Crossroads Motel,Can I Help You?

[Stephen Morgan]

Surely the first Dr. Who connection is actually Peter Ling, who co created the series with Hazel Adair in 1964, Ling wrote the Who story The Mind Robber.

[stuartdg]

Based on the existing episodes,I would argue my case for Rollo Gamble;although I will give you Peter Ling(it was early when I posted and i hadn't woke up yet)

[Stephen Morgan]

..I will give you Peter Ling(it was early when I posted and i hadn't woke up yet)

It was late for me when I posted Stu, I was tired and wanted to go to bed.

[stuartdg]

Episode 1182 from November 1969

It's the last surviving b/w episode and was also from Crossroad's last week as a b/w show and this episode is notorious going down in motel history as "The Pink Gin Episode"

The motel is in a state of recovery,reception is nothing more then a table,and the bar is not much more,following an unexploded bomb wrecking the place;anyway repairs are in place(or not if you are foreman Archie Gibbs aka M LeClerc from Allo Allo);he is causing problems between Kathy Knight who is overseeing the repairs and Nick Van Doran...

But this is nothing as either one or both dry up forgetting their lines resulting in a huge 10second pause...

Commander Boone turns up at the motel looking for Diane's brother and his fiance and demands a double pink gin(a what) to placate him...

Despite these seemingly bizarre events there is one tantalising moment of seriousness when Meg goes all blurry(thanks to hubby Malcolm Ryder) and housekeeper Mrs Greene(aka Archers stalwart and legend Jill Archer) promptly thrusts Meg's head between her legs...

[stuartdg]

Episode 1192 from November 1969

Crossroads goes into colour but despite all this its a strange episode,made up of Archie Gibbs buying a new dress for Diane to the obvious disgust of Amy while over at Jill's boutique Tish Hope ends the episode by making a completely random remark about a murder

As if this wasn't enough the opening is even more bizarre ,featuring the unseen Mrs Cherry(previously referenced in Pink Gin) who is just a pair of hands doing some knitting;I suspect it is Ann George's hands and Roger Tongue's voice speeded up-the way in which it is presented is even stranger however opening with Mrs Cherry,then the ATV(and the best) logo,then the main titles...

There is good stuff again however and as with episode 1182 it's down to Meg who is insisting that Mrs Grey looks after her sending Malcolm Ryder into a panic over whether his poisoning will be discovered...

Best bit of dialogue however goes to Tish as the motel is short staffed-"Wanted Receptionist" reads the job advert-that will have them knocking down your door

[stuartdg]

A quick look on youtube reveals some fascinatin footage from Crossroads all b/w and believed lost

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgfZJZAIaME



Heres hoping they see light of day on a future dvd

[Stephen Morgan]

Some interesting clips there, and reading some of the comments I'm beginning to think there's more stuff out there than we're led to believe. Here's hoping some more episodes see the light of day.

BTW, that Mrs. Cherry thing, she's actually mentioned as a guest at the motel before she starts all that knitting thing, and isn't her wool brightly coloured, would make a scary jumper.
Reminds me of my aunt who loved Crossroads, this is where the nostalgia element comes in for me, as I used to meet her off the bus every Wednesday after school, Crossroads was on in our area in those days at 4.20, so it was a teatime thing when I'd come home from school, but Wednesdays were special as my aunt would be there with her knitting, she often knitted me balaclavas, fortunately not with such scary colours as Mrs. Cherries.

[stuartdg]

Episode 1304 from May 1970

For a Crossroads episode this is actually quite dark;although not entirely unsurprising as it is scripted by Philip Hinchcliffe.

The main plot concerns secretary Mrs Thomas who's decidedly dodgy husband has turned up looking for her;you can usually tell a Crossroads bad guy this one is wearing dark shades and commits the cardinal motel sin by smoking

Elsewhere Jill discusses expanding her boutique in an all too obvious chromakey restaurant,while in the kitchen Amy and Diane speculate winning the pools;so much so that Amy repeats Diane's line "And our villas in the South Of France"

[Stephen Morgan]

Episode 1304 from May 1970

..Jill discusses expanding her boutique in an all too obvious chromakey restaurant....

Why ever Crossroads used Chromakey I can't understand, there's no real place for it in the programme, as you say, it looks so obvious. Why couldn't they have just placed a few tables in the corner of the set with a painted backcloth, surely that would have looked a bit more realistic?
I doubt if this was the only instance of chromakey in Crossroads, but as there is little else existing from this period of the show we're hardly likely to find out.

[Stephen Morgan]

Stu, are you intending to get all the DVDs? No doubt you've read the posts at Roobarbs, apparently everything from mid 1978 exists, barring the odd episode. That's ten years worth of episodes of the original series. At eighteen episodes per disc that's quite a long time, do the math. Personally, I'm looking forward to them.

[SiHart]

Why couldn't they have just placed a few tables in the corner of the set with a painted backcloth, surely that would have looked a bit more realistic?
I doubt if this was the only instance of chromakey in Crossroads, but as there is little else existing from this period of the show we're hardly likely to find out.

I don't know how widely used it was in the early 70s, but they certainly tried it again in late 81 just before the fire, as the studio footage still exists. It wasn't much good then, either!

I've not started getting the archive releases yetr, much as I'd love them, because I'm not sure I've got the time to watch them all, or indeed if I can afford them all. Howvere, once they get to 81 onwards I might be more tempted, as that's more my era. We'll see, and if I can stop Steve noticing that the DVD cupboard is full of Crossroads.

I'm enjoying the reviews though. Keep them coming!

Si xx

[stuartdg]

FANTASTIC NEWS ALERT

3 new episodes 1 of which predates the vol 1 release are on their way to dvd

They will be only be available for 3months at £7-99 direct from Network

Released on the same day as vol 5 and vol 6(May 19th) this has to be a must buy

Episode 126 from March 1965

Episodes 1884 and 1886 from 1973

This is a major find indeed big smiles here

[stuartdg]

And yes im gonna get all the dvds,I don't see the point in starting a series if you don't intend to finish it

Crossroads holds a special place in my heart,almost as much as Doctor Who does,so I can't see me forgoing it

[SiHart]

I think I might get the limited one...

Si xx

[Stephen Morgan]

Crossroads holds a special place in my heart..

Same here, see my earlier post about my aunt, she died in early 1974, so the 1973 episodes I'm currently watching are probably amongst the last she saw.


Good news about those recovered episodes, let's hope we get some more on volumes like this forthcoming limited one.

[stuartdg]

Episode 1366 from Septemmber 1970

Now this episode has to be among the most notorious of them all,known in fan circles as "Goulash Budapest"

It's a bizzare mix of the ridiculous and the sublime,so getting the serious stuff out the way first

Nick Van Doren is trying to tempt Mr Lovejoy away from the motel to go and work at his new hotel;in the end Lovejoy merely decides to invest in it instead.

Everything else is pure silliness and a great joy

Tish Hope's son Rev Peter has now married Marilyn Gates(no longer Sue Nicholls) sporting a new head and a far better accent.Anyway they're settling down for lunch when a bizarre lesbianish woman by the name of Mrs Ross,with a penchant for tweed and fishing hats turns up demanding a place to stay...

The episode opens with Amy and her pal Vi Blundell in a strop,as chef Mr Booth has banned them from the kitchen,after they've fallen out with guest Gloria Penn,who herself is helping out in the kitchen...

The gossipy pair try and plot revenge by throwing up Mr Booth's specialist dish,the goulash all over the restaurant walls;especially after they're informed that the paprika has been substituted for rat poison

If this wasn't silly enough,a complete random stranger strolls into the kitchen(how?!) and informs Gloria Penn,there's a bomb under the stove.Mr Booth reacts by saying "a b-bomb?" and then strolls off as if nothing has happened

In all honesty,it makes you wonder how on earth Meg got building insurance for the motel in the first place

Only in Crossroads

[stuartdg]

Episode 1481 from April 1971

Meg and Sandy(who we discover isn't actually called Sandy but Alexander) are swapping notes on cows and pigeons,while the Jarvis clan entertain a nurse by the name of Tilly with big hair and pizza...

The most interesting thing about the episode is the Vince/Diane plotline with the two of them engaged and Diane awaiting the outcome of the custody battle for her son Nicky,named in this episode...

Good to see Diane progressing through the motel halls of power,from waitress to Meg's secretary now...

[Stephen Morgan]

Episode 1495 has to have one of the most surreal opening scenes of any Crossroads episode as a young girl in full Little Bo Peep costume appears in front of Sandy and Mrs. Ashe and promptly faints.
Sandy, obviously on some kind of work experience course, is on the local farm with owner Mrs. Ashe, and are both scrubbing out what looks like a tin bath when the girl appears.
Struggling to carry her into the farmhouse, Sandy argues that they should get medical help, Mrs. Ashe however, is convinced the girl is faking. Problems are further compounded when the girl comes round and claims she has amnesia.
Sadly the storyline fades away without any conclusion due to missing episodes, but I would have liked to have found out what it was all about.

Any ideas Stu?

[stuartdg]

I shall be watching that episode later on;personally I think she's a time traveller

[stuartdg]

Episode 1495 from May 1971

Our first Malcolm Hulke scripted episode opens with a bizarre time traveller type woman(complete in period garb) who faints and apparantly suffers from amnesia.Sandy and Mrs Ashe struggle to move her,unaware that she is sporting a huge grin as they do so-as to who she is this remains a mystery as none of them are even listed on the end credits...

Elsewhere theres a blatant pit of prompting as Vince forgets his lines while discussing home decorating with Paul Stevens while Miss Tatum lectures Private Godfrey from Dad's Army on badgers obviously trying to make some analogy with humans...

Elsewhere Tish and Mr Booth(who admires her maxi) are menaced by silent phone calls as they settle down to watch the ballet,when the episode ends on a cliffhanger with Sid Hooper threatening them with a gun no bigger then a cigarette lighter

Clips from episode 126 are up on Networks site-you've gotta love the zooming titles...

[stuartdg]

Episode 1674 from March 1972

Meg nearly has a coronary when Timothy Hunter asks her to cash a cheque for £100,while the motel salon makes its dvd debut,with Vera Downend in a particularly bad mood telling Jill off for overordering nail varnish.The episode tagline at the end runs for far too long howver and Jill gives us her full range of facial expressions

Elsewhere Amy and Miss Tatum get glammed up for Crossroads' answer to Strictly Come Dancing after falling out with Wilf Harvey;the worst actor in the show so far...

[Stephen Morgan]

Episode 1674 from March 1972


Elsewhere Amy and Miss Tatum get glammed up for Crossroads' answer to Strictly Come Dancing after falling out with Wilf Harvey;the worst actor in the show so far...

Morris Parsons, Oh don't get me started.
There's a scene coming up with him, Mrs Loomis and Amy, the three of them come onto set and deliver their lines with barely a flicker of emotion between either of them, and that's how it seems to go with them, Crossroads by numbers.

[Stephen Morgan]

I've received volume four today, and have to say I'm disappointed at the haphazard way the years 1974 and '75 are represented in the archive. After some 20 odd episodes of 1973, some where you can actually follow the storyline, 1974 is represented by a mere 3 episodes between August and December, missing out the whole Holly Brown/Stephanie De Sykes storyline from early in the year, which I was looking forward to seeing again.
1975 is represented by 7 episodes, with hardly two episodes following each other, the biggest storylines there are Meg and Hugh's wedding, and the departure of busybody Amy Turtle, who, despite being a well loved character in the show's heyday, is played by nothing more than an annoyingly bad actress. Still, I suppose that all added to the charm that was Crossroads.
At least 1976 has a few more episodes to its credit, some of those are on this volume, and some are carried over onto the next one.
Despite all the missing episodes I'm really enjoying this, and come future volumes with episodes from 1978 and beyond, it will seem that we will be able to follow this in "real" time, ie. one a day as it was originally intended.

[stuartdg]

Archive vol 4 arrived today and a quick glance shows some bleak times for Amy ahead,looks like good stuff(as its about the last we see of her)

[Stephen Morgan]

I think you and I have differing views about Amy Turtle/Ann George Stu. Personally I can't stand the woman, her staccatto delivery of lines, spitting out a few, then a pause as she struggles to remember what's next, then a few more words, another pause, perhaps then a prompt before finally finishing the line. Yes, you may say it's all part of the charm of the piece, and the endearment of the character, but I remember what the newspapers had to say about Ann George back in the day about her Prima Donna ways and thinking she was the "star" of the show and how it would be nothing without her. It was one of the reasons which got her the sack in the first place.