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...

Our Crossroads Favourites: Nicola Freeman

Power dressing Nicola Freeman wasn't just a shrewd businesswoman...

Was it Nicola Freeman or Suzie Doyle? Actually, it was both, and she had also once been Nicola Delaney too!

Born to poor parents in a narrow, terraced street, young Suzie Doyle loved her father. But he was a drinker and spendthrift and Suzie's mother finally ordered him out, and remarried. Suzie and her stepfather did not get on, and when she became pregnant at the age of seventeen, she ran away from home rather than confide in her parents.

She had her daughter adopted, and went on through a series of jobs to work at the Playboy Club, where, as there were two other Suzies working there, she changed her name to Nicola Delaney. A complete break with her past.

Nicola's life was colourful, but she finally met and married Herbie Freeman, big wheel of the Major International Hotels group. She didn't love him at first - but learned to - a great deal. She didn't find his two children, Daniel and Joanna, so easy. In fact, Daniel greatly resented her.

After Herbie's death, Nicola became a big wheel in Major International Hotels herself, and in 1985 the group bought the Crossroads Motel in King's Oak. And Nicola came in to manage it.

She was an interesting character - at first appearing cool and clipped, but a sympathetic side to her nature quickly emerged. She was charmed by Benny (who solemnly called her 'Mrs Foreman') and sorry for Jill when her marriage disintegrated - after amorous Adam made a pass at her.

Also, during her time at the motel, Nicola endured her problem step-children, an affair with a married man, a fraught reconciliation with her mother - and her adopted daughter turned up.

When MIH sold the motel, she left - but may have been on the point on returning when the series ended.

Nicola was a great Crossroads character. She added much intrigue, glamour and sparkle to the years 1985-1987 at the motel.

And no effort was made by the production team to turn her into another Meg. Not that there could ever have been another!

Nicola was very much a character in her own right. The motel wasn't a family business, started in her own home. It was, first and foremost, a business.

But she definitely had heart.

Our Crossroads Favourites: Amy Turtle

Hippies on the telly? Mr Booth's fancy cooking? Amy wasn't impressed. It was juicy gossip she craved.

Ah, Amy Turtle! Some people will snigger, but it's worth remembering that Amy was a hugely popular Crossroads character - in my family she was more popular than Meg Richardson - and from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, many working class folk would have frowned at criticism of the character or of the actress's performance.

And, as Ann George, who played Amy, pointed out, she did become a bit of a scapegoat when other cast members fumbled their lines.

Diminutive Amy was immensely popular not just with the tongue-in-cheek detractors of the show, but with its loyal and loving audience - who took the character seriously and cared for her.

So, Amy lived in the village of King's Oak and was first seen as a Brummie customer at Kitty Jarvis's shop, where she soon went to work. Amy then transferred to the motel as a kitchen hand and char. Gossip was Amy's great love and she wasn't very clever. The character's biography at ATV described her as an 'English peasant' - as were many of us viewers, of course. She dabbled in spiritualism and maintained contact with her deceased husband Fred that way. She was suspicious of big city living and hippies.

Amy Turtle was happy in her own little pond.

Much was made by mockers of the show in later years of an old story-line in which Amy had apparently been accused of being a Russian spy - Amelia Turtlovski. The episode/s no longer exist, and I don't recall the plot from my viewing years, but it has since been suggested that the whole thing was just a jokey comment made by another character, and not a story-line at all. Amy, of course, would have made an excellent spy. If anybody has any further information on this, I'd be fascinated to hear.

After the death of her son in 1975, Amy was caught shoplifting and we were all horrified when she was put in a police cell. She shamefacedly slipped into Meg and Hugh's wedding, and sat at the back. Things didn't improve when a wage packet went missing, and some uncharitable souls suspected Amy was the thief. She fled from the motel, briefly taking a job elsewhere under an assumed name to cover her shame, but was finally found by Jane Smith and brought safely back into the motel fold.

In early 1976, Amy went away to visit a relative abroad, and wasn't seen again until early 1987. Apparently, she'd been quietly living in the village and had come to visit the motel as a friend of its new owner, down-to-earth Brummie cove Tommy 'Bomber' Lancaster.

And she'd hardly aged a day.

Her presence seemed to rather freak out poor Jill Chance, and Amy made a few dark comments about Meg - who apparently would 'bawl like a fish wife' if the chalets weren't spotless, but 'had a heart of gold'. 

Ann George made a few appearances as Amy at this point, and I loved them.

Her disappearance in the mid-1970s had left a huge hole in the show. Apparently there had been problems behind the scenes, and so the viewers lost a cherished character.

Oh well. 

Still, it was great to see Amy again in 1987, brief though her appearances were.

Another Crossroads legend, never to be forgotten. 

Our Favourite Crossroads Characters: Diane Lawton/Parker/Hunter

Diane! Another legendary Crossroads character and another huge favourite of ours.

Poor old Di, played by Susan Hanson, had a terrible time, as do all soap heroines. She'd originally arrived to win a beauty contest in the mid-1960s, then got a job as a waitress and kitchen hand at the motel. By the end of that decade she'd had a nervous breakdown after the explosion of an old wartime bomb which had devastated the motel kitchen.

Di also braved temperamental chefs like Carlos Rafael, Mr Booth, Mr Lovejoy, and Shughie McFee (or Shughie McCradock as she once called him), and the nosiness of the likes of Amy Turtle and Mrs Witton. The kitchen was not a particularly harmonious place, even without a bomb.

If all that wasn't enough, Di had a terribly shifty brother, Terry, who turned up at odd intervals to cause her heartache.

The start of the 1970s saw Di dealing with a drunken landlord and enjoying a heady romance with American film star Frank Adam, which resulted in an out-of wedlock baby, Nicky. Kindly postman and motel barman Vince Parker came to the rescue and married her.

The marriage broke up when Vince discovered that Frank Adam was secretly sending Di money for Nicky, and then Nicky got kidnapped. Di was frantic, thinking that the toddler has suffocated in an old fridge dumped on wasteland at one point, before discovering his father was the kidnapper.

Nicky now lived in America, with Di visiting him regularly.

Di had a brief encounter with the demon drink, but Prince Charming certainly didn't arrive. Clifford Leyton (Johnny Briggs - later Mike Baldwin of Coronation Street) and PC Steve Cater certainly weren't him.

Midway through the decade, Di visited her aunt and uncle, Peggy and Ed Lawton, at Heywoods Farm. Aunt Peggy fell and broke her hip, so Diane stayed on to help. She returned to the farm after her Aunt Peggy died.

It was at the farm that Diane met a simple country lad called Benny Hawkins, who called her 'Miss Diane'. The two forged a lasting bond of friendship, Benny gave her a kid (which caused Vera Downend brief confusion and concern) - of the goat variety - and Diane taught him to read.

Back home, Di experienced another nervous breakdown, prowling around her flat at night committing acts of vandalism, and having no memory of it by daylight. Her flatmate at the time, Jane Smith, helped her to see what was happening.

As the decade ended, Di agreed to marry Chris Hunter so that Chris would receive some inheritance money. It was a marriage purely of convenience.

The 1980s saw Di sharing her flat with motel garage manageress Sharon Metcalfe. She developed an unrequited love for Dr James Wilcox, of the group practice in King's Oak, and her shifty brother, Terry, returned to wreak further havoc on a couple of occasions. On one of these, Benny came to Di's rescue, using his father's inheritance money to pay off Terry's shady money lenders, who were 'leaning on' Diane.

Poor old Benny, who was trying to make her happy, couldn't understand why she cried!

Di briefly tangled with oily restaurant manager Paul Ross - Mr Paul - and regretted it - although the man was supportive towards her later.

Di supported Sharon's efforts to help a local Down's Syndrome child in one of the show's best story-lines in 1983, and also became entangled in the war between J. Henry Pollard and Mr Paul, which ended up earning her demotion - from cold trolley waitress to simple waitress. She icily refused guilt-ridden J Henry's offer of financial compensation - she had her pride.

Various absences from the motel over the years, often seeing Nicky in America, had ended in Di simply walking back into her job, often after many months away. The 1983 demotion story-line came as something of a shock to us viewers, and reality caught up with her again in 1985 when, after a spell away, she returned to find no job available. Or at least not one suitable for her experience. Even her old pal Jill Chance couldn't help. 

On this occasion, restaurant manager Mr Paul's misfortune was Diane's gain, as she walked into his job after he was injured in a wages snatch.

Di finally had the job she wanted, but Mr Right still proved elusive. She settled into a cottage in the village, and endured the tender ministrations of Benny (herbal tea made with dried mixed herbs) when she had the flu at Christmas 1986.

In 1987, Di was involved in a car accident, but was seemingly OK. However, not long afterwards, she suddenly collapsed in the office at work. She had had a brain hemorrhage and died in hospital a few days later.

The nation wept, including me, but although it was meant kindly, Benny naming a donkey 'Miss Diane' was not a very fitting tribute.

Di was magic. She'd been in our living rooms for so many years she was like an old friend or older sister. Once again, that magical quality some Crossroads performers had to make their characters seem real shone through in abundance.

I always wished she'd found true love - married and been whisked away to run a plush hotel in the Caribbean or something with her new hubby.

But poor old Di never was lucky.

Our Crossroads Favourites: Vera Downend

Vera faces another problem on her boat. Actress Zeph Gladstone had the freedom to buy the clothes for her character - but they had to be in bad taste.

Dear old Vera Downend! Played by Zeph Gladstone, Vera is one of my absolute-ultimate-favourite Crossroads characters. I love her.

Ex-tart Vera started out in Crossroads living next door to single mother Diane Lawton, who had a grotty bedsit, in 1971. She was originally quite a slovenly character, but good-hearted and quickly became a hit with us viewers.

So Vera smartened up (in her own way) and came to the motel to open a hairdressing salon and live on the Harvey family's barge on the canal.

Wilf Harvey advanced Vera £3,000 to start the salon so, although we remember him mainly for being a grouse, he certainly wasn't all bad.

Vera was another of those magical Crossroads characters you felt you could confide in and, during my often troubled youth, I could have done with a chat with her on many occasions. In fact sometimes, in my imagination, I did visit her boat to confide in her - and, occasionally, when troubled, still do!

But she worried us. The section of the King's Oak canal (near Wilf Harvey's) where Vera lived looked downright seedy and her attention to security on the boat was, to put it mildly, rather lax. She was often seen wandering off to bed with no effort to 'batten down the hatches' (or whatever one does on barges), with just a flimsy interior door separating her from the despicable characters no doubt lurking on the canal banks.

We were genuinely worried about this.

There were no mobile phones in those days.

And she suffered. Weird and menacing goings on sometimes came Vera's way - and once she was even mugged. Though not on her boat.

Bless her.

The boat once suddenly sprang a leak. Cue dramatic ending of episode! 

In 1976, the salon ran into financial difficulties. The motel took over, but kept Vera on as manageress.

Vera sprouted a long-lost son, Clive Merrow, late in her reign and experienced motherhood problems - and coming to terms with Clive's adopted mother. She came through it all brilliantly.

Romance was never smooth or easy - and all the nice girls love a sailor, including Vera. She dated Doug Randall (Richard Thorp - Alan Turner in Emmerdale Farm from 1982 onwards) for a time, but it came to naught. Doug was eager to escape his unhappy marriage, but his wife had other ideas and the situation was impossible.

And then, in 1977, Vera fell for creepy restaurant manager Max Lorimer, who bought her boat from Sheila Mollison and Stan Harvey, and basically set his cap at her in a most unhealthy way. 

Vera found herself back on dry land, sharing Max's old flat with Diane, but not long afterwards finally departed from King's Oak.

I missed her dreadfully. My memories of her departure are that it was to be temporary and she would be returning. She was apparently working on a cruise ship for a time. I must have dreamt it, but I could swear there was an episode a few years later in which Diane said, 'I've just seen Vera in the village, and she says...' (referring to some ongoing storyline)

And I suddenly had the notion that she would be reappearing. The hope flickered for a few weeks.

It was wishful thinking. A year long 'sabbatical' for actress Zeph Gladstone turned into a permanent departure as she was not asked back.

It was never the same. Pure magic, our Vera. A cherished memory.

Our Crossroads Favourites: Jill Richardson/Harvey/Chance

Having uttered the very first words heard in Crossroads in November 1964 - 'Crossroads Motel, may I help you?' - Jane Rossington as Jill starred in the show's final cliffhanger in April 1988: who would Jill choose? Jolly and just John Maddingham or often amoral Adam Chance?

In the early BBC radio soap Mrs Dale's Diary (later The Dales), central character Mrs Dale was always saying 'I'm worried about Jim' - referring to Dr Dale, her loving hubby. This became something of an affectionate national catchphrase. Many of us Crossroads fans were often heard to say, when discussing the latest events in the serial, 'I'm worried about Jill.'

And we had good cause to be.

Poor old Jill, played by Jane Rossington, daughter of Meg, sister of Sandy, had a fraught life. Nobody could ever accuse Father Fate or Dame Fortune of being kind to her.

If Meg was the caring, coping matriarch of King's Oak, Jill was its Penelope Pitstop.

Jill had an absolutely terrible time. She married John Crane, a bigamist, in 1970 and had a miscarriage. She married down-to-earth Stan Harvey not long after and had a daughter, Sarah Jane, and a few happy years - before having an affair with her step-brother, Anthony Mortimer. This resulted in a son, Matthew, and was the death knell of Jill and Stan's marriage.

Then, Jill, who still loved Stan, had an on/off romance with Adam Chance, which was broken off in 1982, when he dallied with Valerie Pollard, but resurrected in 1983 - when they got married.

The marriage blew onto the rocks in 1985 when Adam made advances to new motel boss Nicola Freeman, and Jill rebounded into the arms of Nicola's brother, Mickey Doyle.

Well, he drank, she had a miscarriage, and it seemed was drifting back towards Adam when a new arrival as landlord at the King's Oak pub, the Running Stag, one John Maddingham, made a few gentle overtures to her.

And, with the motel/hotel up for grabs, and Adam angling for a reunion so he could get his grubby mits on said motel/hotel, Jill took off with John. Perhaps to open a little hotel in the West and call it 'Crossroads'.

During the show's final stages, the William Smethurst-produced era, Jill became a more rounded character. She was still somebody we worried about - or "daffy" as her loving husband Adam once described her, she was still good hearted and lovable, but she also developed a snooty side to great comic effect. Jane Rossington later said she was very happy with the changes made to the character at this time. I enjoyed this Jill era probably most of all, and my admiration for Jane Rossington's acting skills increased tremendously.

Jane said:

'William had run The Archers and he had a fearsome reputation, but after he arrived he was wonderful with scripts. He was not the easiest of people to get on with, but for me, he had some super writers and he made my character much more of a character, I had much better scenes, much better. Whereas before I just had to make what I could out of it, but this was actually written, and it was quite funny and I turned into this dizzy, slightly snooty girl. It was quite funny and it was nice, I really enjoyed that. But I liked William and I was horrified when the programme went because they'd given him a long contract and led him right up the garden path, promising him this was forever, you know, so that he would leave the BBC, they were very naughty.'

Through it all, even her snooty phase, Jill was a compassionate, caring person.

That's why we worried about her - and loved her.

Even after the show ended in 1988, I still found myself muttering, 'I do hope Jill's all right,' from time to time...

Like her mother, Meg, Jill is a soap legend. For very different reasons - she was not a coper, more the damsel in constant distress. But she was a survivor - the only member of the original cast to star in the final episode.

I discount the Crossroads revival series, which saw Jill killed off by a deranged Adam. That was all a dream anyway.

Jill went West with John and probably, out there somewhere, she's bravely manning the reception desk at another Crossroads Motel (established 1988) - and still surviving the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. But wherever she is, perhaps she might drop us a quick postcard sometime, because we do worry...

Our Crossroads Favourites: Meg Richardson/Mortimer

My favourite photograph of Noele 'Nolly' Gordon, Meg of the motel - an autograph for a young fan in the 1970s.

Meg! Margaret Fraser/Richardson/Ryder/Mortimer! It was around the character played by actress Noele Gordon that the Crossroads format was built and Meg was the staunch leader of the motel pack from the very first episode in November 1964 until she lost her majority or equal shareholder role in 1979 - and finally took off for pastures new in November 1981.

Meg's husband, Charles Richardson, had died in the early 1960s and Meg had converted the land around their home into the Crossroads Motel, complete with chalets, residents' garden, cafeteria, reception, restaurant, bar, garage and swimming pool. The motel had opened in 1963 and was well up and running by the time of the first episode in November '64.

Meg's family consisted of her teenage children, Jill and Sandy (he was still at school), sister Kitty Jarvis, brother-in-law Dick, and nephew Brian. Meg also had a brother, Andy, who was in the Navy. He married widow Ruth Bailey and became a travel agent. A young man called Bruce Sorbell later became her ward, and she fostered a black girl called Melanie Harper in 1970.

Like all soap heroines, Meg was born to suffer - and boy did she!

In 1965 she met rich, suave businessman Hugh Mortimer. At first she wasn't sure if she could trust him, and became convinced she couldn't when he married somebody else a couple of years later. But all was later explained: Hugh had married Jane Templeton because she was terminally ill and he wanted to make her last days as happy as possible.

Meg survived the explosion of a wartime bomb, which destroyed the motel kitchen in 1967, and, in 1968, married smoothy Malcolm Ryder - who took out life insurance for Meg - and then tried to poison her to get at the money.

She went to prison briefly for swerving to avoid a cat while driving and hitting postman Vince Parker.

Her nephew Brian was accused of murder and her sister Kitty died in the late 1960s. Meg sold shares in the motel to Tish Hope and Mr Lovejoy - but retained a controlling interest.

Meg's children brought her much anxiety - Jill married a bigamist and had a miscarriage in 1970.

In 1971, Jill married working class Stan Harvey - but Meg could never really share his father Wilf's fascination with pigeon keeping.

Sandy was involved in a terrible car crash in 1972 and lost the use of his legs.

A happy arrival as a motel shareholder and director was David Hunter - who worked closely with Meg and became her good friend and confidante.

It wasn't all tragedy and high drama for Meg. She had some happy and funny scenes with Carlos Rafael, the motel's first temperamental chef in the 1960s, and some hilarious scenes with comedian Larry Grayson in the first half of the 1970s when he booked in as a difficult guest at the motel. There were other light hearted moments too, but these were outweighed by troubled times.

Meg developed amnesia after learning that her husband Malcolm, who she thought had died in a car crash, was still alive. He later turned up to menace her at the motel, but all ended happily when Hugh and the police finally intervened.

And then she married Hugh in 1975, which meant gaining a stepson - Anthony Mortimer.

Anthony had an affair with Meg's daughter Jill in 1977, and she became pregnant. This broke her marriage to Stan Harvey. Jill's son, Matthew, was brought up by the Mortimers.

Hugh wrote a book called Businessmanship, which was published in 1977, but then tragedy struck. Hugh had been working on a big business deal in Australia for some time and, in 1978, was kidnapped by terrorists - who had links to David Hunter's son Chris.

Hugh died of a heart attack while in captivity and Meg went into mourning.

In early 1979, Meg was forced to cease being an equal or the majority shareholder (I can't remember which) in the motel when it was revealed that Hugh wasn't so good at 'businessmanship' after all. He had debts - and Meg had to pay them. 

This storyline made me uneasy for Meg - and for Noele Gordon.

Accountant Adam Chance bought some of her shares to help her out, but, in 1981, sold 5% of them to Meg's old friend David Hunter - thus making him the majority shareholder. Meg's relationship with David had grown fraught as the 1980s began. And it grew even more so when he attempted to sell the motel to J Henry Pollard.

Finally, in November 1981, Meg gave up the struggle with David. After a conversation with Sam Hurst, or Sam Norton, the artist, who was staying at the motel and had a tragic background involving losing his family in a fire, Meg was left to contemplate her future.

She was on tranquillisers at the time, and considered an overdose. But then she thought of Jill and her recently deceased son Sandy and his love of life, and decided to start afresh.

She left the motel - and not a moment too soon because it burned down minutes later.

Ironically, Sam, the artist, who had blamed his own cowardice for the death of his family in a previous fire, declared to Benny that he wasn't afraid of fire any more, and died trying to recue a woman who wasn't even there.

Anxiety ran high - what had happened to Meg? Had she died in the inferno? But the truth was soon revealed: Meg had left a note for Jill which had been destroyed in the fire. She phoned her daughter and bade her a tearful farewell on the QE2. Jill didn't tell her about the fire - although Meg had an uncanny feeling that something was wrong.

Meg briefly reappeared in October 1983 - joining her daughter Jill and her husband Adam on their honeymoon in Venice. There were well-advanced plans to bring her back to the motel as a permanent occasional character in 1985. But Noele Gordon died before they could reach the screen.

What can you say about Meg? To many, she was the heart of Crossroads. It wasn't that way for me, but nobody could help admiring Noele Gordon's tireless devotion to the show - she was its official spokesperson. For me, some more light hearted storylines and a bit less of the soap character martyrdom - particularly in the last five years - would have helped to raise Meg higher in my own personal run-down of motel greats. Noele Gordon could portray a lighter, happier Meg with great ease. A shame the scripts didn't require it much.

But Meg's prime importance to the show - and to a huge number of its fans - is in no doubt at all. She was, quite simply, a soap legend - never to be forgotten.

Our Crossroads Favourites: Kath Brownlow/Fellowes

If anybody encapsulated the qualities of the ideal English working class mother in Crossroads, it was Pamela Vezey as Kath Brownlow.

The character of Kath had briefly appeared some years before in the King's Oak saga, but was played by actress Hilary Martin. It's impossible to judge Ms Martin's interpretation of Mrs Brownlow because the episodes have been wiped, but her tenure was temporary - and very brief - and needn't concern us here.

The Brownlows, Kath and Arthur, moved to King's Oak in late 1979 - much to the chagrin of their motel waitress daughter Glenda, who thought they might rather cramp her carefree 'living away from home' lifestyle.

Kath was a nice, caring, homely wife and mother, who soon got a part time job at the motel. In 1982, she accepted the post of motel housekeeper - which meant a more demanding role with more hours. Arthur raised no objections, but he made it plain that Kath's role as mother and housewife meant that she had already amounted to something in his eyes - in fact, if that role didn't acquaint with amounting to something, he didn't know what did! Arthur had a very high and genuine regard for traditional family roles. But he accepted Kath's desire to stretch her wings.

Kath coped with all sorts of disasters and family upsets. She was perhaps a little too kind hearted at times, but we won't hold that against her.

And what a family she had! There was her manipulative, scheming niece Iris Scott (who turned out not to be all bad), her dreadful, tarty sister Rose (who turned out not to be all bad too), grumpy husband Arthur, who briefly exhibited disturbing racist tendencies, headstrong daughter Glenda, who decided to have a test tube baby (much to Kath's initial horror), steady son Ron, who fell in love with his cousin Iris, and dependable son-in-law Kevin Banks, who fell in love with the Hunters' housekeeper.

Kath coped with it all. At the motel, she discovered Shughie McFee, in the throes of his nervous breakdown, wrecking the kitchen in 1980 - and coped with that too. She was a great pal to lonely Doris Luke. She had a somewhat prickly relationship with Mr Paul Ross at times, but then so did most people. She enjoyed a bit of  a gossip, but it was not a compulsion with her, and staff and management at the motel held her in high regard.

Kath was devastated when Arthur died in a hit-and-run road accident in 1982. She was briefly distracted by the arrival of his sponging cousin Walter 'Uncle Wally' Soper, and liked him because he provided a living link to the old days. But once Wally departed she was faced with the enormity of the loss of Arthur - and had a nervous breakdown.

Glenda's pregnancy helped to pull her through. Having got over her doubts about the 'unnatural' process of in vitro fertilisation, she eagerly awaited the birth of her first grandchild.

Kath was romantically involved with salesman John Latchford for a time. Glenda disliked him - and was jealous of the attention her mother lavished on him. She later made amends, but Kath and John were not to be.

A lonely future faced Kath in 1985 when Glenda, Kevin, and baby Katie Louise emigrated to Canada. Still, she had her work at the motel and great pal Marian Owen, Kevin's aunt.

Then she got splashed by a car passing through a puddle, and met Stephen Fellowes. Posh teacher Stephen had once-upon-a-time been Kevin's housemaster at school, and quickly became close to Kath.

It was a whirlwind romance. They met in 1985 and married in 1985. Kath and Stephen later bought a house in a posh new development that was just being completed in King's Oak called Cavalier Spinney. An hilariously twee  name, but Kath liked it! 

Unfortunately, Stephen was a bit of a wally and his wally-dom rubbed off on poor old Kath. Not that it really mattered. She fussed over her Capodimonte at Cavalier Spinney, even called Benny 'poppet' on one occasion, but was still our lovable old Kath really.

All dreams of a happy future at The Spinney quickly evaporated when Stephen landed himself a senior position at a draughty old boarding school up north in 1987. Kath upped sticks and went with him.

We wished her a happy future. But with Stephen we felt that such a thing would mean a big effort on Kath's part...

Pamela Vezey made Kath real - the mother figure many of us would love to have in our lives. A splendid performance and, like all the best soap performances, it didn't seem like a performance at all.

Our Crossroads Favourites: Barbara Brady/Hunter

Barbara Brady (Hunter from 1980), played by Sue Lloyd, was one of the classiest, loveliest and most compassionate Crossroads characters it was ever our good fortune to see on-screen. Novelist Barbara arrived in King's Oak in 1979 as housekeeper to American psychiatrist Lloyd Munroe. And we were soon suspicious of her. Well, she was a complete unknown in the neighbourhood, and she kept asking Lloyd odd questions... was she out to poison him or something?

We did wonder.

But all was happily resolved - Barbara was simply posing as a housekeeper. She was actually a novelist and was researching a new book, undercover. Why? I forget, but it all made sense at the time.

Barbara wrote novels under the pseudonym of Eleanor Ruskin.

She quickly attracted the attention of two local eligible men - Dr Farnham, of the King's Oak group practice, and David Hunter, of the Crossroads Motel.

In 1980, Barbara became engaged to David but, on the night of their engagement party, he was shot in the motel office by his deranged ex-wife Rosemary.

David survived, and married Barbara a couple of months later.

But plain sailing things weren't.

The couple rented the Old Coach House in the village and began married life, but their tranquility was shattered by the shock news that David was not Chris Hunter's biological father and that his 'ex-wife' Rosemary was already married when she 'married' him. David's attitudes had already begun to change - he wanted to sell the motel with no regard for Meg, for instance, and Barbara felt alienated from him. And then there was the intervention of Jimmy Corbett - who was romantically interested in Barbara. But don't let's mention him. By late 1981, the couple were planning to separate.

Barbara was on the point of leaving for Paris when she realised she loved David too much to go. She returned to the Old Coach House and the couple were reconciled. 

And then the motel burned down. 

The terrible catastrophe helped to strengthen the Hunters' marriage.

Barbara had always been a "people person" - she found herself caught up in the strange saga of Eddie Lee in 1980, a man serving time for a murder committed by a woman he loved. This served as inspiration for an  Eleanor Ruskin novel.

In late 1981, Barbara took on young working class Carole Sands as housekeeper at the Old Coach House. Barbara had a lively social conscience and was painfully aware that Carole did not come from a moneyed background. But Carole caused Barbara much trouble by telling the police about her involvement with the aforementioned Mr Lee. Oh dear.

Barbara marched on through the early-to-mid 1980s, kindly, stylish and beautiful.

When David's old love Kate Hamilton turned up in 1982 in the middle of a crisis, Barbara became jealous and briefly left David. But the rift was soon healed and Barbara did all she could to help Kate.

She was interested in Benny Hawkins's sudden outbreak of ESP and conducted some tests with him, becoming convinced he was very gifted.

She took in poor old tramp Horace Jackman - 'Jacko' - whilst researching material for a new book - and became a concerned and sympathetic listener to the tale of the death of his son - and how 'Jacko' blamed himself for it.

She and David moved out of the coach house and into the motel living accommodation, but although Barbara was on the premises and participated in the running of the business, she was never another Meg. Her work as an author remained important to her.

Her brother Douglas Brady paid a couple of visits to King's Oak and Barbara was dutiful towards him, but he always caused trouble and heartache.

However, things with David were good.

Then, in 1984, the serpent entered paradise.

And David went right off the rails and into the arms of his ex-love Sarah Alexander, who simply walked into the sitting room and within minutes was engaged in a passionate embrace with him.

Sarah became pregnant. And she wanted David as well as the baby.

Barbara was on the point of leaving David when David finally made the decision to stay with her. But the pull of the child was strong as 1985 came in. Sarah remained adamant that David would have no part in its life.

David almost returned to his compulsive gambling habit of years before, but Barbara stuck with him.

They went for a walk. They talked about their relationship - and Barbara's six years in King's Oak.

And they decided to start afresh elsewhere.

One of Barbara's final acts at Crossroads was just so typical of her: she put in a good word for Benny Hawkins with incoming manager Nicola Freeman.

Barbara and David were greatly missed. But I must confess to thoroughly enjoying what was to follow.

However, Barbara's golden era as Mrs Hunter/Miss Ruskin, motel executive and author, remains etched in my mind as one of the show's many high points.

If only we could have had Nicola Freeman AND the Hunters!

Our Crossroads Favourites: Paul Ross - "Mr Paul"

Of British/Swiss parentage, Paul Ross, known to his subordinates as Mr Paul, played by Sandor Elès arrived at the Crossroads Motel in 1982 to take on the role of restaurant manager. He aimed to rule with 'subdued charisma', but was not quite what he seemed.

The 'un-spot changing leopard' (as Kate Hamilton once called him), Mr Paul (I always felt subordinate to him) soon turned out to be trouble. He was secretly in the employ of wealthy businessman J Henry Pollard, and worked as his spy at the motel, undercover of the restaurant manager role.

He acted abominably at first - breaking down Diane Hunter's defences by taking her away for the weekend and then treating her like dirt after she'd fallen under his spell. But Mr Paul was to mellow. A year or two later, he was instrumental in securing Diane a job back at the motel after she'd gone off on some daft training scheme devised by J Henry Pollard, and comforted her when she bemoaned the fact that she'd lost her cold trolley job and come back as a lowly waitress. A lowly waitress?! Being a waitress was no such thing!

Mr Paul's love life was a disaster. He was pursued by that young high flier Miranda Pollard, which led him into trouble with Daddy and Mummy Pollard. Then he fell for the lovely young Georgina Moran, but suave Richard Lord soon saw him off.

Mr Paul had a past - a long-lost daughter called Lisa Walters. She didn't know he was her father, and after he secured her a job as a receptionist at Crossroads, she became attracted to him. Mr Paul had to acquaint her with the facts. He was later distressed when that nasty smoothy Douglas Brady hurt Lisa dreadfully. This was an interesting story, two of its components being that Douglas intended to emigrate to South Africa, and that Lisa was of mixed race parentage.

Lisa left and Mr Paul soon fell for Polish dissident Anna Radek. But she fell in love with Douglas Brady too - and poor Mr Paul married her so that she could stay in England because he was so devoted to her.

When the authorities got hold of the facts, Mr Paul and Anna were both in the soup. Anna was deported, but Mr Paul extracted revenge on the female immigration officer by spurning her when she revealed she had feelings for him.

One of the joys of Mr Paul was the way he spanned breathless high drama to the mundane, teasing Jill Chance with the notion he might sack Shughie McFee, upbraiding the waitresses because their hair was straggling, moaning about the presentation of the restaurant table cloths - surely they could find a better laundry service? - and so on.

In 1985, Mr Paul moved in to a cottage with his old love Miranda Pollard. Purely platonically. The motel staff were sceptical. And, sure enough, very soon the flame between them was rekindled.

Poor Mr Paul. His perfectionist zeal was his undoing in the end. Having decided that the restaurant flowers were not up to par one day, he went into the village for more, and came upon some robbers, intent on stealing the motel staff's wages, on his way back. He got whacked over the head, went into a coma and emerged with an impaired memory.

It was all very sad because in the meantime Miranda had decided she definitely loved him.

But the post-coma Paul had other fish to fry, and soon left King's Oak to work elsewhere.

I missed him and the era of wondering whatever Mr Paul would do next remains one of the shining highpoints of my Crossroads viewing years.