Our Crossroads Favourites: Valerie Pollard

Valerie in 1982: 'Birmingham? Darling, where on earth's that?'

Valerie Pollard, played by Heather Chasen, only appeared intermittently in Crossroads from 1982 to 1985, but she certainly left her mark on the motel - and our affections.

We adored Valerie.

Naughty but capable of being very nice, Valerie popped a button off Adam Chance's shirt upon her arrival in April 1982 - and bore him away to his boat for a night of 'lurve'.

This resulted in the breaking of Adam's engagement to Jill Chance - and the departure of Adam on the midnight plane to Paris - to avoid the wrath of Val's husband, J Henry Pollard.

Val had only done it to get up her hubby's nose.

Valerie, of course, was a millionaire's wife, leading an elegant beach bum life abroad with a host of 'pneumatic young men' - as her husband put it.

And when J Henry imprisoned her in a grotty motel in the English Midlands, well, darling, you surely couldn't expect her to take that lying down, could you?

The motel bored Valerie so much she once ordered a Pussyfoot Special in the bar.

While Valerie and J Henry were at loggerheads, they actually DID care about each other. J Henry even told her how to spell 'grotesque' - 'q-u-e, not k'.

Poor Miranda, the couple's daughter, dodged the bullets flying between her parents.

Valerie once told Miranda she thought J Henry was the only member of the family who really knew how to love - and she didn't mean sleeping around.

What was so wonderful about Valerie was that you didn't know what to expect from her. Here was a rich super bitch who was also kind and considerate enough to give pregnant motel waitress Glenda Banks a lift home to save her catching the bus, and hand-hold distressed Kate Hamilton as she awaited a court appearance.

But she was also willing to falsely accuse motel restaurant manager (and her husband's spy) Paul Ross of sexual assault. Fortunately, David Hunter saw right through that - and Valerie just reacted as though she had been caught out in a piece of trivial mischief.

She also sent her own daughter an anonymous letter in an attempt to stop Miranda's romantic pursuit of Mr Paul - which caused much angst and resulted in police bribery.

Valerie lit up the screen. Her bitchery, her languidness, her kindness - she was fascinating and very witty to boot.

A Crossroads legend to us at the blog, she made Joan Collins of Dynasty look like Hilda Ogden after a bout of flu and sixty fags.

Fabulous.

Now, we're off to the bar to toy with the peanuts - and perhaps even order a Pussyfoot Special. Unless, of course, you'd like to show us your boat...

The Brownlows: The Mystery Of The Disappearing Dinner...

"It's all very well you saying 'use that tin of spam - give Dad sandwiches for dinner,' Glenda, but that tin's been in the cupboard since 1980 and you can't give a man spam when he's been out working all day."

Stumbled upon an intriguing Crossroads culinary mystery in a a copy of the Sun newspaper, dated February 19, 1982 today: 

Tucking into a hot meal

A real life whodunnit has developed behind the scenes of telly's Crossroads.

It started when a meal was specially cooked and laid on the table of the studio home of the Brownlows.

The cast left for a short break and when they returned someone had scoffed the lot.

Now Central TV has really made a meal of it by issuing a memo laying down strict rules on who eats what and when.

Staff of the hit telly series are hardly on breadline wages, yet this is the second time since January that food has been swiped.

One of the official cakes for the channel's launch also went missing.

Stan Stennett As Sid Hooper...

Sid Hooper (Stan Stennett) arrived at the Crossroads Garage in early 1982, and created quite a stir. 

Adam Chance (Tony Adams) appointed him foreman, which greatly upset Joe MacDonald (Carl Andrews), who had been promised the position. Mac went to the race relations board and trouble brewed. 

Adam had not meant to be racist - he simply believed that Sid was better qualified for the job, but the fact remained that Mac had been promised it long before. 

Sid, meanwhile, was revealed as being the wandering husband of boarding house keeper Mavis Hooper (Charmian Eyre), and moved in with her. His weakness for gambling and women soon showed, and he departed from King's Oak after his new boss at the garage, Reg Lamont (Reginald Marsh) bought him off - giving him money to pay off his gambling debts on condition that he gave up his job at the garage, leaving the way open for Mac to take over. 

Sid was absent from the village from some time, finally returning when Mavis was taken ill. 

Re-employed by the garage, Sid became a much nicer guy - in fact, one of my favourite Crossroads characters of the 1980s - he remained in King's Oak until 1987. 

Sid was simply quality. A character I could believe in, and one I would have enjoyed having a pint with in the pub. Mr Stennett played the part so naturally, and Sid seemed very real. 

Stan Stennett first brought Sid to life in 1982, but had previously played a very different character twelve years before, Harry Silver, who held Mr Booth (David Lawton) and Tish Hope (Joy Andrews) at gunpoint. 

The role of Harry Silver had been very brief, but Stan Stennett remembered it and suggested that Harry might return in 1981 - and shoot Meg Mortimer (Noele Gordon), who was being written out. 

Crossroads producer Jack Barton thought this might make Stan the most unpopular man in the UK, but instead suggested a brand new and very different role - Sid Hooper. And Sid soon became a Crossroads icon.

From the Daily Mirror, February 27, 1985: 

HEDGING HIS BETS 

Although he plays a Crossroads garage man who loves to gamble, Stan Stennett never bets in real life. 

His passion is the challenge of running three theatres - two of which double as cinemas. He subsidises them with his Crossroads earnings. 

It was there at his Roses Theatre in Tewksbury, Gloucs., that Stan put on a special celebrity show that raised more than £2,000 for the Mirror's Ethiopian appeal. 

Stan thinks his Sid Hooper character is mellowing. "He used to be much more prickly when I started off in Crossroads three years ago," he says. "But I've softened him up a bit. Now he's developing an eye for the ladies."

Crossroads - the Drama Of A Soap Opera - By Dorothy Hobson - 1980s

Sara has written with an enquiry:

The book, Crossroads The Drama Of A Soap Opera was published in 1982, and Dorothy Hobson was obviously at the studios in 1981 because she was there when Noele Gordon was sacked. But books like "Cultural Closure - The Arts In The 1970s", edited by Bart Moore Gilbert, claim that her interviews with the female viewers were all done in the late 1970s (or so Stuart Laing says). Is this so?

Piffle and bunk. Crossroads emerged as a popular show with female viewers when Dorothy Hobson began conducting interviews in the late 1970s, but her Crossroads-relevant interviews took place in 1981, as story-lines from 1980 and 1981 are mentioned by the interviewees - as was the character Kate Loring (arrived in 1981), and the Brownlows (the family did not arrive until late 1979).

Ms Hobson first gained access to the Crossroads studios in the late spring of 1981 - according to her book. I quote:

In the event it was not until the late spring of 1981 that I managed to gain access to Crossroads, and the period when I was watching the production and viewing with the audience coincided with the period before Noele Gordon was sacked from the company.

So, from the horse's mouth, there you have it - Ms Hobson gained access to the studios in the late spring of 1981, and then began watching the production of the show and viewing it with the audience.

Many things (in general) written about the 1970s are actually about the 1960s and 1980s. I don't know why. I sometimes think it happens too often to simply be mistakes! It's as though the '70s must be hyped!

And on the same theme...

Gary Arnold asks:

Crossroads 2003 and Beyond claims that the show went into colour in 1970 -

"The programme goes into colour enabling Meg’s dresses to be seen in all their floral glory."

But I thought it was 1969?

Yes, it was 1969 (sigh). See what I mean?

Some 1982 Crossroads Cliffhangers...

Thank you, YouTube! Included here are Jill Harvey (Jane Rossington) attempting to intervene in some marital strife between Barbara (Sue Lloyd) and David Hunter (Ronald Allen), the tragic death of Arthur Brownlow (Peter Hill), and the agonising story of whether or not Kate Hamilton (Frances White) had killed casino owner Tony Moran (John Laurimore).

1982: Heather Chasen As Valerie Pollard...

1982 - a new arrival at the Crossroads Motel... 

In the wake of Noele Gordon's departure from the Crossroads serial, Jack Barton, producer, made it plain that the show couldn't revolve around a single character in the future. 

 And so, at the motel, we had Barbara (Sue Lloyd) and David Hunter (Ronald Allen) running things with Jill Harvey (Jane Rossington) and Adam Chance (Tony Adams). Not a particularly cosy set-up as David and Adam did not get along, and David could not shake off his suspicions that Adam's interest in Jill was not entirely honourable. 

 The closest we came to a Meg-style linchpin in this new set-up was Barbara - but she had other fish to fry, like writing best selling novels, and refused to be tied totally to the motel. 

  Elsewhere, we had the Brownlows - lovable, motherly Kath (Pamela Vezey), grumpy Arthur (Peter Hill), frumpy Glenda (Lynette McMorrough) and her newish husband, Kevin Banks (David Moran) - the couple had married in 1981. 

 The not-so-cosy boarding house belonging to Mavis Hooper (Charmian Eyre) had been introduced in 1981- Mrs Overall, who was first seen in Acorn Antiques in 1985, was Mavis's "lookey likey". 

 With waitress Diane Hunter (Susan Hanson) cleaner and kitchen help Doris Luke (Kathy Staff) and the Crossroads Garage staff - including Sharon Metcalfe (Carolyn Jones), Benny Hawkins (Paul Henry) and Joe MacDonald (Carl Andrews), the motel marched on post-Meg. 

 And then came a stroke of genius on the part of the writers and production team. 

 Businessman J Henry Pollard (Michael Turner) had first appeared in the Crossroads saga in 1980, along with his daughter, Miranda (Claire Faulconbridge). 

 In April 1982, we finally got to meet Mrs Pollard. Mrs Valerie Pollard, J Henry's wife, who apparently loathed him dearly and had been forced to travel from her home in Bermuda to England when J Henry suddenly cut her funding. 

 Val, played by the very excellent Heather Chasen, enjoyed the good life - luxurious accommodation, travel-on-a-whim, wonderful food, lots of beach romeos... 

 And then, suddenly, there she was trapped at the Crossroads Motel, where she would stay, her ever-loving hubby informed her, and become a good and loving wife. Otherwise, J Henry would divorce her and she could rest assured that, with his best lawyers on the case, she wouldn't be getting any wonderful divorce settlement. She would get nothing. 

Valerie hit back - and hit back hard, seducing and bedding Adam Chance on his boat. Jill was devastated and Adam left the motel. 

What a bitch was Valerie... But she wasn't only a bitch. Languid and witty, she was also capable of good deeds... And, of course, under the veneer of vehement dislike, she actually cared for J Henry very much indeed... 

 And he cared for her. 

With daughter Miranda on-and-off the scene, the Pollards were a complicated family. J Henry was not keen on showing his feelings, Valerie could be devious and Miranda was often headstrong and immature. But they livened up Crossroads no end! 

I hadn't been particularly impressed by the father/daughter J Henry/Miranda set-up we'd been treated to (on occasion, the characters were not permanent regulars) since 1980. But with Val on the scene from 1982 onwards, the Pollard "thing" really got some zing! 

And, with her huge wardrobe of swish clothes, plus her tendency to toy with the peanuts and her "Pussyfoot Special" at the bar, Valerie was a very stylish person indeed. 

Although the character only appeared (intermittently) from 1982-1985, the memory lingers...

From the Sun - £10 telly-view reader's letter, 29/5/1982: 

Heather Chasen has brought a refreshing touch of good acting to "Crossroads". Her haughty but not over-acted Valerie Pollard makes the show worth watching for a change. Mrs DL, Norfolk.