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Crossroads (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Crossroads is a British television
soap opera
set in a fictional motel
near Birmingham
, England
. Created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling
, the commercial
ITV
network originally broadcast the series between 1964 and 1988. Produced by ATV
(until the end of 1981) and later by Central
it became a byword for cheap production values, particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s. The series was revived in a glossier version by Carlton Television
in 2001, but was again axed in 2003.
The original theme tune was composed by Tony Hatch
; a new version, which was first aired in 1987 when the series was relaunched as Crossroads, Kings Oak, was composed by Raf Ravenscroft
and Max Early.
in The Penguin TV Companion: "Few programmes have endured as much ridicule as Crossroads. At the same time, few programmes have won the hearts of so many viewers." Critically derided for its low budget and far-fetched scripts, Crossroads did though have prominent fans including Mary Wilson, the wife of then Prime Minister
Harold Wilson
.
Crossroads began its run on Monday 2 November 1964 and was first shown on five days a week, necessitating the programme be recorded 'as live' with very limited opportunities for retakes. The Independent Television Authority
(ITA) decreed in 1967 that the series should be reduced in frequency to four episodes per week to improve the series' quality.
The newly-formed Thames Television
, the franchisee for the London
area, decided in 1968 to stop showing the series. This was unpopular with viewers, with complainants reportedly including Mary Wilson; six months later the decision was reversed, but, as a result of the gap in transmissions, viewers in the Thames region were about six months behind the rest of the country for several years. The series was not fully networked until 1972, though by the 1970s it was second only to Coronation Street
in the ratings gaining 15 million viewers during the decade. In 1979 commercial broadcasting's regulator (by then the Independent Broadcasting Authority
) decided production should be reduced further, to three weekly episodes from April 1980, with the chairman of the IBA Lady Plowden
reportedly described the soap opera as "distressingly popular". ATV planned to replace the fourth episode with a spin-off
series called A Family Affair, but this idea was dropped. Noele Gordon
, who played matriarch Meg Richardson, was the regular winner of the TV Times Most Popular Female Personality viewers award during the 1970s.
Viewers reacted negatively at the dismissal of Gordon in 1981, an action taken by Head of programming Charles Denton
who became a "national hate figure". The series producer Jack Barton agreed with Denton, thinking that Gordon's character had become too dominant, but the epiode gained heavy coverage in the press for some time.
, which took over the franchise on 1 January 1982, and was thought to show limited enthusism for the programmes it inherited. Further changes were introduced in March 1985, when new filming locations, sets and characters were introduced. Many storylines began to revolve around the new motel
owner, Nicola Freeman (Gabrielle Drake
). Some long-term characters, such as David and Barbara Hunter, were axed. The theme tune was also updated, and the opening titles replaced with a longer version. Finally, the show was renamed Crossroads Motel - although this fact was never formally announced by the show's production team and the word "Motel" was simply incorporated into the opening titles.
In 1986, a new producer, William Smethurst, took over following the sacking of his predecessor, Philip Bowman. Smethurst, who had been brought in by Central Television's new Head of Drama, Ted Childs
, ordered changes, aimed at creating a wittier, more upmarket serial, and at improving the production values of the show. Smethurst shifted the narrative centre to the nearby village of King's Oak. Yet more long-running characters, such as Diane Hunter and Benny Hawkins, were dropped; as with earlier changes, this was unpopular with fans, who telephoned Central in protest. Smethurst gained the nickname "Butcher Bill" but was unfazed; he had, after all, reversed the declining fortunes of the BBC radio soap The Archers
. Smethurst insisted he only got the flak because his was the name the public knew. The last 18 months of the show saw vast improvements in terms of production values, more outside location work, better direction, wittier, funnier scripts and better characterisation. Michelle Buck guided the show through its final few months on air as Series Producer, with William Smethurst still on hand as Executive Producer.
Further changes included the series being renamed Crossroads King's Oak for a time, with the intention in the future of shortening this to King's Oak. Also, the familiar theme tune was replaced by a new theme composed by Max Early and Raf Ravenscroft. New titles were introduced to accompany the new theme, which featured stills of King's Oak and the new King's Oak Country Hotel. However, this final change was overtaken by the decision in June 1987 by Andy Allen, Central's Director of Programmes, to axe the series.
Crossroads King's Oak came to an end in 1988. The last, extended episode was on 4 April (a bank holiday
), with the character of Jill (Jane Rossington
) riding off with her lover, John Maddingham (Jeremy Nicholas
). Asked what name she would give the hotel she would be running in her new life, the character remarked, a little sadly, "I always thought Crossroads was an awfully good name".
production with a glossy format (Carlton having bought Central back in 1993) to the surprise of the wider media. The revival was originally broadcast on weekdays at 1.30pm and 5.05pm on ITV1
. Four characters from the original series returned: Doris Luke (Kathy Staff
), Jill Harvey (née
Richardson), Jill's ex-husband Adam Chance (Tony Adams
), and Jill's daughter Sarah-Jane Harvey (Joanne Farrell/Holly Newman). Initial reactions were favourable; however, changes in story from the original were puzzling for fans and didn't help ratings. Kathy Staff left in dismay at the amount of sex, and told ITV Teletext she felt it was no longer the family-friendly show she had originally been part of.
The decision to kill original character Jill Harvey, who was murdered by Adam Chance three months into the series' revival, proved unpopular with fans of the original show. Jane Rossington said she didn't want to commit herself to another long run in the show, but warned Carlton it would be suicidal to kill Jill.
The series went into hiatus from August 2002 to January 2003, during which time further changes were made. The remodelled series, under producer Yvon Grace, appeared to be a self-consciously camp parody, with Jane Asher
playing a new central character - the glamorous and bitchy Angel Samson
. The series also featured appearances from Kate O'Mara
, and people associated with light entertainment
, such as Lionel Blair
, Les Dennis
and Tim Brooke-Taylor
. The series also launched the careers of Freema Agyeman
(Doctor Who
& a one-off appearance in Mile High
), Luke Roberts (Holby City
& Mile High
), Lucy Pargeter
, Shauna Shim
and Jessica Fox
.
Grace admitted she was aiming the new Crossroads towards the gay market. But fans were not happy with her ambivalence towards unresolved storylines from the 2001-2002 run. Grace was reported as saying at its press launch: "Who cares if Phil is rotting in jail for a murder he didn't commit? I've changed everything, this is day one. We're not carrying on from where we left off. I was told this was its last chance."
Plans were in place to bring Adam Chance back on a 3 month contract in a last attempt to bring in more viewers; actor Tony Adams said that a down-on-his luck Adam would have been taken under Angel's wing as her personal assistant. But with ratings continuing to decline, the revived series was also axed, the final episode being broadcast on Friday 30 May 2003. The cast were contracted until the end of the year and continued to be paid after the series ended. The cancellation of Crossroads sealed the fate of Central's Lenton Lane studios in Nottingham, which ITV plc
have since disposed of.
The show had several characters in its early years. They included Meg and Kitty's brother, Andy Fraser, who became engaged and later married to motel secretary Ruth Bailey in 1965. Hotel chef Carlos Raphael and his wife Josefina who was a waitress along with Marilyn Gates. Kitchen assistant Amy Turtle, later briefly arrested as a suspected Soviet spy, joined the series in 1965 as did postmistress Miss Edith Tatum. Also featured was motel handyman and groundsman Philip Winter. Long running character Diane Lawton arrived in 1966. Other additions included Megs close friend, former actress, Tish Hope; the suave manager and later motel director David Hunter; his first wife Rosemary and son Chris and his second wife Barbara; Chefs Mr. Lovejoy, Mr. Booth and Shughie McFee; hairdresser Vera Downend; accountant and later motel manager Adam Chance; and cleaner Doris Luke. However, the most memorable character proved to be the 'village idiot' Benny Hawkins, whose trademark was a woolly hat worn all year round. His fans included British troops serving in the Falklands War
in 1982, who nicknamed the Falkland Islanders
Bennies after the character. Instructed to stop using the name, the troops came up with "Stills" for locals - because they were "still Bennies".
Over the years the series dealt with storylines controversial for the times. A single parent working at the motel seems staid now, but was hugely controversial in the mid-1960s; Sandy Richardson was injured in a car accident in 1972 and need to use a wheelchair, the first paraplegic regular character in British soap opera; by coincidence actor Roger Tonge himself later ended up in a wheelchair. The series also saw black characters appearing regularly - a follow-on from the 1960s BBC soap Compact, also created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling. Melanie Harper (played by Cleo Sylvestre
) arrived at the motel in 1970 as Meg's foster daughter (itself a taboo issue). Cleo was given the role by producer Reg Watson
after press coverage of racial tensions in the Birmingham area at that time. In 1978, garage mechanic Joe MacDonald (played by Carl Andrews
) arrived. The year before, an inter-racial summer romance took place between Cockney garage mechanic, Dennis Harper (played by Merlin Ward, but credited as Guy Ward), and motel receptionist Meena Chaudri (Karan David).
1981 saw a highly controversial storyline about a false accusation of rape; a 1983 storyline saw a test tube baby born to Glenda and Kevin Banks (played by Lynette McMorrough and David Moran). The subject of Downs Syndrome was also raised in 1983 with an insight into the life of Nina Weill, a little girl who, as Nina Paget, was befriended by three of the regular Crossroads characters.
Meg - axed in 1981 - was thought to have died in a fire that gutted the motel, but turned up alive aboard the QE2
, about to sail to a new life overseas. Newspapers reported that two endings were planned for Meg - Meg would die in the fire, the other ending would have her disappear for a while and turn up on the QE2. Viewers were surprised to see producers had used both. Meg returned briefly in 1983 for a reunion with Jill and Adam on their honeymoon in Venice
New producer Phillip Bowman was planning to bring the character of Meg Mortimer back into the show as a "permanent occasional" - and plans were well advanced when Noele Gordon died in 1985.
With the revival in 2001, changes were made to characters and stories. The returning character of Jill Chance had married the now-dead John Maddingham, but was calling herself Jill Harvey again, the name by which she had been known prior to her marriage to Adam Chance in 1983. References were also made to the Russell family taking over a "failing motel", despite Crossroads having become a hotel in the late 1980s; in the final episode of the original series, the name 'King's Oak Country Hotel' was seen over the entrance doors.
Lack of real links to the past, and the killing of Jill a few months into the new run, turned many fans away. Despite this, the series did pick up a respectable number of viewers to become one of ITV's highest rated daytime shows. Popular characters in the new Crossroads included new owner Kate Russell (Jane Gurnett), supercilious receptionist Virginia Raven (Sherrie Hewson
), and womanising deputy manager Jake Booth (Colin Wells
).
The storyline of the final episode was the revelation that the glamorous hotel had been a dream of supermarket worker Angela, with all the other characters revealed as shoppers. Angela even approaches a female customer in the supermarket and tells her she recognises her as Tracey (Booth) from the "TV soap Crossroads"; Tracey's mother-in-law, Kate, was also shown as one of Angela's colleagues in the supermarket.
Here is a list of some of the most memorable characters from the first incarnation (1964–1988) and their years on the show:
+=Original Cast Member
@=Cast Member At End Of Series
The fictional Crossroads Motel was in an equally fictional village near Birmingham, Kings Oak
(there are real suburbs in south-west Birmingham called Kings Heath
, Kings Norton
and Selly Oak
). A number of real-life hotels doubled for location filming; it is stated in the 1982 Crossroads Special that the Longshoot Motel (Nuneaton) was used as a 'blueprint' in designing the motel and it is likely that some scenes were filmed there during the run of the series.
In 1970, the series gained a film unit, giving it the freedom to do location shooting. Originally, Tanworth-in-Arden
was used for King's Oak, although outside scenes were only occasionally used. Under Central, more location shooting began to be featured. Some early King's Oak location material was also filmed in Wolverhampton
. The most famous location - as seen in the programme during the 1960s and 1970s was not a motel at all, but an agricultural college in Shropshire. It has also been suggested that Crossroads was filmed at a motel just south of Birmingham city centre called CherryTrees (the buildings were demolished in 2001). After the in-story destruction of the motel by fire, the revamped motel was filmed from 1982 at The Golden Valley Hotel in Cheltenham; from 1985 filming moved to the Penns Hall Hotel (now Ramada Jarvis
Birmingham) in Sutton Coldfield
, the changed appearance explained as being due to rebuilding. At the time of the move to Sutton Coldfield, new studio sets were also introduced.
Other locations included the canal (including Gas Street Basin
) behind the studios in Birmingham; in-story this was the King's Oak Canal, on which Vera had a barge. The Chateau Impney Hotel also featured numerous times, most famously when Hugh proposed to Meg in 1973, and it was used to hold their wedding party two years later. The Chateau Impney
was renamed the Droitwich Hotel on-screen. St Laurence's church in Alvechurch was the setting for Jill and Adam Chance's wedding in 1983. Hagley Hall
was used for the wedding reception.
In 1985, Crossroads gained its first set of full length opening titles, filmed around Sutton Coldfield
, Tanworth-in-Arden
and in Birmingham
city centre.
The revived Crossroads from 2001 was still set in the West Midlands
; however, exterior shots were filmed at locations in and around Nottingham
, such as Bingham
and Redmile
.
The original series was recorded at the Broad Street / Gas Street Studios in Birmingham, while the revived series was filmed in the Carlton Studios
in Nottingham.
. The lunchtime screening on Tuesday 11 September 2001 began at 14:10 BST. At the halfway commercial-break point however, the programme was interrupted to hand over to ITV News
for then very sketchy details of the developing situation in the USA. As the afternoon went on and the seriousness of the situation became clear, all ITV Network daytime programmes, starting with CITV
transmissions at 15:15, were relegated to Digital Terrestrial Television
channel ITV2
to continue rolling news coverage. The semi-dropped episode was therefore transmitted in full on ITV2 at 17:30 BST. However, at the time, the channel was only available to a very small number of viewers able to view the subscription-based forerunner to Freeview
, ITV Digital
. As a result, the episode remains unseen by most of the programme's regular fanbase, including the entire Channel Islands
who could not receive ITV Digital. A short re-cap of events in Episode 137 was screened before both the 14:10 and 17:05 showings of Episode 138 on 12 September 2001. The episode was included in the Omnibus edition that Sunday, again however this only went out on ITV2
.
wiped
and re-used most of the videotapes, and no episode survives before no.126 from April 1965. Network DVD
issued four volumes of the series on DVD
(UK Region 2) in 2005, with twelve of the original ATV episodes in each volume (the first release including Meg's 1975 wedding, the highest rated episode). The third release was delayed due to the loss of ATV documents listing which episodes still exist, and Granada Television
staff having to use other resources to locate episodes.
Crossroads Volume 3 was released on 26 February 2007. There are two versions of the DVD, one being a special limited edition, which contains an extra third disc - featuring recently found episodes from 1976. Crossroads Volume 4 was released on 17 September 2007.
Network DVD were in the process of releasing all the surviving episodes in transmission order exclusively through their website. The first set of 16 episodes was released in January 2008 and contained some episodes not previously available on earlier DVD releases. There are apparently 1,700 episodes of Crossroads in existence; most of these are from Central Television's run of the show from 1982 to 1988. Over 20 archive volumes of Crossroads, "with each and every surviving episode in transmission order", have been released so far, with Crossroads Archive Volume 20 the most recently released, in April 2009. On 2 November 2009, to coincide with the show's 45th anniversary, Network DVD re-released the 21 volumes - including Volume 1.1, see below - in a 41-disc box-set. The move angered some fans who had already bought the individual volumes on their original release.
A black and white Crossroads Archive Volume 1.1 has also been released, containing the episode from April 1965, along with 2 further episodes (nos. 1884 and 1886 from March 1973, which were both originally made in colour but now survive only as black and white telerecordings).
British television
Public television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
set in a fictional motel
Motel
A motor hotel, or motel for short, is a hotel designed for motorists, and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles...
near Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling
Peter Ling
Peter Ling was a British writer in many media, but best known for his work in television, where he was the co-creator of the soap opera Crossroads....
, the commercial
Commercial Television
Commercial Television was the third free-to-air broadcast television station in Hong Kong. It first went on air in 1975, and ceased transmissions in 1978.-History:...
ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network originally broadcast the series between 1964 and 1988. Produced by ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
(until the end of 1981) and later by Central
Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
it became a byword for cheap production values, particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s. The series was revived in a glossier version by Carlton Television
Carlton Television
Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
in 2001, but was again axed in 2003.
The original theme tune was composed by Tony Hatch
Tony Hatch
Anthony Peter "Tony" Hatch is an English composer, songwriter, pianist, music arranger and producer.-Early life and early career:...
; a new version, which was first aired in 1987 when the series was relaunched as Crossroads, Kings Oak, was composed by Raf Ravenscroft
Raphael Ravenscroft
Raphael Ravenscroft is a Scottish saxophonist and author on saxophone play. He now resides in Exeter, Devon, England.He is best known for his work with Gerry Rafferty, performing the saxophone solo on "Baker Street". Ravenscroft was paid £27 for the session, with a cheque that bounced...
and Max Early.
ATV (1964-1981)
According to Jeff EvansJeff Evans
Jeff Evans is a British writer and journalist. He is the author the Good Bottled Beer Guide, and was the editor of the Good Beer Guide from 1991 to 1998. He has also written about television.-Biography:...
in The Penguin TV Companion: "Few programmes have endured as much ridicule as Crossroads. At the same time, few programmes have won the hearts of so many viewers." Critically derided for its low budget and far-fetched scripts, Crossroads did though have prominent fans including Mary Wilson, the wife of then Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
.
Crossroads began its run on Monday 2 November 1964 and was first shown on five days a week, necessitating the programme be recorded 'as live' with very limited opportunities for retakes. The Independent Television Authority
Independent Television Authority
The Independent Television Authority was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" , the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom...
(ITA) decreed in 1967 that the series should be reduced in frequency to four episodes per week to improve the series' quality.
The newly-formed Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
, the franchisee for the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
area, decided in 1968 to stop showing the series. This was unpopular with viewers, with complainants reportedly including Mary Wilson; six months later the decision was reversed, but, as a result of the gap in transmissions, viewers in the Thames region were about six months behind the rest of the country for several years. The series was not fully networked until 1972, though by the 1970s it was second only to Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
in the ratings gaining 15 million viewers during the decade. In 1979 commercial broadcasting's regulator (by then the Independent Broadcasting Authority
Independent Broadcasting Authority
The Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...
) decided production should be reduced further, to three weekly episodes from April 1980, with the chairman of the IBA Lady Plowden
Bridget Plowden
Bridget Horatia Plowden was a British educational reformer. She chaired the group which produced the 1967 Plowden report on primary education in Britain, and was chair of the Independent Broadcasting Authority from 1975 to 1980. Her husband was Edwin Plowden, who became Lord Plowden.-References:...
reportedly described the soap opera as "distressingly popular". ATV planned to replace the fourth episode with a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
series called A Family Affair, but this idea was dropped. Noele Gordon
Noele Gordon
Noele Gordon was an English film and television actress.- Early life :Gordon's father was an engineer in the Merchant Navy and she was born in East Ham, London. After attending convent school at Forest Gate, she was taught to dance by the late Maude Wells and later spent several years living in...
, who played matriarch Meg Richardson, was the regular winner of the TV Times Most Popular Female Personality viewers award during the 1970s.
Viewers reacted negatively at the dismissal of Gordon in 1981, an action taken by Head of programming Charles Denton
Charles Denton (television and film producer)
Charles Denton is a British film and television producer and executive.He first worked for the BBC as a documentary filmmaker for five years from 1963, before he left the corporation to go freelance...
who became a "national hate figure". The series producer Jack Barton agreed with Denton, thinking that Gordon's character had become too dominant, but the epiode gained heavy coverage in the press for some time.
Central Independent Television (1982-1988)
ATV, having lost its franchise at the end of 1980, was ordered by the IBA to reform into Central Independent TelevisionCentral Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
, which took over the franchise on 1 January 1982, and was thought to show limited enthusism for the programmes it inherited. Further changes were introduced in March 1985, when new filming locations, sets and characters were introduced. Many storylines began to revolve around the new motel
Motel
A motor hotel, or motel for short, is a hotel designed for motorists, and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles...
owner, Nicola Freeman (Gabrielle Drake
Gabrielle Drake
Gabrielle Drake is a British actress who was born in Lahore, British India and lived in several Far Eastern countries .-Career:...
). Some long-term characters, such as David and Barbara Hunter, were axed. The theme tune was also updated, and the opening titles replaced with a longer version. Finally, the show was renamed Crossroads Motel - although this fact was never formally announced by the show's production team and the word "Motel" was simply incorporated into the opening titles.
In 1986, a new producer, William Smethurst, took over following the sacking of his predecessor, Philip Bowman. Smethurst, who had been brought in by Central Television's new Head of Drama, Ted Childs
Ted Childs
Edward Samuel "Ted" Childs is a British television producer, screenwriter and director, whose notable works include The Sweeney, Kavanagh QC, Soldier Soldier, Making Waves, Inspector Morse and its spin-off Lewis...
, ordered changes, aimed at creating a wittier, more upmarket serial, and at improving the production values of the show. Smethurst shifted the narrative centre to the nearby village of King's Oak. Yet more long-running characters, such as Diane Hunter and Benny Hawkins, were dropped; as with earlier changes, this was unpopular with fans, who telephoned Central in protest. Smethurst gained the nickname "Butcher Bill" but was unfazed; he had, after all, reversed the declining fortunes of the BBC radio soap The Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
. Smethurst insisted he only got the flak because his was the name the public knew. The last 18 months of the show saw vast improvements in terms of production values, more outside location work, better direction, wittier, funnier scripts and better characterisation. Michelle Buck guided the show through its final few months on air as Series Producer, with William Smethurst still on hand as Executive Producer.
Further changes included the series being renamed Crossroads King's Oak for a time, with the intention in the future of shortening this to King's Oak. Also, the familiar theme tune was replaced by a new theme composed by Max Early and Raf Ravenscroft. New titles were introduced to accompany the new theme, which featured stills of King's Oak and the new King's Oak Country Hotel. However, this final change was overtaken by the decision in June 1987 by Andy Allen, Central's Director of Programmes, to axe the series.
Crossroads King's Oak came to an end in 1988. The last, extended episode was on 4 April (a bank holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
), with the character of Jill (Jane Rossington
Jane Rossington
Jane Rossington is a British actress, best known for her role as Jill Richardson in the soap opera Crossroads.Born in Derby, Rossington's family moved to Sutton Coldfield when she was four years of age...
) riding off with her lover, John Maddingham (Jeremy Nicholas
Jeremy Nicholas (writer)
Jeremy Nicholas is an actor, writer, broadcaster, lyricist and musician. He is President of the Jerome K. Jerome Society.He was born on 20 September 1947 in Wellington, Shropshire, raised in Stafford and educated at Wycliffe College and the Birmingham School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art...
). Asked what name she would give the hotel she would be running in her new life, the character remarked, a little sadly, "I always thought Crossroads was an awfully good name".
Carlton Television (2001-2003)
Crossroads was revived in March 2001 as a Carlton TelevisionCarlton Television
Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
production with a glossy format (Carlton having bought Central back in 1993) to the surprise of the wider media. The revival was originally broadcast on weekdays at 1.30pm and 5.05pm on ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
. Four characters from the original series returned: Doris Luke (Kathy Staff
Kathy Staff
Kathy Staff was an English actress, well known for her work on British television...
), Jill Harvey (née
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Richardson), Jill's ex-husband Adam Chance (Tony Adams
Tony Adams (actor)
Tony Adams is a Welsh actor, best known for his performances in two British television soap operas.Adams was born in Anglesey, Wales, and he trained as an actor at the Italia Conti Stage School...
), and Jill's daughter Sarah-Jane Harvey (Joanne Farrell/Holly Newman). Initial reactions were favourable; however, changes in story from the original were puzzling for fans and didn't help ratings. Kathy Staff left in dismay at the amount of sex, and told ITV Teletext she felt it was no longer the family-friendly show she had originally been part of.
The decision to kill original character Jill Harvey, who was murdered by Adam Chance three months into the series' revival, proved unpopular with fans of the original show. Jane Rossington said she didn't want to commit herself to another long run in the show, but warned Carlton it would be suicidal to kill Jill.
The series went into hiatus from August 2002 to January 2003, during which time further changes were made. The remodelled series, under producer Yvon Grace, appeared to be a self-consciously camp parody, with Jane Asher
Jane Asher
Jane Asher is an English actress. She has also developed a second career as a cake decorator and cake shop proprietor.-Early life:...
playing a new central character - the glamorous and bitchy Angel Samson
Angel Samson
Angela "Angel" Samson was a character from ITV soap opera Crossroads, portrayed by Jane Asher in 2003.-Storylines:Angel is the Executive Manager of Crossroads and is married to Max Samson....
. The series also featured appearances from Kate O'Mara
Kate O'Mara
Kate O'Mara is an English film, stage and television actress. She is perhaps most widely known for her role as Caress Morell, the scheming sister of Alexis Colby in the 1980s American primetime soap opera Dynasty, though is also known for playing other villains such as The Rani in Doctor Who and...
, and people associated with light entertainment
Light entertainment
Light entertainment is a term used to describe a broad range of usually televisual performances. These include comedies, variety shows, quiz/game shows, sketch shows and people/surprise shows.-Light entertainment in Britain:...
, such as Lionel Blair
Lionel Blair
Lionel Blair is a British actor, choreographer, tap dancer and television presenter. He is the son of Myer Ogus and Deborah Greenbaum...
, Les Dennis
Les Dennis
Les Dennis is an English comedian, television presenter and actor best known as the host of Family Fortunes for 15 years.-Early life:...
and Tim Brooke-Taylor
Tim Brooke-Taylor
Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...
. The series also launched the careers of Freema Agyeman
Freema Agyeman
Freema Agyeman is a British actress who is best known for playing Martha Jones, former companion of the Tenth Doctor in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, and itsspin-off series Torchwood...
(Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
& a one-off appearance in Mile High
Mile High
Mile High is a British television drama based on the lives of the cabin crew members of "fresh!", a budget airline based in London. The name of the show comes from the "Mile High Club". The show was broadcast on Sky1 from 2003 to 2005.-Background:...
), Luke Roberts (Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
& Mile High
Mile High
Mile High is a British television drama based on the lives of the cabin crew members of "fresh!", a budget airline based in London. The name of the show comes from the "Mile High Club". The show was broadcast on Sky1 from 2003 to 2005.-Background:...
), Lucy Pargeter
Lucy Pargeter
Lucy Kate Pargeter is an English actress. She is best known for playing Helen Raven in Crossroads and Chastity Dingle in Emmerdale.-Early years:Lucy trained at the Central Junior Television Workshop...
, Shauna Shim
Shauna Shim
-Early days:Shim was raised in Nottingham, England, and trained at the Carlton Television Workshop alongside other actors such as Samantha Morton, Toby Kebbell, and Bafta award-winning director, Julian Kemp...
and Jessica Fox
Jessica Fox
Jessica Fox is an English actress. She is most notable for playing young witch Enid Nightshade in the CITV show The Worst Witch, whom she began playing in the late 1990s...
.
Grace admitted she was aiming the new Crossroads towards the gay market. But fans were not happy with her ambivalence towards unresolved storylines from the 2001-2002 run. Grace was reported as saying at its press launch: "Who cares if Phil is rotting in jail for a murder he didn't commit? I've changed everything, this is day one. We're not carrying on from where we left off. I was told this was its last chance."
Plans were in place to bring Adam Chance back on a 3 month contract in a last attempt to bring in more viewers; actor Tony Adams said that a down-on-his luck Adam would have been taken under Angel's wing as her personal assistant. But with ratings continuing to decline, the revived series was also axed, the final episode being broadcast on Friday 30 May 2003. The cast were contracted until the end of the year and continued to be paid after the series ended. The cancellation of Crossroads sealed the fate of Central's Lenton Lane studios in Nottingham, which ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
have since disposed of.
Characters and storylines
The original premise of Crossroads was based around two feuding sisters Kitty Jarvis (Beryl Johnstone) and Meg Richardson (Noele Gordon). Meg was a wealthy woman who, with the help of her late husband Charles's insurance money and compensation money from the council for them building a motorway through their land, turned her large Georgian house into a motel. "The Crossroads Motel" was located on the outskirts of the small village of Kings Oak,which was on the outskirts of Birmingham. With Charles, Meg had 2 children. The elder was a girl named Jill (born 1946) followed by Alexander (known as Sandy) in 1950. Kitty, on the other hand, was married to the unemployed Dick and was not wealthy. Dick and Kitty bought a newsagents and tobacconists shop in the nearby town of Heathbury a few years after the show started. Kitty and Dick had a son called Brian, born in 1945. The idea of the sisters 'feuding' was soon dropped.The show had several characters in its early years. They included Meg and Kitty's brother, Andy Fraser, who became engaged and later married to motel secretary Ruth Bailey in 1965. Hotel chef Carlos Raphael and his wife Josefina who was a waitress along with Marilyn Gates. Kitchen assistant Amy Turtle, later briefly arrested as a suspected Soviet spy, joined the series in 1965 as did postmistress Miss Edith Tatum. Also featured was motel handyman and groundsman Philip Winter. Long running character Diane Lawton arrived in 1966. Other additions included Megs close friend, former actress, Tish Hope; the suave manager and later motel director David Hunter; his first wife Rosemary and son Chris and his second wife Barbara; Chefs Mr. Lovejoy, Mr. Booth and Shughie McFee; hairdresser Vera Downend; accountant and later motel manager Adam Chance; and cleaner Doris Luke. However, the most memorable character proved to be the 'village idiot' Benny Hawkins, whose trademark was a woolly hat worn all year round. His fans included British troops serving in the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
in 1982, who nicknamed the Falkland Islanders
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
Bennies after the character. Instructed to stop using the name, the troops came up with "Stills" for locals - because they were "still Bennies".
Over the years the series dealt with storylines controversial for the times. A single parent working at the motel seems staid now, but was hugely controversial in the mid-1960s; Sandy Richardson was injured in a car accident in 1972 and need to use a wheelchair, the first paraplegic regular character in British soap opera; by coincidence actor Roger Tonge himself later ended up in a wheelchair. The series also saw black characters appearing regularly - a follow-on from the 1960s BBC soap Compact, also created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling. Melanie Harper (played by Cleo Sylvestre
Cleo Sylvestre
Cleo Syvestre is an actress who has made numerous appearances on United Kingdom television over a 40 year period....
) arrived at the motel in 1970 as Meg's foster daughter (itself a taboo issue). Cleo was given the role by producer Reg Watson
Reg Watson
Reginald James "Reg" Watson AM is an Australian television producer, best known for creating soap operas like Prisoner and Neighbours.-Career:...
after press coverage of racial tensions in the Birmingham area at that time. In 1978, garage mechanic Joe MacDonald (played by Carl Andrews
Carl Andrews (Actor)
Carl Andrews was a British character actor. Andrews most notable role was as garage mechanic Joe MacDonald, British soap opera's first, and one of the longest serving, recurring black characters in the original version of the popular motel soap Crossroads. Andrews remained in the role from 1978...
) arrived. The year before, an inter-racial summer romance took place between Cockney garage mechanic, Dennis Harper (played by Merlin Ward, but credited as Guy Ward), and motel receptionist Meena Chaudri (Karan David).
1981 saw a highly controversial storyline about a false accusation of rape; a 1983 storyline saw a test tube baby born to Glenda and Kevin Banks (played by Lynette McMorrough and David Moran). The subject of Downs Syndrome was also raised in 1983 with an insight into the life of Nina Weill, a little girl who, as Nina Paget, was befriended by three of the regular Crossroads characters.
Meg - axed in 1981 - was thought to have died in a fire that gutted the motel, but turned up alive aboard the QE2
RMS Queen Elizabeth 2
Queen Elizabeth 2, often referred to simply as the QE2, is an ocean liner that was operated by Cunard from 1969 to 2008. Following her retirement from cruising, she is now owned by Istithmar...
, about to sail to a new life overseas. Newspapers reported that two endings were planned for Meg - Meg would die in the fire, the other ending would have her disappear for a while and turn up on the QE2. Viewers were surprised to see producers had used both. Meg returned briefly in 1983 for a reunion with Jill and Adam on their honeymoon in Venice
New producer Phillip Bowman was planning to bring the character of Meg Mortimer back into the show as a "permanent occasional" - and plans were well advanced when Noele Gordon died in 1985.
With the revival in 2001, changes were made to characters and stories. The returning character of Jill Chance had married the now-dead John Maddingham, but was calling herself Jill Harvey again, the name by which she had been known prior to her marriage to Adam Chance in 1983. References were also made to the Russell family taking over a "failing motel", despite Crossroads having become a hotel in the late 1980s; in the final episode of the original series, the name 'King's Oak Country Hotel' was seen over the entrance doors.
Lack of real links to the past, and the killing of Jill a few months into the new run, turned many fans away. Despite this, the series did pick up a respectable number of viewers to become one of ITV's highest rated daytime shows. Popular characters in the new Crossroads included new owner Kate Russell (Jane Gurnett), supercilious receptionist Virginia Raven (Sherrie Hewson
Sherrie Hewson
Sherrie Lynn Hutchinson is an English actor, broadcaster and novelist.-Early life:Born in Nottinghamshire, Hewson was brought up in a showbusiness family; her father was a singer and her mother a model. She began performing at the age of six, touring the UK's theatres in revues with her own...
), and womanising deputy manager Jake Booth (Colin Wells
Colin Wells (actor)
Colin Wells, born 11 September 1963, is an English actor best known for his role as Johnno Dean in the long-running television drama series, Hollyoaks....
).
The storyline of the final episode was the revelation that the glamorous hotel had been a dream of supermarket worker Angela, with all the other characters revealed as shoppers. Angela even approaches a female customer in the supermarket and tells her she recognises her as Tracey (Booth) from the "TV soap Crossroads"; Tracey's mother-in-law, Kate, was also shown as one of Angela's colleagues in the supermarket.
Here is a list of some of the most memorable characters from the first incarnation (1964–1988) and their years on the show:
+=Original Cast Member
@=Cast Member At End Of Series
- Meg Richardson/Mortimer (Noele GordonNoele GordonNoele Gordon was an English film and television actress.- Early life :Gordon's father was an engineer in the Merchant Navy and she was born in East Ham, London. After attending convent school at Forest Gate, she was taught to dance by the late Maude Wells and later spent several years living in...
) 1964-1983 + - Jill Richardson/Harvey/Chance (Jane RossingtonJane RossingtonJane Rossington is a British actress, best known for her role as Jill Richardson in the soap opera Crossroads.Born in Derby, Rossington's family moved to Sutton Coldfield when she was four years of age...
) 1964-1988 + @ - Sandy Richardson (Roger TongeRoger TongeRoger Tonge was a British actor.Born Anthony Roger Tonge in Birmingham, he was working as an £8-a-week post office clerk and performing in amateur dramatics in the evenings when he landed the role of Sandy Richardson, the motel owner's son in the ATV soap opera, Crossroads, a role he would play...
) 1964-1981 + - Kitty Jarvis (Beryl Johnstone) 1964-1969 +
- Dick Jarvis (Brian Kent) 1964-1972 +
- Brian Jarvis (David Fennell) 1964-1975 +
- Philip Winter (Malcolm Young) 1964-1965 +
- Rev. Guy Atkins (Arnold RidleyArnold RidleyMajor William Arnold Ridley, OBE was an English playwright and actor, first notable as the author of the play The Ghost Train and later in life for portraying the elderly Private Charles Godfrey in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army .-Early life:Ridley was born in Walcot, Bath, England where...
) 1964-1968 + - Andy Fraser (Ian Patterson) 1965-1975
- Ruth Bailey/Fraser (Pamela Greenall) 1965-1975
- Marilyn Gates/Hope (Sue NichollsSue NichollsSusan Frances Harmar Nicholls is an English actress, best known today for her long-running role as Audrey Roberts in British soap opera Coronation Street.-Early life:...
/Nadine Hanwell) 1965-1972 - Carlos Raphael (Anthony Morton) 1965-1968
- Josefina Raphael (Gillian Betts) 1965-1970
- Hugh Mortimer (John BentleyJohn Bentley (actor)John Bentley was a British film actor who emerged in the 1970s as Hugh Mortimer, Meg Richardson's ill-fated new husband in the soap opera Crossroads. He also starred in the jungle adventure series African Patrol as Chief Inspector Paul Derek and made various other guest appearances...
) 1965-1978 - Miss Tatum (Elisabeth CroftElisabeth CroftElisabeth Croft was an English actress. Her best known role was playing postmistress Miss Edith Tatum in the ITV soap opera Crossroads between 1966 and 1983.-Early and personal life:...
) 1965-1983 - Amy Turtle (Ann GeorgeAnn GeorgeAnn George was a British actress best known for her role as Amy Turtle in the television soap opera Crossroads.-Early life and career:...
) 1965-1988 @ - Dr Derek Maynard (Brian Hankins) 1965-1972
- Diane Lawton/Parker/Hunter (Susan HansonSusan HansonSusan Hanson is an English actress who played the part of Diane Parker in the long-running British soap opera Crossroads from 1966 to 1987. Hanson is the widow of musician Carl Wayne, with whom she has a son, Jack.Susan married singer Carl Wayne in 1974...
) 1966-1987 - Tish Hope (Joy Andrews) 1967-1980
- Ted Hope (Charles Stapley) 1968-1979
- Rev. Peter Hope (Neville Hughes) 1968-1972
- Archie Gibbs (Jack HaigJack HaigJack Haig was a British actor who specialised in supporting roles, mainly in TV comedy.Haig was the son of music hall actors Bertha Baker and Charles Coppin, whose act went under the name "Haig and Esco". He was seen in a long list of British TV favourites: Hugh and I, Dad's Army, Are You Being...
) 1967-1982 - Vince Parker (Peter Brookes) 1968-1975
- David Hunter (Ronald AllenRonald AllenRonald John Allen was an English character actor who achieved the status of a soap opera star.Allen was born in Reading, Berkshire...
) 1969-1985 - Rosemary Hunter (Janet Hargreaves) 1971-1980
- Chris Hunter (Freddie Foot/Stephen Hoye) 1971-1981
- Gerald Lovejoy (William Avennell) 1968-1974
- Bernard Booth (David Lawton) 1969-1979
- Sandra Gould (Diane KeenDiane KeenDiane Keen is an English actress.Keen is possibly best known for her starring roles in the British TV drama Doctors which she has been in since 2003 , and in the 1970s comedy series The Cuckoo Waltz and Rings on Their Fingers.-Personal life:Keen has one daughter, actress Melissa Greenwood, from...
) 1968-1971 - Vera Downend (Zeph Gladstone) 1970-1977
- Stan Harvey (Edward Clayton) 1970-1985
- Sheila Harvey/Mollison (Sonia Fox) 1970-1976
- Wilf Harvey (Morris Parsons) 1970-1976
- Paul Stevens (Paul Greenwood) 1970-1971
- Anne Taylor/Powell (Caroline Dowdswell) 1970-1976
- Jane Smith (Sally Adcock) 1971-1978
- Bill Warren (David Valla) 1973-1976
- Rita Witton (Jo Richardson) 1972-1976
- Cliff Leyton (Johnny BriggsJohnny Briggs (actor)Johnny Briggs, MBE is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Mike Baldwin in the soap opera Coronation Street, in which he appeared from 1976 to 2006...
) 1973-1975 - Shughie McFee (Angus LennieAngus LennieAngus Lennie is a Scottish actor best known for his film appearance as Steve McQueen's friend Archibald Ives in the 1963 film The Great Escape. He was also known for being in the television soap opera Crossroads....
) 1974-1981 - Benny Hawkins (Paul HenryPaul Henry (actor)Paul Henry, is a British actor, best known for his role in the soap opera, Crossroads.Born in Birmingham, he attended the city's Alderlea Boys School in Shard End with Jeff Lynne, later leader of the Electric Light Orchestra pop group. Henry trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama,...
) 1975-1987 - Carney (Jack WoolgarJack WoolgarJack Woolgar was a British character actor working in television and film in the 1960s and 1970s.He began acting towards the end of the Second World War and turned professional shortly afterwards, working in repertory theatre and touring around the UK...
) 1975-1978 - Jim Baines (John Forgeham)1975-1978
- Ed Lawton (Thomas Heathcote) 1975-1979
- Barbara Brady/Hunter (Sue LloydSue LloydSue Lloyd was an English model turned actress with numerous film and television credits.-Biography:...
) 1975-1985 - Dr. Lloyd Munro (Alan Gifford) 1975-1980
- Winnie Plumtree (Hilda BraidHilda BraidHilda Braid was an English actress who had a long career on British television and became well known in her later years for playing Victoria "Nana" Moon in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders....
) 1976-1978 - Sharon Metcalfe (Carolyn Jones) 1977-1984
- Glenda Brownlow/Banks (Lynette McMorrough) 1976-1986
- Doris Luke (Kathy StaffKathy StaffKathy Staff was an English actress, well known for her work on British television...
) 1978-1984 - Adam Chance (Tony AdamsTony Adams (actor)Tony Adams is a Welsh actor, best known for his performances in two British television soap operas.Adams was born in Anglesey, Wales, and he trained as an actor at the Italia Conti Stage School...
) 1978-1988 @ - Kath Brownlow/Fellowes (Pamela Vazey) 1979-1987
- Arthur Brownlow (Peter Hill) 1979-1982
- Marian Owen (Margaret JohnMargaret JohnMargaret John was a Welsh, BAFTA award-winning actress, best known for her role as Doris in Gavin & Stacey. She has been described, by fellow actress Ruth Jones, as "an absolute national treasure".-Early life:...
) 1979-1985 - Reg Cotterill (Ivor Salter) 1979-1980
- Alison Cotterill (Carina Wyeth) 1979-1980
- Joe MacDonald (Carl Andrews) 1978-1986
- Iris Scott (Angela Webb) 1980-1983
- Kevin Banks (David Moran) 1980-1985
- Miranda Pollard (Claire Faulconbridge) 1980-1986
- J. Henry Pollard (Michael Turner) 1980-1985
- Valerie Pollard/Reporter (Heather ChasenHeather ChasenHeather Jean Chasen is a Singapore-born English actress. Her best known roles are playing Valerie Pollard in the ITV soap opera Crossroads and voicing many roles in BBC Radio 2's The Navy Lark...
) 1982-1986 - Mavis Hooper (Charmain Eyre) 1981-1986
- Sid Hooper (Stan Stennett) 1982-1987
- Reg Lamont (Reginald MarshReginald Marsh (actor)Reginald Marsh was an English actor who is best remembered for starring in many British sitcoms from the 1970s onwards.-Early life and career:...
) 1982-1984 - Jennifer Lamont (Jean KentJean KentJean Kent is a British film actress who appeared in a number of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s.-Biography:Jean Kent was born in Brixton, London as Joan Mildred Summerfield. She started her theatrical career as a dancer in 1931. Initially, she used the stage name of Jean Carr when she...
) 1982-1983 - Paul Ross (Sandor ElèsSandor ElèsSandor Elès was a Hungarian-born actor....
) 1982-1986 - Anne Marie Wade (Dee HepburnDee HepburnDee Hepburn is a former actor.She trained in acting, and took a part as a school girl in the BBC's production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. She starred in Bill Forsyth's 1981 film Gregory's Girl, playing John Gordon Sinclair's love interest Dorothy...
) 1985-1988 @ - Nicola Freeman (Gabrielle DrakeGabrielle DrakeGabrielle Drake is a British actress who was born in Lahore, British India and lived in several Far Eastern countries .-Career:...
) 1985-1987 - Daniel Freeman (Philip Goodhew) 1985-1988 @
- Mr Darby (Patrick Jordan) 1985-1988 @
- Charlie Mycroft (Graham SeedGraham SeedGraham Seed is an English actor.He trained at RADA and is best known for his role playing Nigel Pargetter in the BBC radio series The Archers from 1983 until January 2011, although actor Nigel Carrington briefly played the role when Graham Seed took a break in the late 1980s...
) 1985-1988 @ - Roy Lambert (Steven Pinder) 1985-1987
- Mrs. Tardebigge (Elsie KellyElsie KellyElsie Kelly is a British actress born on 13 May 1935 in Lancashire, England.-Career:Kelly first appeared in the popular television soap opera Crossroads as early as 1964 but it wasn't until 1968, after playing lots of small parts in the series, that she was given a more regular role as cleaner and...
) 1986-1988 @ - Tommy Lancaster (Terence RigbyTerence RigbyTerence Christopher Rigby was an English actor with a number of film and television credits to his name. In the 1970s he was well-known as police dog-handler PC Snow in the long-running series Softly, Softly: Taskforce...
) 1987-1988 @ - Debbie Lancaster (Kathryn Hurlbutt) 1987-1988 @
- Lisa Lancaster (Alison Dowling) 1987-1988 @
Locations
Kings Oak
Kings Oak was the fictional village in the television serial Crossroads which ran on ITV between 1964 and 1988 and returned in 2001 and axed in 2003.It is sometimes written as King's Oak....
(there are real suburbs in south-west Birmingham called Kings Heath
Kings Heath
Kings Heath is a suburb of Birmingham, England, five miles south of the city centre. It is the next suburb south from Moseley on the Alcester Road.-History:...
, Kings Norton
Kings Norton
Kings Norton is an area of Birmingham, England. It is also a Birmingham City Council ward within the formal district of Northfield.-History:...
and Selly Oak
Selly Oak
Selly Oak is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb is bordered by Bournbrook and Selly Park to the north-east, Edgbaston and Harborne to the north, Weoley Castle and Weoley Hill to the west, and Bournville to the south...
). A number of real-life hotels doubled for location filming; it is stated in the 1982 Crossroads Special that the Longshoot Motel (Nuneaton) was used as a 'blueprint' in designing the motel and it is likely that some scenes were filmed there during the run of the series.
In 1970, the series gained a film unit, giving it the freedom to do location shooting. Originally, Tanworth-in-Arden
Tanworth-in-Arden
Tanworth-in-Arden is a small village located in the county of Warwickshire, England. It is located south-east of Birmingham in the Tanworth-in-Arden parish and is administered by Stratford-on-Avon District Council...
was used for King's Oak, although outside scenes were only occasionally used. Under Central, more location shooting began to be featured. Some early King's Oak location material was also filmed in Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
. The most famous location - as seen in the programme during the 1960s and 1970s was not a motel at all, but an agricultural college in Shropshire. It has also been suggested that Crossroads was filmed at a motel just south of Birmingham city centre called CherryTrees (the buildings were demolished in 2001). After the in-story destruction of the motel by fire, the revamped motel was filmed from 1982 at The Golden Valley Hotel in Cheltenham; from 1985 filming moved to the Penns Hall Hotel (now Ramada Jarvis
Ramada Jarvis
Ramada Jarvis was a chain of 42 3 star and 4 star hotels located throughout the mainland of the United Kingdom . The Elcot Park Hotel in Newbury was one of the hotels in this chain, along with multiple others in large locations such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Birmingham, Manchester and...
Birmingham) in Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield is a suburb of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton is located about from central Birmingham but has borders with Erdington and Kingstanding. Sutton is in the northeast of Birmingham, with a population of 105,000 recorded in the 2001 census...
, the changed appearance explained as being due to rebuilding. At the time of the move to Sutton Coldfield, new studio sets were also introduced.
Other locations included the canal (including Gas Street Basin
Gas Street Basin
Gas Street Basin is a canal basin in the centre of Birmingham, England, where the Worcester and Birmingham Canal meets the BCN Main Line. It is located on Gas Street, off Broad Street, and between the Mailbox and Brindleyplace canal-side developments....
) behind the studios in Birmingham; in-story this was the King's Oak Canal, on which Vera had a barge. The Chateau Impney Hotel also featured numerous times, most famously when Hugh proposed to Meg in 1973, and it was used to hold their wedding party two years later. The Chateau Impney
Chateau Impney
Chateau Impney is an imposing 19th century house built in the style of an elaborate French château near Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire, England...
was renamed the Droitwich Hotel on-screen. St Laurence's church in Alvechurch was the setting for Jill and Adam Chance's wedding in 1983. Hagley Hall
Hagley Hall
Hagley Hall is an 18th century house in Hagley, Worcestershire. It was the creation of George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton , secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales, poet and man of letters and briefly Chancellor of the Exchequer...
was used for the wedding reception.
In 1985, Crossroads gained its first set of full length opening titles, filmed around Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield is a suburb of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton is located about from central Birmingham but has borders with Erdington and Kingstanding. Sutton is in the northeast of Birmingham, with a population of 105,000 recorded in the 2001 census...
, Tanworth-in-Arden
Tanworth-in-Arden
Tanworth-in-Arden is a small village located in the county of Warwickshire, England. It is located south-east of Birmingham in the Tanworth-in-Arden parish and is administered by Stratford-on-Avon District Council...
and in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
city centre.
The revived Crossroads from 2001 was still set in the West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
; however, exterior shots were filmed at locations in and around Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, such as Bingham
Bingham, Nottinghamshire
Bingham is a market town in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire, England.-Geography:With a population of around 9,000 people it lies about nine miles east of Nottingham, a similar distance south-west of Newark-on-Trent and west of Grantham. It is situated where the A46 intersects the A52...
and Redmile
Redmile
Redmile is a village and civil parish in the Melton district of Leicestershire, England, about north of Melton Mowbray and west of Grantham, in the Vale of Belvoir....
.
The original series was recorded at the Broad Street / Gas Street Studios in Birmingham, while the revived series was filmed in the Carlton Studios
King's Meadow Campus
King's Meadow Campus is a campus, that is part of the University of Nottingham, and is located in Nottingham. It opened in 1983, as a television studio complex, called East Midlands Television Centre from 1983 till 1994 and Carlton Studios from 1994 till 2005.-East Midlands Television Centre...
in Nottingham.
Partially Aired Episode on 11 September 2001
Episode 137 of the second series remains the only episode never to be shown in full on ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. The lunchtime screening on Tuesday 11 September 2001 began at 14:10 BST. At the halfway commercial-break point however, the programme was interrupted to hand over to ITV News
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. Since 1955, ITV's news bulletins have been produced by Independent Television News . The channel's news coverage has won awards from the Royal Television Society, Emmy Awards and BAFTAs. Between 2004 and 2008, the...
for then very sketchy details of the developing situation in the USA. As the afternoon went on and the seriousness of the situation became clear, all ITV Network daytime programmes, starting with CITV
CITV
CITV is a British television channel from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive, as well as commissions and acquisitions. CITV itself is the programming block on the main ITV Network .The CITV channel broadcasts from 06:00 to 18:00...
transmissions at 15:15, were relegated to Digital Terrestrial Television
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
channel ITV2
ITV2
ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms. The channel has the...
to continue rolling news coverage. The semi-dropped episode was therefore transmitted in full on ITV2 at 17:30 BST. However, at the time, the channel was only available to a very small number of viewers able to view the subscription-based forerunner to Freeview
Freeview
DTV Services, trading as Freeview, is the name for the collection of free-to-air services on the Digital Terrestrial Television platform in the UK. The service is jointly run by its five equal shareholders, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky and transmitter operator Arqiva. DTV Services is designed to market...
, ITV Digital
ITV Digital
ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster, which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network as ONdigital in 1998 and briefly re-branded as ITV Digital in July 2001, before the service ceased in May 2002. Its main shareholders...
. As a result, the episode remains unseen by most of the programme's regular fanbase, including the entire Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
who could not receive ITV Digital. A short re-cap of events in Episode 137 was screened before both the 14:10 and 17:05 showings of Episode 138 on 12 September 2001. The episode was included in the Omnibus edition that Sunday, again however this only went out on ITV2
ITV2
ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms. The channel has the...
.
DVD release
Very few recordings officially exist of episodes broadcast before the end of 1981 because ATVAssociated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
wiped
Wiping
Wiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...
and re-used most of the videotapes, and no episode survives before no.126 from April 1965. Network DVD
Network DVD
Network DVD is a DVD publishing company that specialises in classic British television. In particular, it has the rights to a number of well-known ITV programmes...
issued four volumes of the series on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
(UK Region 2) in 2005, with twelve of the original ATV episodes in each volume (the first release including Meg's 1975 wedding, the highest rated episode). The third release was delayed due to the loss of ATV documents listing which episodes still exist, and Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
staff having to use other resources to locate episodes.
Crossroads Volume 3 was released on 26 February 2007. There are two versions of the DVD, one being a special limited edition, which contains an extra third disc - featuring recently found episodes from 1976. Crossroads Volume 4 was released on 17 September 2007.
Network DVD were in the process of releasing all the surviving episodes in transmission order exclusively through their website. The first set of 16 episodes was released in January 2008 and contained some episodes not previously available on earlier DVD releases. There are apparently 1,700 episodes of Crossroads in existence; most of these are from Central Television's run of the show from 1982 to 1988. Over 20 archive volumes of Crossroads, "with each and every surviving episode in transmission order", have been released so far, with Crossroads Archive Volume 20 the most recently released, in April 2009. On 2 November 2009, to coincide with the show's 45th anniversary, Network DVD re-released the 21 volumes - including Volume 1.1, see below - in a 41-disc box-set. The move angered some fans who had already bought the individual volumes on their original release.
A black and white Crossroads Archive Volume 1.1 has also been released, containing the episode from April 1965, along with 2 further episodes (nos. 1884 and 1886 from March 1973, which were both originally made in colour but now survive only as black and white telerecordings).
External links
- Classic episodes of the soap to watch on ITV's website.- Crossroads Appreciation Society official fan club's tribute website, endorsed by ITV Central.
- Crossroads 2001 All about the second series of ITV's hotel soap opera.
- Destination Crossroads Views and opinions on all three series of the soap.
- Planet Crossroads fan site
- Freema Agyeman as Lola Wise in Crossroads III 2003
- Crossroads facts and memories Features about Crossroads