Crossroads

I was never a fan. Despite the factory production-line acting and writing it gave simple pleasure to millions and that's surely a good thing.

Reviewers then as now enjoy indirectly mocking the masses for their lack of taste by mocking what the masses enjoy.

The previous reviewer is quite right. Crossroads was of the "so bad, it's good" ilk. Still, during its peak it had its followers including the (then) prime minister's wife, Mrs. Mary Wilson, a staunch follower. Crossroads suffered from a hectic schedule, originally five days a week. No time for retakes, so it was not uncommon to see a camera crew whizzing by in the background, or to witness an overhanging microphone at the top of the TV screen. Fluffed lines guaranteed in every episode. In its favor, it did not bring dead and buried characters back to life, or have five different actors play the same character (as is common in US soaps). Aside from those mentioned, there were many other memorable characters such as the mousy postmistress Miss Tatum (Elisabeth Croft), the "tart with a heart" hairdresser Vera Downend (Zeph Gladstone), and the kitchen gossip Amy Turtle (Ann George, who deserved an award for worst actress).

Looking back years later, and having spent ten years in the States, I can only compare Crossroads star Noele Gordon to Susan Lucci, the queen of US soaps. Gordon was hardly the glamorous star that Lucci is, but she was undoubtedly THE queen of the UK soap. When she was unceremoniously dumped from Crossroads in 1981, there was a public outcry, and the soap's fate was sealed (as was Gordon's who never quite got over her dismissal and died four years later). Crossroads was given an overhaul and plodded on for a few more years. In the last episode, Jane Rossington (Gordon's screen daughter who spoke the first lines in 1964) drove off into the distance (sunset unavailable) and it was the end of an era. Crossroads and Coronation Street often replaced each other at No. 1 in the charts, just as Coronation Street and Eastenders do these day. That's how good/bad it was.

Yes, Carlton Television who brought Central TV is now bringing back the Queen of soaps.

Crossroads will no doubt be very different to what we used to see on our screens, but it would be wonderful to hear that music again as well as travel through the village of Kings Oak once again.

I, for one, will be glued to the screen to see what strange new storylines the writers will come up with. I don't think I'll be alone either.

Welcome back Crossroads, show EastEnders and Coronation Street what REAL soap-opera is all about!

To sum up Crossroads is a task which is practically impossible. The wobbly set legend is a strange one, we know when the show started it was filmed in a old cinema, so the sets were of a stage-production quality, but when Crossroads moved into ATV Centre (1970) those wobbles became no worse than any other TV show. (In fact I noticed a wobble in one of the sets on Coronation St a few months ago)

Was the 'so bad, its good' true? Well no, the cast and crew put in 110% into the programme, ATV were not exactly generous with cash, so maybe it did look cheap, however unless other soaps they were doing Crossroads five times a week on less cash than the rest so the fact they made anything at least half decent should be praised not knocked.

The show was a ground-breaker, but people prefer to knock it and insult its 17 million fans in the process. Crossroads made television history time and time again, yet how many people know of any of these feats?

Maybe the legend of the wobbles and the poor standards have actually stood the show well as even nearly 20 years after it disappeared everyone still knows of Crossroads.

Today compared with the poor Carlton version, the original Crossroads now stands out as a classic. The show boasted a host of stars, David Jason, Bob Monkhouse, Max Wall, Elaine Paige, Ken Dodd, Sue Nicholls and Johnny Briggs all stayed within the motel to name only a few.

The story lines at the time were said to be sometimes far fetched, but nothing compared to some that appeared later in Brookside or Coronation Street. Crossroads set the trend for real-life issue based plots, it also aimed to entertain. It was a family soap, something that is rare on television today. It wasn't afraid to be different, and it never gave in to the TV Critics, as Lord Lew Grade said, he made the show for the fans, not for the ATV cash generator or critics. Something ITV could learn from today. It might have been cheap but it was popular, and thats something many expensive shows have failed to be!

At its best probably in the 1960s, Crossroads was always terrific fun.

The programme had an innocence and lightness of touch in its 60s days that it lost in the 70s and great fun was to be had as sets occasionally wobbled and studio arc lights fell down! The 1960s characters were great - and included such legendaries as the Richardsons and Hugh Mortimer, Diane, Tish Hope, Marilyn Gates (mark 1!) Mr Lovejoy and Mr Booth and Amy Turtle.

The show was daring - a storyline about a single mother, a waitress at the motel, was strong stuff back then. But murder was more difficult. In a 1960s story involving the character Gerald Bailey (whose wife, Ruth, later married Meg's brother) great pains had to be taken so as not to "distress" viewers in a storyline originally envisaged as murder, but later reconfigured to "sudden death".

However, by the late 1960s, attempted murder WAS allowed as we saw the character Malcolm Ryder trying to poison the show's heroine, Meg Richardson - his wife in the plot at that time! The 70s and 80s episodes are also great fun. The 70s episodes have added value as we see all sorts of middle aged people wearing the garish and flared style of clothes which were so cutting edge and trendy amongst the young hippies of the 1967/1968 Summer Of Love. Younger 70s characters, like Martin Bell, look positively dowdy in comparison to the 60s fashion following older set!

The 70s and 80s episodes saw a continuation of cutting edge soap story lines - I particularly recall the introduction of Benny in the 1970s (learning difficulties) and the terrific Downs Syndrome and racism story lines in the 1980s.

In the 1980s, the show altered dramatically and it seemed a terrible shame to dispatch Meg, but Crossroads gave excellent value with the introduction of chararacters such as Valerie Pollard and Nicola Freeman and a brief return for Amy Turtle! I followed the show from start to finish and enjoyed it all, though I do feel now that the 70s episodes are rather over-hyped (so much 70s stuff really belongs to the 60s!). From wonky but lovable 60s soap to shoulder padded, witty but gentle late 80s ending, Crossroads was required viewing for me for an awful lot of years.

Happy memories!