Noele Gordon’s ‘Christmas message’ from 1976 rediscovered.
It may not be an episode of Crossroads that has been recovered, however, it is a nice little bit of festive nostalgia.
Occasionally the programme would either within the episode or in a specially recorded message before it, wish viewers a happy Christmas. Something that dates back right to the very first Christmas episode in 1964 when Meg (Noele Gordon) turned to the camera to wish viewers a seasons greeting.
Christmas 1978 survives with a message within the programme intact, while 1979 was a sing-a-long special at the end of the programme. And there is a special message from the motel that survives from Christmas 1980 that aired before the episode, however, no others were known to have survived – until now.
The archive experts at Midland-based Kaleidoscope have discovered a copy of Noele Gordon wishing viewers a Merry Christmas from 1976 in a generic trailer to air across ITV. It had not been retained in the ATV vaults for decades, and the master footage does not exist either. The clip comes from a recording of the promo from an LWT presentation tape.
“Hello, Christmas is a very busy time for all of us, but I hope you’ll be able to join us at the Crossroads Motel. Just drop in as usual, and take us as you find us. All the staff, my family and I, will be celebrating Christmas in the traditional way. And so will Benny and Diane, down on the farm.
“They all join me in wishing you a very happy time. And I look forward to seeing you on Christmas Eve. *Telephone Rings* Excuse me, this phone never stops ringing, goodbye.”
The find was just one of a number of recovered footage items shared at the December Missing Believed Wiped event held this weekend. Usually, the event takes place in Birmingham, however this December’s celebration of all things archive television was live-streamed on the Kaleidoscope Facebook page.
The event, as always, helps raise funds for the RNLI – a charity Noele Gordon also supported for many years from the 1950s onwards. Anyone wishing to support KAL’s chosen branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution can here.