Birmingham Dispatch remembers ‘Crossroads’
In a fair and balanced article Alex Taylor recently reopened the doors of the Crossroads Motel to take a look at the Birmingham produced saga. Rather than just stick to the tired old ‘wobbly walls’ trope that oddly sticks to the show when back in the seventies – and even in the 2000s by recent returns on ITV3 are anything to go by – Coronation Street also had Alex takes a deep dive into the Kings Oak based daily soap to see what the show’s legacy is.
It’s not often you’ll see in print how Crossroads was ITV’s highest rating daytime programme for years, nor that it and its leading star Noele Gordon, won several awards too. You also don’t really see in print how the soap started up a charity – that still runs – along with other social ventures – like funding a kidney ward following a storyline – but the Birmingham Dispatch item takes a look at all sides of the serial that was devised by Peter Ling and Hazel Adair in 1964 and brought to life by producer Reg Watson (who went on to create Neighbours, Cell Block H, Sons and Daughters to name a few over in Australia).
In the feature actor Tony Adams recalls his time at ATV as does writer Arthur Schmidt, both worked on the soap opera for a decade.
‘Tony speaks warmly and remembers his time on the show with fondness. “I absolutely loved every little bit of it.” But initially, he’d refused the Crossroads call up. Producer Jack Barton was baffled as to his refusal. Tony told him: “Because you do five episodes a week, I’m doing a show at the moment called General Hospital, and we do one a week.” Jack replied, “Well Tony, you got it wrong, because in actual fact, we do six.” But Barton got his man.’
‘Despite a reputation for melodrama and budgetary constraints, [Arthur Schmidt is] keen to point out that Crossroads was genuinely agenda-setting in the 1960s and 1970s, tackling topics that other daytime shows were loath to touch, like disability, single parenthood and unwanted pregnancy.’
Read the full article at the Birmingham Dispatch here.