Crossroads Crossroads: 1964-1988, 2001-2003

[ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989]

Because even Britian's most bizarre soap deserves a thread too, and there was a hilarious thread on it before the web crash.

It also inspired the hilarious Victoria Wood spoof; Acorn Antiques

Shall we discuss folks?

 

[Angela Channing]

I don't agree that is was a bizarre soap, I thought it had some really good story lines and was always entertaining. Easily my favourite of all the UK soaps that I've seen and the only one that I used to watch regularly.

 

[ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989]

I meant it in a tongue and cheek way naturally

It was a good soap, I've seen some episodes from the 80s, a few from the early 1970s too.

The 1981-88 era was several smaller eras in one I felt found, the show was fairly consistent in the Meg/Noelle era 1964-1981, but it was still a decent soap

 

[Barbara Fan]

Forced to watch it ay my Nans (she never liked BBC) but strangely even when i wasnt at her house, found it was on TV lol

My mum thought David Hunter was "dishy" if i recall

 

[Barbara Fan]

from this weeks TV times

 

[Angela Channing]

"Famous for it's wobbly sets and acting" and "24 years of wobbly sets and fluffed lines" doesn't describe the show that I remembered. Maybe because I was very young at the time but I didn't think the sets were any less stable than other shows on at the time and the acting was as good, if not better, than that in many other dramas on TV at the time. I think it's lazy journalism to constantly refer to apocryphal stories of shaky sets and bad acting or maybe some people are confusing Crossroads with Acorn Antiques when they describe the show because if they watched the show regularly they would realise sets and acting was actually quite good.

 

[Mo Mouse]

Jill was one of my all time fave soap women.

I also remember the comeback episodes in 2000 ish - the young female chef was Caz from Corrie.

 

[ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989]

Crossroads was only creaky in its early days, Corrie had some creaky set moments too, EastEnders Queen Vic set used to to creak and shake alot.

Crossroads was no worse or better than any other soap.

Jill was my favourite too, I also loved The Hunters.

 

[James from London]

The setting what was made it bizarre: people from differing social strata working, socialising and dating all in the same building - often in the same room. (I always think of Kate Hamilton finishing at reception and then going on a date ... inches away from where she had just been working!)

There's an interview somewhere with a writer who worked on both Crossroads and Coronation Street who said he could write the same kind of dialogue or story for both shows, but it just inherently made more sense on Corrie simply because of the logical structure of the show - people meet in different places: the pub, the corner shop, a house, the street itself - whereas on Crossroads, 80% of the action took place in this one weirdly artificial environment - an upmarket motel in Birmingham! But yeah, once you buy into (or ignore) the weirdness of the concept then it works on its own terms and yes, the acting is no worse than the other soaps of the period. Certainly, the likes of Sandy and Diane were always totally believable (and often very funny).

 

[Barbara Fan]

another Crossroads article - TV times seem obsessed with wobbly sets

PS I thought groucho marx as Gordon kaye from Allo Allo

 

[Barbara Fan]

and another



love BF x

 

[ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989]

The setting what was made it bizarre: people from differing social strata working, socialising and dating all in the same building - often in the same room. (I always think of Kate Hamilton finishing at reception and then going on a date ... inches away from where she had just been working!)

There's an interview somewhere with a writer who worked on both Crossroads and Coronation Street who said he could write the same kind of dialogue or story for both shows, but it just inherently made more sense on Corrie simply because of the logical structure of the show - people meet in different places: the pub, the corner shop, a house, the street itself - whereas on Crossroads, 80% of the action took place in this one weirdly artificial environment - an upmarket motel in Birmingham! But yeah, once you buy into (or ignore) the weirdness of the concept then it works on its own terms and yes, the acting is no worse than the other soaps of the period. Certainly, the likes of Sandy and Diane were always totally believable (and often very funny).

I guess that's why they did the Kings Oak revamp in the late 80s (1986 I think it was, but may have been 1987) so you could see the characters from the motel actually have a life outside of that.

Diane was brilliant, she had a fling with an American movie star, got pregnant by him, never saw the child, Diane only spent time with him in America, her friendship with Benny was endearing, she was sort of the common sense compass for the motel with her frankness.

In many ways Hollyoaks is its successor, in the sense that both shows seem to take place in a parallel universe, yet not only do both shows not take itself seriously, they have characters that we can somehow relate to and care for.

 

[Barbara Fan]

and a few more

 

[Barbara Fan]

love BF x

 

[Barbara Fan]

and another - from a 1986 soap mag i bought as Dallas was in it, I dont remember watching Crossroads at this point with Dee Hepburn and gabrielle Drake


love BF x

 

[Angela Channing]

and another - from a 1986 soap mag i bought as Dallas was in it, I dont remember watching Crossroads at this point with Dee Hepburn and gabrielle Drake

I really liked Gabrielle Drake's character Nicola Freeman but Dee Hepburn's character, Anne-Marie Wade, was dull as the weather in King's Oak on the rare occasions they filmed outdoors.

 

[ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989]

The Freeman's were a good bunch, worthy successors to the Richardson's.

Daniel Freeman was Kings Oak's very own
Adam Carrington, Anne Marie for me a replacement for Miranda Pollard, only less interesting, Miranda departed the motel in the same year Anne Marie arrived (1985 or 1986 I think(

The Nicola Freeman era had some excellent storylines.

 

[Walford Boy]

Very fond memories of Crossroads, in the days when soap wasn't heavily dissected and treated so seriously but was enjoyed for what it was. I enjoyed all the era's apart from the last year in 2003.

 

[Walford Boy]

Neighbours has really carried on the mantle from where Crossroads left off.

 

[ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989]

Crossroads was much faster paced in many ways than Corrie, Crossroads actually acknowledged that it was set in (albeit idealised and Americanised) 1960s Britain where as Corrie around 1967/68 was more like a rose tinted 1950s, then 1969 comes around and its a rose tinted 60s until the early 1980s.

Its worth noting that Crossroads and Peyton Place premiered in the same year give or take a couple of months difference.