Crossroads - 45th Anniversary Box Set (41 Discs)

Who could forget that haunting, melancholic theme, penned by Tony Hatch, that defined evenings in during the sixties, seventies and eighties? How did it go? Daaah, da da. Dadadada. Daaah dah dad ah, da dad ah dah. Something like that. So iconic that Paul McCartney's post-Beatles band, 'Wings' recorded a version of it, which was included on some of the episodes that can be found in this magnificent set.    


    
For this review I received just a couple of sample discs; discs 1 & 2, so I will base my assessment on these, though, to be fair, it's as good a sample as any. But before I do that, can we have a brief and united cheer for Network? Hurrah! Their relentless licensing of yesteryear archives is just brilliant and they have unearthed some classics that this reviewer never thought would see the light of day. ('Tom Grattan's War' for example). Despite every indication that some of these releases will be very marginal indeed in terms of sales, they persist in releasing hidden gem after hidden gem. Fine work that deserves our (financial) support. Anyway - enough of that.



The packaging on this 41 disc set, according to pictures I have seen, looks magnificent. A motel-like brick building, reproduced in gloss card, houses all the discs and would take pride of place in any archive TV fan's collection. Magnificent!

For those that don't know but need a reminder, Crossroads was a ground-breaking soap that was based around a midlands motel called, you guessed it, 'Crossroads'. Set in the sleepy village of Kings Oak, it followed the family staff and guests and reflected all the day to day tears, laughter and general naughtiness.



Originally produced by Associated Television (ATV), from 1981 onwards it was made by Central Independent Television.  An astonishing 4510 episodes were made which (at that point) was more than Coronation Street, four years its senior.

Apparently the name Crossroads was created by Reg Watson, the series' producer after the originally suggested title "The Midland Road" was rejected by ATV. Intricate storylines were planned three months in advance, and although during the 1980s only three episodes aired a week, four were still produced, giving the crew long summer and Christmas breaks.


 
Running so many shows a week meant that a lot of talent passed through those motel doors. According to some statistics on www.crossroadsappreciationsociety.org.uk , 1979 figures concluded that Crossroads had employed thus far 15,000 actors and issued over 20,000 ATV contracts. The stats men also concluded that 52 tons of script paper had been used and over half a million words written and spoken. And let's face it, you get a fair few of them in this mammoth set!

 By the end of the 1970s over 3200 episodes had been recorded, although less than half were kept in the archives. This 'half' included many of the early ground-breaking live episodes, some of which were contained on the two discs I received. Despite being recorded daily live to tape, they were actually remarkably professional. It was perhaps later than Crossroads earned its reputation for wobbly sets and poor performances because there is little evidence of that on these.



Luckily for fans, every Central Television version of the soap was kept, but prior to 1982, there is at least some missing episodes for every year, making it impossible to repeat its most popular era as a complete run. So this set has a number of gaps, some frustrating but for the most part it seems to get through some hefty story arcs.

The series is credited with a number of ground-breaking firsts. It was the first show to put a telephone help line on the end of the programme for people to seek help in similar situations as the characters. It was also one of the first soaps to employ many Asian and African actors in the UK, such as Cleo Sylvestre in the 1960s and Carl Andrews and Merdelle Jordan in the 1970s.
Such was the power and influence of the soap that by 1980 half the British nation was donning 'Free Benny' T-shirts to help get the wrongly accused Benny freed from jail.



This humungous Network set  includes some of the series' most memorable storylines, including Meg and Hugh's wedding, Sandy's accident, Benny being accused of murder and Amy Turtle being arrested for shoplifting.  It chronologically contains all the episodes known to exist up to May 1979, with three recently found episodes (including the earliest known to survive) included as a bonus disc.


 
I'm not a fan of soaps really (other than the fantastic sixties gothic soap from the US, 'Dark Shadows') but I do love a bit of archive TV. It was great to see the sixties episodes with all their little time capsule props, like shop displays and prices, weird haircuts and big collared shirts. It's interesting to note how, despite the use of local dialect, how our whole way of speaking has changed since those days. 'Crossroads' always encouraged a naturalistic style of acting and if it is any reflection on the way we spoke then it was certainly more formal, more British and less Americanised than it is now.

Picture-wise this is a variable affair (and remember I've only seen the first 2 discs so can't vouch for the other 39) but that's to be expected. However, they were in rather better shape than you might expect from such old TV material.

For fans of the show this is a veritable treasure trove and will be making some folk terribly happy this Christmas. If you're one of them, keep your eye out for a rather heavy, rectangular shaped box under the tree. The crossroads motel, along with more than a hundred hours worth of classic TV could soon be yours!