Crossroads started on the 2nd of November 1964 ...... it came to it's first end on Easter Monday 1988 . It was revived briefly from 2001 till 2003.
I have bought the box set of all the remaining episodes from 1964 to 1981.
It was always the butt of jokes about it's poor acting and poor production values and if you believed the critics you would think the scenery was virtually collapsing on air. But the truth is it was no better and no worse than TV series of the day ... if you watch early episodes of Coronation Street, which was always heralded as Crossroads rival, the scenery wobbled when doors were slammed shut, actors fluffed their lines and you often heard off loud screen noises.
When it started they were making five 20 minute episodes per week that is the equivalent of a full length feature film and up till the early 1980's was recorded as live so if any mistakes were made near the end of the show they were left in rather than go back to the beginning and record it all over again. Yes actors made mistakes but what do you expect learning a feature films worth of script every week.
And unlike Coronation Street and later Emmerdale and Eastenders where all the characters seemed to live in one street/village/square and all worked within that area with everyone meeting on the pub Crossroads didn't have that it had characters who lived in various villages and towns in the local area such as Kings Oak, Heathbury, Merryfields.
It had good long scenes where the characters actually had meaningful and interesting well written conversations.
Sadly when Noele Gordon, the lead actress and lynchpin, was sacked in 1981 that was the beginning of the end. Yes production values and the budget went up but a quick succession of producers axed too many favourite characters and introduced uninteresting and to be honest bland characters .. when Philip Bowman took over in 1985 he was planning to bring Noele Gordon back but sadly she was too ill and died shortly after with stomach cancer.
Former producer of The Archers William Smethurst took over in 1987 and despite axing long running and favourite characters Diane Hunter and Benny Hawkins he did introduce some good characters. Unfortunately they had the bright idea of changing the theme tune from the well known dramatic theme written by Tony Hatch to a wishy washy theme ........ sadly die hard fans fell away and it was sadly axed at the end of 1987. The last episode in Spring 1988 was seen by 11 million viewers, viewing figures soaps would sell their souls for now.
I, for one, am really enjoyed it and am enjoying the DVD's ..... I'll tell you despite the critics if you see it you'll be hooked.
I have bought the box set of all the remaining episodes from 1964 to 1981.
It was always the butt of jokes about it's poor acting and poor production values and if you believed the critics you would think the scenery was virtually collapsing on air. But the truth is it was no better and no worse than TV series of the day ... if you watch early episodes of Coronation Street, which was always heralded as Crossroads rival, the scenery wobbled when doors were slammed shut, actors fluffed their lines and you often heard off loud screen noises.
When it started they were making five 20 minute episodes per week that is the equivalent of a full length feature film and up till the early 1980's was recorded as live so if any mistakes were made near the end of the show they were left in rather than go back to the beginning and record it all over again. Yes actors made mistakes but what do you expect learning a feature films worth of script every week.
And unlike Coronation Street and later Emmerdale and Eastenders where all the characters seemed to live in one street/village/square and all worked within that area with everyone meeting on the pub Crossroads didn't have that it had characters who lived in various villages and towns in the local area such as Kings Oak, Heathbury, Merryfields.
It had good long scenes where the characters actually had meaningful and interesting well written conversations.
Sadly when Noele Gordon, the lead actress and lynchpin, was sacked in 1981 that was the beginning of the end. Yes production values and the budget went up but a quick succession of producers axed too many favourite characters and introduced uninteresting and to be honest bland characters .. when Philip Bowman took over in 1985 he was planning to bring Noele Gordon back but sadly she was too ill and died shortly after with stomach cancer.
Former producer of The Archers William Smethurst took over in 1987 and despite axing long running and favourite characters Diane Hunter and Benny Hawkins he did introduce some good characters. Unfortunately they had the bright idea of changing the theme tune from the well known dramatic theme written by Tony Hatch to a wishy washy theme ........ sadly die hard fans fell away and it was sadly axed at the end of 1987. The last episode in Spring 1988 was seen by 11 million viewers, viewing figures soaps would sell their souls for now.
I, for one, am really enjoyed it and am enjoying the DVD's ..... I'll tell you despite the critics if you see it you'll be hooked.