Crossroads Motel,Can I Help You?

[Nyder]

#497 just watched!

ATV did have a very weedy station ident back in '66 - glad that was rectified with the big brassy version that we all knew and loved in later years!

Sandy looked about 12years old in this episode - it sounded like his voice had only just broken! Nolly was doing an excellent piece of "hair-towelling" acting. Loved the story of Meg appearing in the paper with her head stuck on a nude model's body. Pity we didn't get to see it - Network missed a trick here - that would have been a great DVD extra :-)

Didn't realise Chef Carlos was Spanish. That accent sounds Italian to me!

[Nyder]

#499
Hooray - Miss Diane is here! Oi loves you Miss Doyanne :-)

[SiHart]

She's away from the episodes I'm watching at the moment, though I hear from Sharon that she's due back any time soon.

So what's been going on? Adama Chance is proving himself to be a bit of a ladies man, making an instant impression on motel guest Deborah Delaney or is it Crisp? Hmm? David Hunter looked quite put out about his success (well as put out as the mighty Ronald Allen could muster anyway). Vic Lee is getting himself into trouble with his sister-in-law, much as Sharon feared he would and Mrs Booth has hyper-tension caused by the pill. Gasp!

[SiHart]

She's away from the episodes I'm watching at the moment, though I hear from Sharon that she's due back any time soon.

So what's been going on? Adama Chance is proving himself to be a bit of a ladies man, making an instant impression on motel guest Deborah Delaney or is it Crisp? Hmm? David Hunter looked quite put out about his success (well as put out as the mighty Ronald Allen could muster anyway). Vic Lee is getting himself into trouble with his sister-in-law, much as Sharon feared he would and Mrs Booth has hyper-tension caused by the pill. Gasp!

[stuartdg]

Personal circumstances mean I've been having a bit of a motel catchup marathon(before I settle down to one episode a day to pace it out) but a new era at the motel sees Adam Chance made a director and subsequently move into Chimneys with Jill...


Doris Luke is fast becoming a favourite character as well there's a wonderful scene with Mr Booth pitched at just the right comedy level,where upon discussing Shakespeare Doris comments "I read one of his books once,Henry Vee,it had some good bits in it!"

This is quickly followed up by Shughie McPhee asking her out on a date to the ballet! Great stuff!

[Nyder]

#500 - ooh I do love a nice wedding episode! Carlos pulled all the stops out with a lovely "weddinga kike".

High drama elsewhere though as Angela (who I reckoned looked like Carole Anne Ford) waited for her eye op with lovely Barry at her side.

The thing is, the next ep jumps to #986, so we'll never know how it went. I'm distraught & bereft.

[SiHart]

Sometimes that's a real pain- you want to know what happens next, and suddenly you're jumping 400 episodes. If you want to follow the storylines this site is great: http://jhochet.tripod.com/ (but i'll only be of use for the 70s alas)

This morning I've had two great episodes. The Sharon-Victor-Rennie love triangle is all coming to a head, with some marvellous acting from Carolyn Jones as she discovers what's happened and has a bit of a confrontation with Rennie. Some great material, and even tears came out for the post credits cliffhanger... I love the way that Sharon is so brittle under the hard exterior.
We had another tremendous post credits moment in the previous episode too- Meg had gone for a chat with Helen Booth, got started on one of her homilies about family, Helen stormed off, leaving Meg alone in the chalet... the credits play, followed by Meg sat alone on the bed, she sighs, gets up, theatrically wraps her shawl around her and leaves. Fantastic!

[Nyder]

Jumping forward to #986 now - that's more like it - Jill and Amy Turtle are in it. Amy is so diminutive she virtually disappears when she stands behind the reception desk! And what's this - Meg in a boiler suit??

This episode was directed by Rollo Gamble. What a great name!

[SiHart]

Silly old Mr Booth- he shouldn't have called his wife's bluff like that. Now he's got to sleep in a separate chalet. That'll teach him. There was a tender moment where he confided in Shughie this morning. Now there's a rarity!

Noele is back to playing the wronged widow now too. What with the revelations about Hugh having had another child by Deborah Delaney, she's all over the place- doing her silent, staring into space acting acting again. Amazing stuff!

[Nyder]

Can't imagine a tender moment with Shugie!

[Nyder]

Shughie even

[SiHart]

Well by Mr Booth's standards it's a tender moment.

[SiHart]

Jill's returned to the motel and it's back to back sad Wings theme at the end of the episodes! Magnificent. It's been ages since we've seen here due to the combination of missing episodes and her being sent off to Germany (for Jane Rossington's maternity leave) so it's an absolute delight to see her, bringing with her the kind of woe and misery only Jane Rossington can handle. The tears are flowing! She's my favourite character of them all.

Elsewhere Sharon and Diane are hosting the dinner party from hell for Victor and Renny, Helen and Bernard aren't talking and Benny has bought a banger! Will Mac be able to get it roadworthy?

[Nyder]

I saw the last B&W episode this morning, with the motel in a bit of a state due to repairs.

Roll on glorious colour tomorrow!

[SiHart]

Meg's outfits are... astonoshing... in colour!

[Nyder]

Hooray - Crossroads in colour! (#1304)
You can tell it's (nearly) the 70s as there's a suggestion that the walls of a lounge should be painted "burnt orange". Nice.
A lot of shots are in Meg's bedroom - twin beds of course. And not a duvet in sight. It's all sheets :-)
Miss Diane is starting to annoy me with the way she virtually squeals the final words of all her lines. Chillax dear!!
Plus I caught a tantalising glimpse of my favourite prop - the reception switchboard. Bliss :-)

[SiHart]

Burnt orange features a lot in the early colour years. Mostly in Meg's choice of clothes!

Another episode, another Jill cliffhangers, another use of the Wings theme- 3 in a row for Jill. Hurrah! She wants 1978 over with, done. It's been the worst year of her life and just wants to forget it. However, she's in a soap, so things are bound to get bad again... maybe not too bad though until 2001, then you'll suffer!

The dinner party from hell got worse. Much worse! Poor old Sharon didn't play this the right well and all her attempts to get the better of Rennie failed, throwing her closer to Vic. Oh Sharon! Now Rennie is staying on at the motel for Christmas. And there's no end in sight for this love triangle.

Meanwhile Shughie and Doris are decorating the canteen (new set alert!) for the Christmas Party. Shughie wanted chinese lanterns, but Doris is holding hard with the same old trad Christmas decs, which pleases Benny, who thinks it looks like a Christmas Card brought to life. Yes it does, but one of those tacky cheap ones that doesn't stand up properly.

[Nyder]

May 1970 and it's the infamous (on this thread anyway!) Chromakey Restaurant! The daft thing is, the close up shots of Jill's latest squeeze were genuine, whereas the wide angle shots with both of them were Chromakey. Maybe the budget only stretched to half a tablecloth and one wall!

[SiHart]

This morning it was Christmas all the way! In Church, the traditional Christmas service was replaced by this new fangled Christingle thing, but David read the lesson beautifully. No song this year... or so I thought, until, the following episode... The Crossroads Christmas Party! Oh my goodness, what a good time- everyone trotting out their music hall turns. Variety is not dead- it's alive and well in Kings Oak!
Then after everyone has had their turn, Noele stands up, and addresses the camera, to remind us to think of the elderly, those in hospital, those on their own. Public service message over, we get her song- Have Yourselves A Merry Little Christmas. Song with gravelly gravitas, punctuated by Jill having a sob down the telephone as her daughter reveals she's not coming to kings Oak after all. Oh the juxtaposition! Cue the Wings theme!

[Nyder]

Episode 1366 - the vicar's a bit of a dish :-) And I'm not talking Ghoulash Budapesht!

[SiHart]

Today's cliffhanger was Bernard Booth falling off a chair. They'll never top this.

[stuartdg]

Future Mad Woman and Greatest Show in the Galaxy ringside audience member Rosemary Hunter has arrived....alas Lloyd Munroe and his equally irritating daughter Katherine Fisher has also...

[Nyder]

Another barmy episode from the 2nd most famous motel ever (#1481)

Sandy wants to be a farmer.

Consternation all round when pizza is introduced to the menu ("are you getting us ready for the common market?")

Meg dishes out more worldly advice:-
"Women are adaptable - men aren't"

The episode ends with a close-up of a book showing an anatomical diagram of a pigeon.

You don't get this in Weatherfield!!

[SiHart]

Jill is in a militant mood- writing to Stan to ask for a divorce, putting Chimneys on the market, and everyone laid back David Hunter has noticed how she's come back from West Germany more confident than when she left (let's not forget, the Jill of old would go to pieces if she burnt dinner)... Meg needs time to reflect on this, and reflect she does. At length.

Meanwhile the Mrs Crisp storyline is going on and on. God it's dull. Is she really the mother of Hugh's daughter. Who cares. He's dead!

[SiHart]

Noele proves to be the mistress of telephone acting in this morning's double bill, with important one sided telephone calls taking place with Sandy (to explain his protracted absence no doubt) and Stan in Germany. Jane Rossington tries gamely to match Noele's expertise, but isn't quite so good. It's a masterclass in acting from Noele, from the little sprinkling of humour, just the right length of pause and all the facial expressions you'd expect (and some you wouldn't).

Meanwhile Benny has gone missing again, but it's all OK< he was sleeping in his car which miracously has gone from rusty old banger to shiny new blue in a matter of days. Mac is a genius of a mechanic it seems.

Shughie is hypnotised by Bernard's description of gourmet food and tries to fool Doris and Diane about his pretentious lifestyle. is he making it all up? Can he really be a karate champion, a ballet buff and a gourmet chef?