Crossroads (soap opera)
| Crossroads | |
|---|---|
2003 title sequence
|
|
| Created by |
Hazel Adair Peter Ling |
| Written by | Michala Crees Ivor Jay Rosalie Grayson Raymond Bowers David Garfield Edward F. Barnes Arthur Schmidt Alan Wiggins Aubrey Cash |
| Directed by | John Scholz-Conway Dorothy Denham Alan Coleman Jack Barton Teddy Abraham David Dunn Geoff Husson Mike Holgate |
| Starring | |
| Opening theme | Tony Hatch |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Broad Street Studios, Birmingham (1964–1988) Carlton Studios, Nottingham (2001–2003) |
| Running time | 30 minutes (including adverts) |
| Production company(s) |
ATV (1964–1981) Central Independent Television (1982–1988) Carlton Television (2001–2003) |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Original release | 2 November 1964 – 30 May 2003 |
| Website | |
Crossroads was a British television soap opera that ran on ITV. Set in a fictional motel (later a hotel) in the Midlands in England, Crossroads became a byword for cheap production values, particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s. Despite this, the series regularly attracted huge audiences during this time, with ratings as high as 15 million viewers.
It was created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling and produced by ATV (until the end of 1981) and then by ATV's successor, Central Independent Television until 1988. The series was revived by Carlton Television in 2001, however due to low ratings it was cancelled again in 2003.
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 King's Oak, which was on the outskirts of Birmingham. With Charles, Meg had two 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 Meg's 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; the Harvey family, consisting of father Wilf and his grown children Stan and Sheila; accountant and later motel manager Adam Chance; and cleaner Doris Luke. Perhaps 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".
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