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, ''Crossroads'' was at the peak of its popularity. The 1975 wedding of central character Meg Richardson to Hugh Mortimer ( John Bentley ) was the subject of a special souvenir edition of TV Times magazine.]] ''Crossroads'' was a British Television Soap Opera set in a Motel near Birmingham , England . It was first broadcast on ITV between 2 November 1964 and 4 April 1988 . ATV SERIES ''Crossroads'' first aired five days a week, until the ITA decreed that it would go to four airings a week in 1967 , in order to keep storylines from being watered-down. In 1979 , it moved to three times a week. The location of the Crossroads Motel was a fictional outskirt of Birmingham, "King's Oak" (there are real suburbs Kings Norton and Selly Oak ). The main character in the original series was motel owner Meg Richardson, played by Noele Gordon . Meg's children - Jill ( Jane Rossington ) and Sandy ( Roger Tonge ) - also played a prominent role in the storylines. Other major characters during the early years of the show included the chef Carlos Raphael ( Anthony Morton ); the postman Vince Parker ( Peter Brookes ) and his waitress wife Diane ( Susan Hanson ); Brummie waitress Marilyn Gates ( Sue Nicholls ), the postmistress Miss. Tatum ( Elisabeth Croft ) and the charlady Amy Turtle ( Ann George ), a character later satirised by Julie Walters as "Mrs Overall" in the Victoria Wood spoof '' Acorn Antiques ''). Later additions of the cast included Ronald Allen as the suave manager David Hunter, Sue Lloyd as his wife Barbara, Angus Lennie as obstreperous Scottish chef Shughie McFee, Zeph Gladstone as hairdresser Vera Downend, Tony Adams as accountant Adam Chance and Kathy Staff as cleaner Doris Luke. Easily the most memorable character however was the village-idiot character Benny Hawkins ( Paul Henry ), whose trademark was a woolly hat worn all year around. His fans included British Troops serving in the Falklands War in 1982 , who nicknamed locals 'Bennies' after the character. Despite being critically derided for its low production values and far-fetched scripts (the show's detractors often forget that until the early 1970s most of the show's storylines had been deliberately tongue-in-cheek), ''Crossroads'' nevertheless was hugely popular - more high profile fans included Mary Wilson , the wife of former Prime Minister Harold Wilson ) - and maintained high ratings and a loyal audience throughout its 24-year run on ITV . It should also be noted that the series dealt with a number of controversial storylines - Sandy Richardson was injured in a car accident and left confined to a wheelchair, becoming the first Paraplegic regular character in British soap opera, the introduction of garage mechanic Joe MacDonald ( Carl Andrews ) as the first black character to appear regularly in a British soap and the Test Tube Baby born to Glenda and Kevin Banks ( Lynette McMorrough and David Moran ). CENTRAL TV SERIES ''Crossroads'' was made by ATV until the company lost its broadcast franchise at the end of 1981 and was relaunched with new management as Central , who began to make various controversial changes to the series. To public outcry, Noele Gordon was sacked in 1981 - Meg was initially thought to have died in a fire that gutted the motel but later turned up alive aboard the QE2 about to sail away to a new life overseas. ''Crossroads'' carried on with the same name and many of the same characters until March 1985 , when it was totally overhauled with new filming locations, new sets - and many new characters. More long-term characters, such as David and Barbara Hunter, were axed from the show. The theme tune was updated and new longer opening titles were introduced. The show was renamed ''Crossroads Motel'' with many of the storylines revolving around new motel owner Nicola Freeman ( Gabrielle Drake ). In was changed again to the Kings Oak Country Hotel.) Plans were set out in April 1987 to axe 'Crossroads' however at this point the show was to continue - as a new soap called 'Kings Oak' which would have brand new opening titles, and a totally new theme tune. A few months later, after the theme tune had been arranged and titles filmed, Central decided to end the show completely. Still the production team went ahead with the new soap, and Crossroads became Kings Oak in September of the year (Although the previous name of ''Crossroads: Kings Oak'' was used on the new titles due to the unexpected axing.) ''Kings Oak'' finally came to an end in 1988 . The last, specially extended, episode was broadcast on Easter Monday, 4 April, with Jill riding off into the sunset with lover John Maddingham ( Jeremy Nicholas ). As she left her motel behind for a new life in the West, she was asked what she would name the new hotel she would be running. She remarked, "I always thought Crossroads was an awfully good name." CROSSROADS LOCATIONS A number of real life hotels doubled up as 'Crossroads Motel'. The original motel was actually a real motel just south of Birmingham City Centre. It was called CherryTrees, however it closed many years ago and the buildings made famous by Crossroads were demolished in 2001. After CherryTree's and the infamous motel fire (in the series) The Golden Valley Hotel in Cheltenham made its debut in 1982 as the post fire motel and later 'Penns Hall Hotel' in Sutton Coldfield became 'Crossroads' in 1985. The story line devised to explain the new look 1985 motel was one of major rebuilding work. This also saw brand new studio sets to tie-in with the change of filming locations. The Kings Oak Village was a real village; Tanworth-In-Arden . This location was first seen in 1970 - before this date the 'outsides' were often nothing more than studio sets, although rare filming around Wolverhampton prior to 1970 was used as Kings Oak. Other locations include the canal directly behind ATV's former studios in Birmingham City Centre, this was the 'Kings Oak Canal' in Crossroads where Jill had a barge. The Chateau Impney Hotel featured numerous times - famously when Hugh proposed to Meg there in 1973, and they held their wedding party at the location two years later - in the series the Chateau Impney was renamed Droitwich Hotel. In 1985 Crossroads gained its first set of 'full length' opening titles, these were filmed around Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham City Centre. CARLTON SERIES ''Crossroads'' was subsequently revived as a Carlton Television production with a more glossy format (Carlton having bought Central and acquired the rights to all ATV programmes) in 2001 . The relaunched series returned in March 2001 and was broadcast at 5pm on weekdays on ITV1. The only familiar characters to reappear were the cleaner Doris Luke ( Kathy Staff ), Jill Richardson (Harvey) and her ex-husband Adam Chance ( Tony Adams ). Initial reactions from the critics were favourable but the lack of any real links to the past, and the controversial killing of Jill just a few months into the run turned many fans of the original series away. Despite this the series did pick up a respectable number of viewers to become one of ITV's highest rating daytime shows. Popular characters in the new ''Crossroads'' included new owner Kate Russell ( Jane Gurnett ), supercilious receptionist Virginia Raven ( Sherrie Hewson ) and womanising deputy manager Jake Booth ( Colin Wells ). Unfortunately the producers used a break in production to re-vamp the show once again. (The show was off-air from August 2002 - January 2003) The re-modelled series appeared to be a self-consciously camp parody, with Jane Asher cast as new central character, the glamorous and bitchy Angel Samson. The series also featured guest appearances from the likes of Kate O'Mara , Lionel Blair , Les Dennis and Tim Brooke-Taylor . However all of the storylines left from the previous August were ignored and barely even mentioned meaning that yet again the fans were left with a series that bore little resemblance to their memories. Eventually after a few months the falling ratings led to the axe. The storyline of the final episode (broadcast in May 2003) was the revelation that the glamorous hotel had been a dream, and the staff were actually Supermarket workers. The "dream ending" idea had been used by other series in the past, notably '' St. Elsewhere '' and '' The Brittas Empire ''. TRIVIA
DVD RELEASE Very few archive recordings exist before 1981 because ATV wiped and re-used most of the videotapes, and no episode survives before September 1966. However, Network have issued two volumes of the series on DVD (Region 2, U.K.) with twelve of the original ATV episodes (the first release including Meg's 1975 wedding, the highest rating' edition) in 2005 . A third volume will be released on 19 June 2006 . EXTERNAL LINKS
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