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: Mrs Tardebigge

A brand new character introduced in late 1986 - new broom (or hoover) sweeps clean. Mrs Tardebigge, created by William Smethurst, wasn't really a great char. But she was funny.

Mrs Eileen Tardebigge, played by Elsie Kelly, was probably the first major sign of the changes that were to be introduced by new producer William Smethurst. She arrived at the motel in late 1986, a brand new character, to take on the job of cleaner, and, having met Benny Hawkins, she decided there were some very funny people working at Crossroads (funny peculiar, not "ha, ha!").

She was rather peculiar/"funny" herself, but in the grand tradition of such characters was blissfully unaware of the fact.

I'm a great fan of Crossroads from start to finish, I embraced each new era, which sets me apart from some other fans, and I found Mrs T to be a delight. She had a beehive hairdo (before it caught fire when she was cooking fish fingers); she called men "lover"; she was the secretary of the Pat Boone Fan Club (West Midlands Branch); she smoked like a trouper; she read out the obituaries in the local paper in the staffroom during her breaks; and she was a bit of a gossip.

Of course, Mrs Tardebigge's interests stretched beyond gossip and Pat Boone. She revealed in 1987 that she'd written to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher protesting about the right to buy council houses in the early 1980s. That was before she'd bought hers, of course.

A great example of Smethurst-era social comedy, and very true to the times.

Mrs Tardebigge tended to get up posh Mr Darby's nose, and their feud over smoking in the motel staffroom reached epic proportions.

Her husband Ron's health became a concern (very nasty, that hernia), but Mrs T wasn't really about drama.

Her main purpose as a character was to amuse.

She thought that thrusting yuppie dude Daniel Freeman was divine - and was not shy about letting him know the fact.

She said that the motel had been a "laughing stock" in the village back in the days of high drama.

She was thrilled when she found fifty pee up the hoover nozzle. It was, of course, "finders, keepers".

She nearly got the sack for ham pilfering.

And she once imitated Jill Chance to perfection. 

The first appearances of Mrs Tardebigge coincided with what I thought was a rather sudden closure to the story-line about Nicola Freeman and her long-lost daughter, Tracey Hobbs.

On rewatching the episodes, I could almost feel Philip Bowman bowing out and William Smethurst taking the reins.

However...

Love ya, MrsT!