Crossroads - A Family Affair - Spin-Off?

The happy couple - David and Barbara Hunter at their wedding in 1980.

We've had a couple of enquiries about an apparent proposed spin-off series from Crossroads to be called 'A Family Affair' in 1980, and apparently focusing on David Hunter and his family.

Sorry we've never heard of it. Lady Plowden's 1979 announcement that Crossroads was to be reduced to three episodes a week from 1980 was definite. There was no suggestion that the team and certain actors should stretch things by producing a 'spin-off' - easing the load and 'improving quality' was apparently the reason, not creating a spin-off. 

We still feel annoyed, thinking about that announcement! It seems amazingly snobbish as so many people, and we're thinking particularly about lonely, elderly or ill people, relied on the show as a link to life - viewing the characters as friends. We had busy, full lives at the time and still viewed the characters as friends, and loved our four nights a week check-in at the motel.

There is nothing recorded in the press of the time about a 'spin-off' replacement on the vacant evening, and I never heard anything about it at the time.

There was a novel called Crossroads - A Family Affair in 1980, by Keith Miles, but contemporary reviews of the book do not present it as any preparation for a spin-off. Soap opera based novels were common by 1980, and all had titles: Emmerdale Farm - Lovers' Meeting, Whispers of Scandal, A Sad and Happy Summer, etc; Coronation Street: Early Days, Trouble at the Rovers, etc; and Crossroads itself: A New Beginning, A Warm Breeze, etc. None were geared towards launching 'spin-off' TV series.

In fact, if the 'spin-off' was to be focused on David, it's hard to see how it would crossover with his role in the main serial.

We've also had enquiries about a 1980 series called For Maddie With Love, starring Nyree Dawn Porter, becoming a replacement for Crossroads. As this was the story of a terminally ill character, it hardly had long running serial potential.

There are many things said online, and we prefer to rely on contemporary reporting and absolutely solid, absolutely verifiable evidence. Also our memories.

So, sorry, we can't help in this instance!

'It Can Take 16 Episodes of Crossroads - If You Can!'

Those highly cheeky 1980s magazine ads for a video recorder made me smile, but I wouldn't have minded the 16 episodes of Crossroads at all. In the mid-1980s, with the VCR becoming affordable and an object of desire to the masses, this kind of 'slick' humour was bound to appeal.

But I didn't realise that the ads were also appearing large-sized on the London Underground, as revealed in this newspaper synopsis for Crossroads from the Express and Star, November 21, 1985.

A bit much really.

Pour me a sherry, darling.

What Would We Have Done About Nolly? The Noele Gordon and Meg Dilemma - Part 3

Back in 1981, we sent a suggestion to ATV about the future of the Meg Mortimer character in Crossroads. We felt that dropping her was a mistake and that the character had massive potential. We must make it plain, once more, that we don't agree with the Woke, misandrist burblings of Russell T Davies on the issue. Things were sometimes not easy behind the scenes at the motel, but it had nothing to do with a woman being oppressed by men. That's simply Feminist, Marxist model nonsense.

Whatever the difficulties, we felt they could be surmounted - the decision would have been Noele Gordon's - and Meg, the character, could have sparkled her way out of what we regarded as a miserable last few years.

Here, we've polished up and elaborated on our 1981 alternative Crossroads idea. This is Part Three of our little series of articles on the subject.

Part 2 is here.

Our version would have progressed pretty much as it did during the winter of 1981-1982, but with occasional added Meg content.

We would have condensed some of the Mavis's boarding house/motel garage scenes to accommodate some 'Meg Abroad' material. The boarding house and garage were a little too much in evidence during the motel's rebuilding we felt, and although we enjoyed both scenarios, it would have been worth condensing a few scenes for Meg.

So, on with the saga...

Jill returns from the QE2 and tells David what has transpired. David is very relieved that Meg is alright, and pleased that she wants to resume their friendship, but cautious about the notion of a new project. 'Does it involve the motel?'

'I'm not sure,' says Jill. 'I think it might, but I really don't know...'

'Well,' says David, 'I shall look forward to hearing about it when your mother returns.'

Meg visits Matthew in New York and spends some time with Anthony.

At this point we'd hopefully be able to secure a few appearances from Jeremy Sinden.

'It's amazing,' Meg says, looking at her blond haired grandson. 'He's your child and Jill's child, and also Hugh's grandson, my grandson and Charles' grandson. Life is a miracle, isn't it?'

Anthony tells Meg that Matthew has changed him. 'I always baulked at the idea of fatherhood. But I love it. Just watching him... even watching him sleep... I'd never have believed it, but there it is.

'I hope he'll be able to meet Sarah Jane one day,' says Meg. 'She is his half-sister after all.'

'I'm sure he will,' says Anthony.

'Family and friends are the two most important things in the world,' says Meg. 'Good family and good friends are such riches.'

Anthony tells Meg that he has discovered the truth about his father's finances: 'The dear old buzzard was at a pretty complex stage of the deal he was working on when the kidnapping happened. It left him pretty broke at that point, but he would have made a tremendous profit had he lived. As it is, it left a terrible mess for you.'

'I knew it must have been something like that,' says Meg. 'Hugh was far too good a businessman not to have planned everything meticulously for a successful outcome.'

At this point, our memories of Hugh are set free from the terrible cloud created by the writers when Meg was left in the financial lurch after the character died in 1978. We wanted less Meg-martyrdom, and we liked the character of Hugh. An astute and highly experienced businessman, who actually wrote a book on the subject, the scenario of Hugh actually being a financial twit never sat easily with us.

Jill breaks the news of the motel fire to Meg during a phone call in early 1982.

'But, darling, why didn't you tell me? I would never have gone away!' says Meg.

'Because you badly needed the rest and, unless you fancied taking up bricklaying, there was nothing you could have done here,' says Jill firmly.

'You treated me like a child,' says Meg.

'No, Mum, I treated you like someone who loves you and wants the best for you,' says Jill.

Meg accepts that and is touched. She is saddened by the news of Sam's death.

The continuing story of Meg is slotted into the established storylines about the motel, the Brownlows, etc. We loved a lot of the post-Meg storylines and want nothing else changed.

On returning to England, Meg visits Ruth and Andy. She and Andy talk about Granny Frazer - who is sadly no more. Re-establishing Meg's family - Matthew, Andy, etc, would have been important to us. She seemed to be operating in something of a vacuum - with Jill and the motel as her only life concerns - after Sandy's death.

Meg's return to the motel is set for the day of the grand re-opening. She arrives and gives an interview to the Castlewich Clarion about how she began the business in 1963, and how delighted she is at its continued success.

Jill is thrilled to see her mother and, after some initial reserve, it is clear David is also delighted to see her. Glenda, Kath, Doris and other staff greet her and Meg is pleased to be back.

'You know, darling, the place looks completely different, but it really is like coming home!' she tells Jill.

David and Meg discuss her living arrangements. David tells her there will soon be a new suite for a live-in director or manager. Meg says she'd just like to make use of two rooms - her sitting room and the room next door, previously Sandy's bedroom, as her bedroom. David agrees.

Meg and David go to the sitting room. 'I'm looking to the future with great enthusiasm,' says Meg. 'But it's lovely to have this room - a thread of continuity. Lots of wonderful memories!' 

She and David have a drink.

'I must say I'm intrigued by your planned project,' says David. 'Do you feel ready to discuss it?

'Yes, I do,' says Meg. 'I've been thinking everything through, and I want to continue my involvement on the board of directors and in the motel's day to day running, David. Reception stints, paperwork - even kitchen duties if absolutely necessary!' They laugh. 'I'd also like to involve Jill a little more in the running of the place. I think it would be good for her - and the motel.'

David agrees.

'I accept that you are the majority shareholder and in the driving seat, as it were,' says Meg. 'We may not always agree, but we will be able to disagree without rancour, I'm sure of that.'

'I'm very glad,' says David.

'But my idea also involves the motel site and would be an entirely new venture...'

'Do go on,' says David.

And Meg tells him her idea...

Part 4 coming soon...

What Would We Have Done About Nolly? The Noele Gordon and Meg Dilemma - Part 2

When Noele Gordon was sacked from 'Crossroads' in 1981, we wrote to ATV suggesting another solution: keeping Noele Gordon and revitalising Meg's character and situation. We were fobbed off with a very nice (we suspect pro-forma) 'thanks, but no thanks' letter. In recent years we've developed our idea, and this little series is based on our alternative 'crossroads' for the series in 1981, giving the show and the character of Meg a boost, while also resolving backstage difficulties. The first part is here.

Having reached Meg's cabin on the QE2, Jill is greeted by her mother. The fact that Meg's note to Jill was 'still in that pigeon hole' (at least as far as Meg was aware) would be established, but there would be a change to the plot here: 'I suppose that means David hasn't got his note either,' says Meg. 'Never mind. You can sort that out when you get back.'

Meg tells Jill that she is going on holiday. 'I want to take a break, see Matthew, travel a little - I have a longing to explore the sights of Italy, perhaps revisit Tunisia - and then come back to the motel, refreshed.' 

'Sounds wonderful,' says Jill.

'I've seen the doctor,' says Meg. 'He's advised me about weaning myself off the tranquillisers. This is a new beginning, darling.'

Meg explains how the turbulence of the last few years has exhausted her. 'I think I was emotionally punch drunk: Hugh dying, you and Stan splitting up, then Sandy. I was so tired. The battle with David... and yet I was seeing David not as an old friend, but as somebody who was simply behaving unreasonably.'

'You don't think he was?' asks Jill.

'After all the turmoil he's been through? Rosemary and the shooting incident last year. Chris. So difficult. Chris is David's son, after all [Meg doesn't know the truth of the situation]. He loves the boy. And then there's David's marriage being under pressure. It must be so hard for him.  But all I saw was the fact that he wanted to do things I thought were wrong with the motel.'

'Your friendship seemed to just... shrivel up,' says Jill.

Meg nods: 'Yes. As you know, darling, when your father died, I was faced with a choice. He'd hated the idea of the new road so badly. I was half tempted to sell the house and move us somewhere else. But you and Sandy were settled, had friends in King's Oak, and it suddenly occurred to me that the new motorway could serve us well. That's when I came up with the idea of the motel. I'd been languishing in depression for months after Charles died, but I suddenly knew that I had to get on with living - for you and Sandy.'

'I knew you were devastated about Dad, but I never knew you were depressed for so long,' said Jill. 'You were such a tower of strength to us.'

'I'm glad you didn't realise,' said Meg. 'You and Sandy were so young. You were both completely knocked sideways by your father's passing. The only ones who had an inkling were Kitty, and Andy when he came on leave. They were my towers of strength.'

Jill and Meg talk about Sandy: 'I felt I had to keep my grief inside - to carry on. But really, I should have given vent to it. I miss him so much, Jill.'

'Me too,' says Jill. 

'But Sandy's optimism and love of life has inspired me. I'd entered into a senseless battle with David. Perhaps it was a diversion, perhaps I was just trying to protect things past. But it made no sense. I see that now. I originally sold shares in the motel years ago. I always knew it was a business. I wanted to see it succeed - to thrive. It has. Now David is the majority shareholder and he has new ideas, He's also experienced dreadful traumas in the last few years. Why shouldn't he want to make new plans? Do something positive? Just as I did all those years ago. I may not like all his plans and I will voice any concerns I have. But I hope we can regain our friendship, it's meant a great deal to me over the years. It still does, and I'd like to go on being at the motel.'

'I'm so glad,' says Jill. 'Oh, Mum!' And she begins to cry.

'Jill, is something wrong?' asks Meg. 'I've got the strangest feeling... it's uncanny...'

Jill pulls herself together, deciding there and then not to tell her mother about the fire. Meg needs a break. Jill is convinced she would cancel her holiday and return to King's Oak immediately if she is told what has happened.

'Imagination! You're just worrying in case you've forgotten to cancel the milk or the papers! You're going on a lovely holiday, one you thoroughly deserve! So, enjoy it, Mum!'

They embrace and the announcement that the ship will soon be sailing is heard over the tannoy system.

'There's just one more thing,' says Meg. 'When you and David see the notes I left for you both, you'll see mention of a plan. I'm formulating a future project. I'm not at a stage where I can discuss the details, but it will be the beginning of my fresh start. In the meantime, you will have my proxy vote on all decisions at the motel whilst I'm away. I've made all the arrangements with the solicitors. Do as you think fit, and please don't be influenced by my previous opposition to David.'

'I won't,' Jill stands up to leave. 'When will you be back?'

'No definite date yet,' says Meg. 'Sometime early next year.'

'Good! Have a wonderful time!' 

They embrace again.

When Jill has left the cabin, Meg turns to her dressing table where a framed photograph of Sandy is standing. She smiles at it.

Jill is seen smiling and waving at Meg as the QE2 sails, with Meg smiling and waving back.

Part Three is here.

What Would We Have Done About Nolly? The Noele Gordon and Meg Dilemma - Part 1

A happy Meg Richardson at the motel in the 1960s.

We disapprove strongly of the Nolly TV series, and the ridiculous Feminist posturings of Russell T Davies and its star, Helena Bonham Carter. Both stink of misandry and an ideology that is now questioned more and more.

The Nolly story was hijacked into a Feminist 'men against women' issue, like so much nowadays. It's easy. It's lazy. It's untrue.

If the Patriarchy truly existed, then women would not have been allowed to set up the Feminist movement or gain positions in industries largely set up by men - like television. As it was, Lady Plowden was head of the IBA before the end of the 1970s, and decreeing Crossroads be reduced from four to three episodes a week.

But what would we have done after the IBA decreed that Crossroads was to be cut back to three episodes? Television journalist Hilary Kingsley opined in her 1988 book, Soap Box, that the decree seemed to panic ATV and its successor, Central, and contributed to the sacking of Noele Gordon.

We don't know what was going on behind the scenes, but it seems that the rest of the cast were not all happy with the leading lady.

We wrote to ATV after the sacking was announced. We'd come up with a way to freshen up Crossroads and keep Nolly very much to the forefront. We received a very nice 'thanks, but no thanks,' reply - a pro-forma, we think.

We found the tragedies and dramas inflicted on Meg rather too much, particularly in the last few years. We always pictured her standing in her sitting room, waiting for the latest hideous bolt from Dame Fortune to strike her.

So, assuming that the storyline had developed as screened up until the Sam Hurst storyline of late 1981, how would we have saved Meg and given the character a fresh spring in her step?

And what would we have done about Nolly?

The first thing would have been to sit down for a straight talk with Noele Gordon. Slobbering all over her memory and using Feminist ideology - misandry under another name - to disparage Jack Barton is really not on. Which is why Russell T Davies's hijacking of her story for Feminist ends is completely unacceptable.

Russell is too young to remember early Crossroads, and was only eighteen when Noele was sacked. If you peel away a few layers and look at things he has incorporated into his work in the past, it becomes obvious that he is not as sound as he thinks.

There had been difficulties with Noele behind the scenes, whether they were to do with personality clashes with production staff or anything else is immaterial. It needed laying on the line to her that, if she was the leader of the cast and the show's spokesperson, then she needed to behave in a way that fostered good relations between cast members, an understanding that actors acted and producers produced (she had this with Reg Watson) and an excellent team spirit. 

The decision to stay or go would have been hers.

We think this is an approach that would have worked well. Noele appreciated straight talking, and her advancement in the world of television had been all her own doing, as herself, not as some quivering, misandrist Feminist.

If more women weren't there it was because it was an unproven and developing medium and they didn't want to be. But as soon as it established itself, Feminists were attempting to kick the boardroom doors down in droves, screeching 'SEXISM!'.

Noele had simply gone out there and done what she wanted. And she had succeeded.

If she had accepted our terms and decided to stay, then we would have unwrapped our plans to revitalise Meg and Noele's role in the show.

Noele had recently experienced the death of her mother and, let's face it, the tragedies and tribulations of Meg were not exactly the best ingredients for a happy  life in the acting profession.

Noele was dedicated to her role and, one of the loveliest things about her, she cared about the show's fans. She knew what it felt like to be lonely, and the show's place in the affections of millions of lonely people (not that all Crossroads fans were lonely) obviously resounded with her. But playing Meg could not have been much fun in the last few years.

So, Meg would have sprung back. We'd have reverted more to the early Meg character with a major new challenge, her determination to make the best of change (as she did when her husband died and she started the motel) and maybe a little light romance later on.

So returning to 1981, loaded with Rubik's Cubes and the Royal Wedding and the inner city riots in parts of England, we would make our first change to the Crossroads plot at the point of her conversation with Sam Hurst/Norton.

The Sunday Times Review of the Year, 1981.

Sam's advice about being free of excess baggage and travelling in hope would have provoked a different response from Meg: 'Is it really that easy, Sam? And is it really necessary to physically move to drop the excess baggage?'

'Perhaps not, Mrs Mortimer. Travelling in hope, moving forward, doesn't necessarily mean moving house...'

Meg would have been seen, uncertain, unhappy, still tranqullising herself, and all would have gone as it did in the original show up to and including the fire...

Jill would have received the QE2 phone call from Meg, just as originally seen onscreen, and rushed to the docks.

But, from then on, things would have been different...

Part 2 is here

Russell T Davies: Nolly - with Helena Bonham Carter - Will We Be Watching?

Our favourite photo of Noele Gordon, giving an autograph to a young fan.

An email from 'Vera Downend':

Will you be watching the forthcoming TV drama 'Nolly', about Noele Gordon?

No. We've read the blurb, and it sounds like one of those dreadful Feminist 'Aren't Men Pigs?' type things, which makes excuses for Nolly's personality on the grounds that men are sexist towards women. It's rubbish. It's a misandrist narrative. We can't help thinking Nolly would be forthright in her views. Dramas built around ideologies are not, to our mind, enjoyable. 

Writer Russell T Davies has form - some of the worst purveyors of this type of bilge are chivalrous men. It's patronising to women and typical of the male desire to chuck its own sex under the bus and damsel women. Read this:

As well as delving into the past to find out why Noele Gordon was sacked from Crossroads without warning, this new ITV drama is also a bold exploration of how the establishment turns on women who refuse to play by the rules, the women it cannot understand and the women it fears.

Nonsense. That's rubbish - PEOPLE who don't play by the rules, are not understood and feared are usually eventually ousted, and women have always been part of the establishment. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Everything nowadays is reworked into sexism against women. Nolly was no damsel, she was a huge personality, as flawed as anybody else and brilliant, and her dismissal had nothing to do with her sex.

Every time a retro drama - 'based on facts' - is produced, we are not viewing the facts. We are viewing past events as seen through the lens of today. The 21st Century lens is as fogged and clogged with modern debris as any other.

In fact, chivalry has long encouraged a fawning 'innocent, lovely woman put down by awful men' mindset.

Women as 'done to' never 'doers'. Objects.

Noele Gordon simply got out there and did things. She lived life her way. 

If the Feminist mindset is so sheep-like its adherents imagine somebody had to leave the apparently quivering, spineless female flock to work in television before any other woman would  - and that men and women are  separate species, with men determined to 'oppress' women - they are sadly deluded.

It's a terrible view of the history of the human race, casting one sex as hideous tyrants and the other as jelly-spined nincompoops.

The whole thing reeks of Marxist style historical revisionism, victimhood culture, and narcissism.

Women as lovely, sensitive beings, men as not.

The fact that so many men go along with it, don't question - and never have - shows the truth of the situation.

We must also mention the 'glass cellar jobs' - well over 90% of workplace deaths are still male because they are still the vast majority doing those jobs. Come on, Feminists, surely representation should be more equal after all these years?

Russell has described his screenplay as a 'love letter to Noele Gordon'. Meg was not our favourite Crossroads character, although she was definitely one of them, and we adored Noele Gordon. 

But we prefer facts.

Trying to hijack Nolly's story for the purposes of the increasingly questioned Feminist ideology in all its misandrist "glory" is a terrible thing to do.

Celebrate Nolly, not nonsense.

Our Crossroads Favourites: Sandy Richardson

Sandy enjoys a cuppa in the sitting room.

Sandy Richardson, son of Meg, brother of Jill, is my wife's favourite Crossroads character of all time, and he ranks very highly with me. 

Roger Tonge played Sandy, and made him one of the gentlest, most stoic and kind-hearted characters ever. 

Sandy also had a lovely dry sense of humour.

He was very special indeed, whether annoying Carlos the chef, bantering with the waitresses or battling grave misfortune, Sandy was super.

When the show started in 1964, he was a schoolboy, then went on to try his hand at a career in journalism. 

He left for a time. 

On returning, Sandy gave farming a go, until his life suddenly changed, forever.

A car crash made him English soaps' first paraplegic.

Crossroads served the character and the realities of the physical condition most excellently.

Sandy went into a period of depression, and, after coming through that, landed a job as assistant manager at the motel.

He was concerned that nepotism might have won him the job, but Meg made sure he achieved it on his own merits.

Meanwhile, off-screen, the Crossroads Care Attendant Scheme came into existence.

I have so many fond memories of Sandy - who was as happy nattering with waitress Jane Smith as he was hobnobbing with Hugh Mortimer. Well, actually, he wasn't terribly convinced that Hugh was a suitable suitor for Meg. 

He had his doubts about our Mr M.

But never mind.

And, of course, he worried about his sister, Jill.

His relationship with Meg could be great fun - with Meg insisting that he shouldn't do too much, lest he make himself ill, and Sandy resisting.

He'd certainly inherited his mother's determination!

Romance was ill starred for Sandy.

I hoped he would marry receptionist Fay Mansfield - feeling that the character was a lovely onscreen presence and would be good for him.

But it was not to be.

There was something of a list of failed romances for Sandy, but he endured his traumas quietly.

Roger Tonge died in 1981 and we heard of Sandy's death months later, which was the Crossroads method of dealing with the deaths of major cast members at the time.

Noele Gordon, as Meg, paid tribute to the character's 'optimism and love of life'.

Sandy was wonderful, and so much more than just a peg for a fascinating storyline about paraplegia, although the character served as an inspiration for many others in the same situation.

Sandy, like many others in the longterm cast, became a dear friend who visited us three or four nights a week via our TV screens, year after year. 

We loved him.