Evening Mail Article - Three to leave in Crossroads switch

[Mark]

Three to leave in Crossroads switch
By Stafford Hildred, Mail TV Correspondent

IN a  surprise shake-up, some famous faces are moving out of Britain’s best-known motel.  And there’s an end in sight to the sex tangle that has intrigued “Crossroads” viewers.

In the serial motel-owner Meg Mortimer’s daughter Jill is expecting a baby, and the father is not husband Stan, but Meg’s son-in-law Anthony Mortimer.

Now ATV have written out both Stan (Edward Clayton) and Jill (Jane Rossington).   
And salon boss Vera (Zeph Gladstone) is leaving the Birmingham-made programme too.

The departures are due partly to the demands of the storyline but there has been a feeling among many of the cast that they are taken for granted by the programme-makers.

Only Noele Gordon – who plays Meg Mortimer is a member of ATV’s permanent staff.
All the rest of the cast are retained on different length contracts.  Frequently they receive as little as two weeks’ notice of a re-call to “Crossroads”, which makes it difficult to do other work.

Many of the “Crossroads” stars feel they should be paid a retainer while not appearing in the serial.
Edward Clayton, who lives in Eccleshall, has some work in the theatre planned for next spring but no immediate job.
“I finish in ‘Crossroads’ on December 23, and then I’m going on the dole for three months,” he said.

Taken from the Thursday, December 15th 1977 edition of the Birmingham Evening Mail.
From the weekly archive edition pull-out.

[Mark]

You can download a scanned article from the files section of the Crossroads Fan Club
yahoogroup.

[Mike of CAS]

I shall ave a look. Interesting story.

[oorshughie]

Really interesting article there,I always thought Ted Clayton left because he wanted to do other things.
Jane Rossington says in "My Crossroads Years",the TV Times editon that marked the orginal Crossroads' last episode,:"Ted Clayton wanted to leave the show".

[Maria No. 1.]

Yes, very interesting. 

I did notice an error straight away, saying that Anthony Mortimer was Meg's son-in-law when in fact he was her step-son.  It says that Jill has been written out, but of course in reality Jane Rossington was pregnant with her son and came back towards the end of 1978.

I had read somewhere that Edward Clayton and Jack Barton did not get on at all, maybe that had something to do with it ?  But during the period 1977/78 there did seem to be some well-known faces leaving/axed.

[DJB]

It's hardly surprising that so many former cast members felt disgruntled when you remember that they were virtually all written out of the show for months on end without knowing if and when they would be needed again-and,as this article says,without any pay.

[Daniel]

Good article, very interesting ...

[oorshughie]

I always think Crossroads treated its Actors terribly,Noele,Ronnie Allen,Sue Lloyd and Sue Hanson to name a few.
The remake was no better, "Lets kill Jill off" and watch the ratings nosedive!

[Steve F]

I always think Crossroads treated its Actors terribly,Noele,Ronnie Allen,Sue Lloyd and Sue Hanson to name a few.
The remake was no better, "Lets kill Jill off" and watch the ratings nosedive!

I completely agree with you. Sadly, some remarkable actors were treated quite abysmally by ATV & Central. Mr Smethurst is not the only Crossroads Producer to treat people badly...

[Hampstead]

Im still none the wiser as to why Joy Andrews left the show,what was her last storyline,& in what year. And was it her decision,or did they just decide that she was surplus to requirements,& no longer needed.

[DJB]

As far as I know,her final appearance was at the Hunters wedding in April 1980.She's around in at least one of the January '80 episodes which were on the Best Of DVDs,but I think her last real storyline was probably in the Spring  of 1979 when Ted was involved with Lloyd's daughter(thankfully all availale on the Archive releases).
I've always assumed that she didn't actually leave the programme,but like other popular characters just faded away and were eventually forgotten about-although not by the fans,of course.I believe that Mike is in contact with Peter Kingman who was a friend of Joy Andrews.Perhaps he could throw some more light on this subject.

[Mike of CAS]

Its quite nice the fan club started in just enough time to bring in the likes of Joy Andrews and Anthony Morton ect, who have now long gone.

The last photo of Joy Andrews is a CAS one with Peter. I shall try and get it scanned sometime. I will ask about her last appearance as he was a big fan of her's, and she of course was pleased fans still remembered her.

[paul ross]

I could be wrong! but I think that after the IBA warning in 79 quite a lot of changes were being considered and quite a few 'loved' characters were probably earmarked to be either written out permanently or put out to pasture for a while. We lost (thank the heavens) the kitchen the following year along with MacFee and with Roger dying Meg's position was undermined and probably helped in her and her sitting room vanishing.  But as most of you know - after the fire and into the early 80s - for me, the programme was glorious!

[oorshughie]

I saw the bit of the 1980 Christmas episode on youtube,the disco stuff,Brownlows etc,just as the clip was finishing,we saw Meg at reception,her last Xmas at the Motel.....
I think Tish was great too,I wondered when her last appearance was,she alwys seemed to be appear at Xmas,very interesting she didn't come back for the 80 Xmas episodes.
Still say,it would have made more sense for Tish to appear and urge Jill to sell her shares,than Stan in 85.

[Mike of CAS]

As one critic said, when Crossroads tried to become a serious soap  (1982----) it lost its charm. I thin Sue Hanson is right really if you're going to divert away from the original premis, the original remit then just do something new.

Crossroads was supposed to be the frothy soap opera, a bit of fun a bit of drama. But not a serious serial like Corrie.