prove herself.  But she's an attractive girl and she seems to have settled in."

 

But it wasn't the same story for Jean Kent, who was brought in after Noele Gordon left.  "She was a complete disaster," says Charmian simply.  "She played the leading lady with us all.  She made a distinction between herself and us.  You were very much aware that she was the star and everyone else was an also ran."