Crossroads (soap opera)
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Crossroads was a British television soap opera set in a motel near Birmingham. It was first broadcast on ITV between 2 November 1964 and 4 April 1988.
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ATV series
Crossroads first aired five days a week, until the IBA decreed that it would go to four airings a week in 1967. In 1979, it moved to three times a week.
The location of the Crossroads Motel was a fictional outskirt of Birmingham, "King's Oak" (there are real suburbs Kings Norton and Selly Oak). The main character in the original series was Meg Richardson, the motel's owner, played by Noele Gordon.
Other major characters included the chef Carlos, the postman Vince Parker and his waitress wife Diane, and the charlady Amy Turtle (played by Ann George, she was later satirised by Julie Walters as "Mrs Overall" in the Victoria Wood spoof Acorn Antiques). Mrs Richardson's children were Sandy, played by Roger Tonge and Jill, played by Jane Rossington. Mention of the characters cannot overlook the village-idiot character Benny Hawkins, whose trademark was a woolly hat worn all year around; the disagreeable shop-keepers the Grices; or the postmistress Miss Tatum, introduced as a narrator who was never seen except for her hands, tatting.
While Crossroads had many fans (most notably Mary Wilson, the wife of former Prime Minister Harold Wilson), it also had many vocal detractors who criticized it for everything from its amateurish actors to its "wobbly sets". However, it still received high ratings and survived for as long as it did on its large fan base. This even extended to British troops serving in the Falklands War in 1982, who nicknamed locals 'Bennies' after the character played by Paul Henry.
Crossroads was made by ATV until the company lost its broadcast franchise at the end of 1981, and thereafter by ATV's successor Central. Very few archive recordings exist because ATV wiped and re-used most of the videotapes. However, Network issued a DVD with twelve of the original ATV episodes (including Meg's 1975 wedding) in 2005.
Central TV series
To public outcry, Noele Gordon was sacked in 1981, probably for reasons connected with internal politics and the planned image of the show after the switch from ATV to Central Television. Crossroads carried on with the same name and many of the same characters until about 1985, when it was remodelled slightly and renamed Crossroads Motel. In 1987, in a final bid to reach defecting viewers, the stories of the villagers surrounding the motel were told, and the show was given yet another name change, becoming Crossroads: King's Oak.
It was finally cancelled in 1988. The last, specially extended, episode was broadcast on Easter Monday, 4 April, with Jill riding off into the sunset with lover John Maddingham. As she left her motel behind for a new life in the West, she was asked what she would name the new motel she would be running. She remarked, "I always thought Crossroads was an awfully good name."
Carlton series
Crossroads was subsequently revived as a Carlton Television production with a more glossy format (Carlton having bought Central and acquired the rights to all ATV programmes) in 2001. The relaunched series returned in March 2001 and was broadcast at 5pm on weekdays on ITV1. It included guest stars such as Jane Asher, Kate O'Mara, Lionel Blair, Les Dennis and Tim Brooke-Taylor. The only familiar characters to reappear were the cleaner Doris Luke (Kathy Staff), Jill Richardson and her ex-husband Adam Chance (Tony Adams).
It did not receive the expected ratings. It ran until August 2002, then for four weeks from January 2003, ending permanently on 10 March 2003 (it was officially cancelled in May). The storyline of the final episode was the revelation that the glamorous hotel had been a dream, and the staff were actually supermarket workers.
External links
- Crossroads Appreciation Society (http://www.crossroadsappreciationsociety.co.uk) tribute website
- Planet Crossroads (http://www.planetcrossroads.co.uk/) fan site
- Crossroads 2001 (http://www.crossroads2001.co.uk/) fan site - Carlton version
- Destination Crossroads (http://www.destinationcrossroads.co.uk/) fan site for Carlton series