A Rather Good Review

[Barbara Hunter]

The success of these collections of Crossroads episodes being released on DVD could well be extremely bemusing to many. However, what is easily forgotten is that in its time the show was a blockbuster, ratings wise, and was actually bigger in stature when put in comparison to the time Eastenders was at its peak.

In fact, coming in cold to this third collection of selected episodes, this time ranging from 1966 to 1981, it’s quite easy to see why you could miss weeks of stories and still get back into the narrative easily, much like is true of all the soaps of today. The difference is that while the soap stars of today play around in a world of heightened realism, you get the feeling that the cast of Crossroads enjoyed themselves off-screen as much as they did when they were on.

The gruelling schedule for the series meant there was no time for redoing too many scenes, so what you see is almost ‘as live’ – which gives you the same sort of thrill you get when watching a theatre performance – you know at any time someone will fluff a line, go off script, have to be pulled back on course, all without batting an eyelid, pausing for breath, or giving in to a spell of corpsing.

Popular shows of their time do become cults in their afterlife, as to many people the appeal of them is lost. However, with Crossroads the pure kitsch quality, of which you are sure would have only be muttered about in hushed tones at the time of their making, has with the passing of more than two decades, come into sharp focus. For late night viewing when you’re in the middle of experimenting with cocktail recipes, this is essential viewing!

Among the extras on this set are an episode of documentary series Format V which features a Noele Gordon interview, some original 1960s promotional trailers, an extract from an episode of Viewpoint, which sees Reg Watson at rehearsals, another Noele Gordon interview, this time from 1972, the Crossroads cast interviewed at 3,000th edition party, and three ATV News features on Meg leaving Crossroads in 1981.

And that’s not all - while stocks last there’s also a limited edition third disc in the set. This features an item recently unearthed from the archives, a compilation show featuring four otherwise-missing episodes from 1976, with the David Hunter character in really deep water - two decades after being involved in the massacre of innocent civilians in Malaya whilst on National Service, his past catches up with him when he is stalked by the sole survivor. Meanwhile, a strange man turns up and offers Benny a lot of money, which is obviously of concern to Miss Diane (you really can’t make this stuff up!).

From the wonderful Cult Television site.
http://www.cult.tv/index.php?cm_id=940&cm_type=article

[Mike of CAS]

One of the better ones, certainly.

[paul ross]

As we all know Crossroads cannot 'really' be compared with any other soap. Like here for example, the comparison to EastEnders ratings wise. Crossie never was on prime time with the exception of one epsiode on 1984.