"It will be absolutely spectacular," he said.  "It will be even better than who shot JR.  You will never have seen anything like it before."

 

Charles Denton said changes were needed to keep the show popular.

 

"It is a strong programme with millions of viewers, and I believe we can change in strength," he said.  "Nothing stands still, and I think we have to make changes in the series.  The problem has been this.  Meg Richardson is such a dominant character in the series, it was impossible to make changes and still keep her there.

 

"It was my decision, and I am prepared to admit I may have made a deeply serious mistake!  But despite the threats, and despite the unhappiness it has caused, I will not change my mind.  Nothing stands still, and I think we have to make changes in the series.

 

"There has also been talk of some mythical death list which I am supposed to have drawn up, and that I, the mad axeman of Birmingham, am about to chop the cast of Crossroads.  Let me put the record straight.  There was no death list.  This is not the beginning of the end for Crossroads.  The series will continue with the same popular cast, and with a few more new faces." 

 

Mr Denton says he has invited Noele to discuss the situation,  "Because I wanted to give her the opportunity to come in here and throw bricks."

 

Former Crossroads actor John Bentley who played Noele's second screen husband, said yesterday that he'd never really been close to her.  On screen he and Noele were a happy smiling, and loving couple.  Off screen she refused to speak to him.

 

The rift between them appeared after he backed out of a publicity trip to Majorca with the cast - because he had a phobia about flying.  He said:  "It appears Nolly will never forgive me for spoiling things for her.  The atmosphere has been terrible since.  We have hardly spoken.

 

"I know I was wrong but I have tried to apologise.  I've tried everything to win her round but she doesn't want to know.  She is a lady who hates weakness in people.  Especially in men."

 

One of Crossroads' best-loved stars ever, Ann George - who played motel cleaner Amy Turtle, said yesterday that she didn't really believe Noele would miss being in the show.

 

Ann, 66, was written out of Crossroads five years ago after eleven years in the show. 

 

"I've no time for Noele Gordon as you know," she said.  "If she is really sacked, I'm not crying.  I thought she was a prima donna.  Amy Turtle was sent off to visit her nephew in Texas.  Unlike Meg, she can always be brought back.  I was just as popular as she is.  I had as many letters - sacks full.  But she acts so grand."