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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 353212" data-attributes="member: 23">A few thoughts on my first batch (a baker's dozen) of Xrds episodes: 26 April 1965-21 April 1971 Episodes 126; 496-500; 986; 1009; 1182; 1192; 1304; 1366; 1481Very quickly I’ve come around to realising that the allure of early Crossroads - certainly as watched only through the handful of isolated episodes remaining - is very similar to that of people-watching. Names (if picked up at all) are mostly unfamiliar and by the time there’s any hint of familiarity most are gone as quickly as they appeared. At the same time, there’s an oddly satisfying fascination to simply seeing these fragments of their lives, trying to fill in gaps from via a combination of osmosis and empirical evidence as they helpfully chew over their latest dramas or worries with a disarming openness.Crossroads isn’t completely unfamiliar to me. My grandmother (like everyone else’s grandmother) was a fan so it wasn’t unusual for Xrds to be going on in the background as I got on with more important business like reading comics or playtime with cousins. There was even a point, in the latter days of the original series’ run that I made a conscious attempt to become a regular viewer. I certainly watched the final episode as it was transmitted that Easter.Of course, there are also those legends that are in most people’s psyche: regal Meg (she looks an awful lot like my other grandmother. The one who didn’t watch Crossroads); sweet Diane with her friendly smiling round face (she was my favourite back in my unconscious watching days and I made a point of being out of the room for her last episodes, fearing the emotion would be too much); stiff, suave David Hunter; smiley, put upon Benny; slick Adam and rather posh Jill.Of those named above, I’ve been introduced to Meg and younger versions of Jill and Diane. And I’m enjoying all three.Both Jill and Diane are more youthful than I’d imagined, in that Sixties Carnaby Street kind of way. Diane is far sassier than I recall. I think of her as an almost angelic, slightly matronly friendly auntie type, which I suppose there’s still time for her to become, but equally it could be something I projected onto her as a child. She also seems to have a disastrous love life, with a series of different men, sometimes giving her a choice. In fact a “could have been a favourite if he was in more than one episode” character was the good looking young man who stormed into reception to tell Diane off for spending time with the fella at the garage. He delivered his lines in such a knowing, OTT way - it felt as though he was trying not to burst out laughing - that he was instantly engaging.There’s something about young Jill that puts me in mind of Toni Collette circa Muriel’s Wedding (I think it might mainly be the heavy eyelids which make her look endearingly spaced). Now we’ve entered the Seventies, I’m also getting a Lorraine Gary vibe mainly due to her Ellen-Brody-From-Jaws hairdo (slightly big on the sides, but with a scarf tying it at the back).Meg is every bit as regal as I remember, if not quite as terrifyingly formidable. She’s mostly been a joy to watch, but I’m already wondering if she needs to be at the motel to hold her power (the “haunted house” episode where she and one of her beaus were staying at some remote cottage with no power has been her least watchable material so far. But that could be down to the material). She seems to have changed surnames at least once and is currently being called Mrs Ryder. I’m not sure if Mr Ryder was the bloke who seemed to be drugging and gaslighting her in the last black and white and first colour episodes featuredThe jump to colour, by the way, has brought the series properly to life. Meg’s medicine was black in one episode, and lime green in the next (presumably both letting us know it’s highly toxic. Not that this stopped Meg downing it), Elsewhere, Diane was torn between dresses in acid green or silver while visiting Jill’s wobbly boutique, and we could see the colours in all their glory. She also took her package back the kitchen in a gloriously gaudy floral box. Xrds knows how to make viewers’ investment in a colour licence worth the money.The scene with someone knocking on the door of Jill’s boutique is a standout as one of the few moments where I feared a set might collapse. Based on what I’ve watched, I don’t feel Xrds’ reputation for wobbly sets is warranted. What’s more, there’s been significantly more location work than I’d expected, such as the kitchen staff with the funny accents taking a trip to Malvern, leading to scenes of them running hand-in-hand on the hills. Then there was Marilyn going to inspect some kind of military parade (don’t ask me why) and Sue Nicholls clearly relishing every minute, grinning from ear to ear and chattering away mid-montage. continued...</blockquote>

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