On the subject of the final stretch of Crossroads, here’s a clipping of the TV listing for 1988’s finale. What’s interesting to see is that only two of the cast (Jill and Adam) predate 1985. Everyone else was relatively new when the show drew to a close.
I forgot to add that a number of other veterans nearly made it to the end of the run (Benny, Kath Brownlow, Sid Hooper and Diane Hunter) but were written out as part of the revamp that took place just as the show was axed. Kind of a similar situation to what Family Affairs would experience in its final months.
... then becoming a pop star (he had Beyonce singing backing vocals, no less), before finally crossing over to the dark side: his Twitter page is a truly strange and chilling place.
I’d forgotten about the Beyonce connection but was unfortunately aware of his views.
I think Eldorado suffered a similar fate with journalists a few years later. There was a clip online of producer Verity Lambert on a panel type show, where she was defending the series in the face of criticism from two snarky TV journalists. They’d basically only ever watched the show when it was at its worst and their entire ongoing criticism of it was based on that period despite the fact that the show had changed and improved.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you because I think the Nicola Freeman years were up there with some of the best periods of Crossroads. There were some brilliant storylines and Crossroads did really well in the TV ratings during this time. It was after Nicola left and when William Smethurst took over as the producer that Crossroads went down the toilet.
I’m presuming you meant to quote the below rather than the piece about the different characters being written out? For avoidance of doubt, I wasn’t being disparaging about the Nicola Freeman era. I actually really enjoyed the episodes that I watched and wish I could’ve continued watching (the episodes available stop around September 1985 with only disjointed bits & pieces available after that). I was just pointing out that while it wouldn’t have been on par with EE and Brookie (in my opinion) it definitely wasn’t deserving of the criticism it got, as it was no worse than the other ITV soaps at the time (not including Albion Market, which was abysmal).
Yes, sorry, I was reading through multiple posts, referenced the wrong one and completely misunderstood the point you were making.
I caught the tail end of this storyline during that 1985 stint of episodes that I mentioned. Sarah (Annette Andre) was in hospital having just had David’s baby and I think Barbara was on the verge of leaving him. It was all wrapped up in a rather civil manner if I remember correctly.
This was brewing near the end of that same stint I watched. Jill and Adam were on a slippery slope after Adam had made a pass at Nicola and then Nicola’s stepson Daniel was sniffing around Jill. I do hope more of that Nicola Freeman era finds its way online as it’s an enjoyable watch.
