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Crossroads
It
all began on November 2 1964, with the first episode opening line "Crossroads
Motel, can I help you?" spoken by Jill Richardson (Jane Rossington).
Jill is the daughter of the widowed owner of the Crossroads Motel,
Meg Richardson (Noele Gordon). Roger Tonge plays Meg's son Sandy. Crossroads
is set in the fictional village of Kings Oak, on the outskirts of Birmingham,
England. The serial centres around the lives of the staff at the Crossroads
Motel and the local residents in King's Oak. The Crossroads Motel
opened for business on April 17 1963, in the grounds of the Richardson
family home. Some
of the earliest characters at the motel include the Head Cook, Vi Blundell
(Peggy Aitchison), who is not best pleased when Carlos Raphael (Anthony
Morton), is employed as the new head chef. Also, there is waitress Marilyn
Gates (Sue Nicholls); Sue would later go on to star as Audrey Roberts
in Granada Television's Coronation Street. One of the cleaners at the motel
is Amy Turtle played by Ann George and Miss Tatum, the village
postmistress in Kings Oak is played by Elizabeth Croft. In
1975, Benny Hawkins was introduced into the serial as the motel handyman.
Benny, who would go on to become a hugely popular character, is played
by Paul Henry and remained at Crossroads for 12 years. Benny had worked
on Ed Lawton's (Thomas Heathcote) farm before getting the job at the motel.
Ed Lawton's niece is Diane Lawton (Susan Hanson) who works as a waitress
at the motel. Diane, or Miss Diane as Benny refers to her,
is rather protective of Benny and the pair become close friends and remain
so, until tragedy strikes and Diane dies of a brain haemorrhage
in 1987. Benny named a donkey Miss Diane in memory of his most beloved
friend.
Crossroads had a run of nearly
twenty-four years and 4510 episodes. The original Crossroads serial saw
many new characters introduced, which meant that a great diversity of storylines
was possible. ATV
- 1964 - 1988 / Central
Television -
1982 -
1988 Thanks
to Mike Garrett of the
Crossroads Appreciation Society
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