February 1982 - Riots in Crossroads -and the last Sitting Room scene (sob)

[Heathbury The First]

Some people claim that by 1982 Crossroads was beginning to lose its way, but I have to say that this episode was an absolute masterclass in plotting and scripting. The injuries received by Carole set up the reveal about Eddie Lee perfectly. I had worried that Barbara had taken leave of her senses in telling her about Eddie – but now I see why it was necessary in terms of the bigger picture. I also see why it was important that Ashley hadn’t met Carole before today – despite being the son of the garage owner (and the almost boyfriend) of the manager (I also see why it was essential for Sharon to push Carole back through the door in the last episode). As I watched this I was impressed by how all the threads seemed to be pulling together – and in light of the 2011 riots (supposedly over unemployment) how topical this episode was considering it is 30 years old. This episode was well plotted, well scripted, well acted, modern and relevant. Crossroads has certainly not had its day.

Episode 3574 http://www.crossroads2001.co.uk/CEG/episodeguide_ukgold_page3.htm

I also think I've watched the last sitting room scene tonight - booooo!

[Edith Tatum (Miss)]

These early '82 episodes were just re-badged Central because they were made by ATV the previous year. 

I remember when they aired they just had a silent central caption at the start to "hide" the ATV ident, and then it always used to clumsily go into the episode normally missing off the first note of the Crossroads theme tune.

I think it must have been as late as March 1982 before we had the first batch of episodes that were actually MADE in 1982 and therefore had the full Central animated intro.

But yes, the sitting room did look out of place after the fire.  And David's comment that "everything collapsed into the basement" seems strange when so much of the private wing survived unscathed.

I wish they had used more of the sitting room though, considering it HAD survived.  The show should have been called Crossroads Garage from Nov to April as that's all we really saw of the motel set.  It really was claustrophobic at this time, as mentioned in the write up.  To be honest, I lost interest in the show a bit because of this.

[Lucky]

The 1982-1985 episodes are all still very good and well plotted in my opinion. Plenty of connections with the 1970s still such as archie Gibbs, Trina Jamison and Miss Tatum who all turn up for a spell. As well as that new characters such as Iris Scott, Ron Brownlow, the Pollards and Mavis Hooper are always turning up and then leaving again giving a nice sense of continuity to those years.

Its easy to think Crossroads lost steam when Meg left, but I don't think it did. It just moved strongly in another direction. I loved the series right up until Smethurst took over then things went quickly downhill.

[JasonsWalkman]

These early '82 episodes were just re-badged Central because they were made by ATV the previous year. 

I remember when they aired they just had a silent central caption at the start to "hide" the ATV ident, and then it always used to clumsily go into the episode normally missing off the first note of the Crossroads theme tune.

I think it must have been as late as March 1982 before we had the first batch of episodes that were actually MADE in 1982 and therefore had the full Central animated intro.

Goodness, I never knew ATV were filming Crossroads three months in advance in late 1981. I know the cutting of the programme from four to three episodes in early 1980 made a difference to what could be done, but I didn't know they'd got that far ahead by that time. Do you have a source for your info?

[JasonsWalkman]

The 1982-1985 episodes are all still very good and well plotted in my opinion. Plenty of connections with the 1970s still such as archie Gibbs, Trina Jamison and Miss Tatum who all turn up for a spell.

Yes, it was good that some of the original 1960s characters were still around on-and-off in the early 1980s - Miss Tatum, Tish (briefly), Archie Gibbs and JILL!!!

Arthur and Kath had just arrived at the end of '79, so they felt like new territory. I seem to remember Ron joined a few weeks later, then Iris and Kevin in 1980.

[Heathbury The First]

Could Central really lay claim to the episodes if they were made by ATV? And if so - why not claim them straight away? Are the allowed to put a (c) 1982 date on if they were made in 1981? I suppose they must have!

[JasonsWalkman]

Could Central really lay claim to the episodes if they were made by ATV? And if so - why not claim them straight away? Are the allowed to put a (c) 1982 date on if they were made in 1981? I suppose they must have!

As I say, I've never heard that Crossroads was filming over three months ahead by the start of 1981, so I'd like to know the source on that. I thought it was more like three weeks to a month. Meg's departure scene on the QE2, for instance, was filmed on 18 October 1981 - funnily enough, that was -- my birthday! - and shown in early November.

[Edith Tatum (Miss)]

When those early 1982 episodes aired you could quite often hear the ATV ident very faintly under a silent static "Central Production" ident.  Sometimes also the "disolve" into the "Central" logo at the end came a fraction too late and you'd see the "ATV Colour Production" ident come up momentarily.  This happened right up until March 1981 (or very late February) when all of a sudden the animated Central ident graced the episode and then it seemed to flow correctly.

As I recall also, all the copyright messages from weekly shows (like Corrie or Crossroads) would change as of New Year's Day of each year, even though quite obviously they were taped some weeks or months earlier.

It might be possible that Meg's QE2 scene was filmed in October as a location special, although this does seem rather late as all the press stories were appearing in August and September that four different endings for Meg had been filmed (all four scenes were used in the show in the end), but it must have been some time before October that Meg last appeared on the ATV set.  She says so on her Harty interview from November that she hadn't been on the set for some time, so maybe the Southampton shoot was filmed and added later?

In any event, those early 1982 episodes would definitely have been recorded "as live" (and completed with music and idents under the guise of ATV) late in 1981 and then aired as "Central" in 1982.

[Heathbury The First]

I've watched them recently and unless ukg cleaned them up there is no sign of the atv endcap sneaking in before centrals. obviously the front is missing but i do remember the dodgyness of the early crossover period. the january episodes were all credited to atv in 1981 and then the february ones say central 1982. if central were going to 'claim' the episodes wouldn't they have claimed them all? i have no idea about this but doesn't this suggest they were 4 weeks ahead. i'm thinking about 'new' episodes of 'my family' that are being shown for the first time now that are copyright bbc 2010 - i've always assumed that the dates always apply to the year they were made.

[Aston Cross]

Was it maybe got round like this in Jan/Feb 82?

[Daniel Freeman]

That video-link has expired on my computer Aston.
 But I'm guessing by the name of it - it refers to when Crossroads was taken over by Central. I seem to remember the silent caption at the beginning used to say "Central Presents" NOT Central Production. and the end was "A Central Presentation". A few weeks down the line they did their 'eclipse' with music, when it was official.

[Mike of CAS]

The one that went wrong...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7Mkhi3gp1M&feature=channel_video_title

[Aston Cross]

Goodness!  So it has!  Thanks to Mike you can see what I was trying to post.  It's on the TV Ark site.

I'll get rid of the hyperlink from my earlier post if I can.

EDIT:  I can't!   

[JasonsWalkman]

When those early 1982 episodes aired you could quite often hear the ATV ident very faintly under a silent static "Central Production" ident.  Sometimes also the "disolve" into the "Central" logo at the end came a fraction too late and you'd see the "ATV Colour Production" ident come up momentarily.  This happened right up until March 1981 (or very late February) when all of a sudden the animated Central ident graced the episode and then it seemed to flow correctly.

As I recall also, all the copyright messages from weekly shows (like Corrie or Crossroads) would change as of New Year's Day of each year, even though quite obviously they were taped some weeks or months earlier.

It might be possible that Meg's QE2 scene was filmed in October as a location special, although this does seem rather late as all the press stories were appearing in August and September that four different endings for Meg had been filmed (all four scenes were used in the show in the end), but it must have been some time before October that Meg last appeared on the ATV set.  She says so on her Harty interview from November that she hadn't been on the set for some time, so maybe the Southampton shoot was filmed and added later?

In any event, those early 1982 episodes would definitely have been recorded "as live" (and completed with music and idents under the guise of ATV) late in 1981 and then aired as "Central" in 1982.

I always thought that the original Central ident was still? I seem to remember we called it "The Egg", although it wasn't perfectly egg-shaped! The moving ident came a little later. Meg's leaving was announced in June 1981, and from then on the newspapers were full of it, of course. I'm sorry, but I'm not convinced on this evidence that Crossroads was filming so far ahead at that point.

I have an extensive newspaper archive from the 1980s, and can find no references to back up the notion that Nolly's final studio scenes were filmed well before October 1981.

Newspaper articles on Crossroads 1981 - Nolly's departure - can be found here - 

http://www.80sactual.com/2009/03/crossroads-uproar-1981-farewell-meg.html

If you have reliable sources to back up your claims, I would be grateful if you would link to them as this is an era of Crossroads I find fascinating. Many thanks!

[JasonsWalkman]

The one that went wrong...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7Mkhi3gp1M&feature=channel_video_title

That's great, Mike - "Central Presents" an ATV Production makes perfect sense to me.