Article from the Daily Star by Stafford Hildred

Meg Mortimer has been reprieved from a grisly death.  Crossroads star Noele Gordon has been spared a tragic farewell because ATV chiefs have agreed on a compromise exit for motel-owning Meg.

Noele will leave the series in the Christmas episode for a sunshine retirement in Australia.  But the real drama will come sooner.  In the 17th anniversary episode of November 4, a letter bomb sent to a VIP at the motel starts a fire which claims the lives of three minor characters played by extras.  Meg, the script goes, is badly hurt bravely battling to save them.  After a spell on the danger list she recovers enough to sail for her recuperation Down Under.

I understand that Noele Gordon was determined that Meg, a favourite with the 15 million viewers of the show, should not die.  In spite of denials, ATV are to record exterior shots of the explosion and fire at Long Marston, near Stratford-upon-Avon, next week.