Including the spin-off series a grand total of 4942 episodes of Crossroads were made, many of the black and white episodes from the 1960s no longer exist - along with many of the 1970s editions up to 1977. Here we look into the complex world of the Crossroads archive.

Between November 1964 and December 1981 ATV continued to wipe and reuse the 2" video tape that Crossroads was recorded onto. Once the episodes were aired they would generally, after six months, be wiped and new episodes of the soap recorded onto the same tapes due to the simple fact videotape was very expensive.

Many production companies felt the cost of storing such bulky items was a pointless exercise - after all programmes like Crossroads were in regular production and there was little need to re-visit past episodes. There was certainly no prospect of a "home video" market. In these cases the tapes were simply destroyed.

The switch to colour in the early 1970's made many people believe that there was little interest in black and white programming. This is not only a problem for fans of Crossroads. Many valuable programmes including early episodes of Doctor Who and Dad's Army have also been lost forever.

It is also clear that some of the 1970s episodes now only exist in black and white as the original colour tape, which was even more expensive than black and white, was reused.

The last estimated count suggested only 1536 editions were in the archive - most from the 1980s - however since then it has become clear that a lot more survives than was first thought. There are less than 20 episodes missing from the vaults between 1979 and 1981.

Most of the surviving black and white editions from this period were returned from ITC foreign sales where colour television hadn't arrived. The information we have at the moment concludes that:

The original 1964 trailers for the soap is in the vaults, as are a few other special trailers, such as Meg showing "the viewers" around the motel (for export sales) and a welcome back to Crossroads message from Meg after an ITV technical strike and a Christmas message from the motel in 1980.

The earliest surviving episode is episode 126 which was discovered in 2008 after the fan club suggested ITV staff check the ITC Film Library due to Network DVD missing off the four known-to-exists film episodes from 1973. While 126 was an amazing find there is a downside to the search. It has become clear that since 1988 two of the four 1973 episodes have since "been lost" by Carlton.

A full week of black and white episodes do however still survive from 1966. Editions 496 to 500 were kept on film after being telerecorded.

The National Film & TV Archive have two 1960s episodes. One was originally broadcast on December 5th 1968, and the other is from June 10th 1969. These episodes are occaionally screened. The ITV Archive also hold a number of episodes from 1968 and 1969, and many of the film inserts for the programme from the late 1960s and early 1970s also survive - these include some footage from the 1967 Tunisia storyline.

All reels were kept in Broad Street and the Central and ATV episodes were never parted. However what did become 'lost' were the documents that contained information on what episodes existed before 1981.

After Broad Street closed down in 1996, Crossroads was copied onto digital format (D2 discs) and then moved to the Central studios in Nottingham where they remained until 2004. The archive is now in the hands of Granada International and almost all of Crossroads now lives at ITV Yorkshire in Leeds.

In 2008 ITV became aware that some editions had not been copied to the digital format and were still only in existence on videotape on reels which are stored at the British Film Institute in Bradford. Some further episodes, which were in the archive in 1997, have been 'lost' and remain unaccounted for.

There was a feeling in the late 1990s at Carlton in Nottingham that archive material wasn't important. One former Central worker even recalls how one Carlton executive was heard commenting that the film library of ATV and Central News could be melted down, so the silver could be extracted and sold for profit.

Another former staff member recalls seeing a skip outside the Broad Street studios with film cans, stills and photographs - including imagery from Crossroads - being piled into it.

We can't list all the wiped editions - that would take many pages - however we can list the episodes which did survive up to 1997 in the Central vaults but have since been lost / misplaced in more recent years.

• Episode 1885 - an ITC black and white episode kept on film. (Moved onto a 1" tape in 1985. The episode is seen being 'rewound' on a 1" tape player in the BFI / Beat Production, Open The Box - Crossroads, in 1986. Clips from the episode are also included in this documentary. Contains David returning from holiday, however he's not in merry mood as he's caught cold.

• Episode 1887 - an ITC black and white episode kept on film. (Moved to 1" tape in 1985. Clips from it used on Central TV's Crossroads Revisited in 1985. Clips also shown, including its opening sequence, on BBC One's Open Air in 1988.) Meg is getting her hair done in the salon, however is shocked to learn that Sheila Harvey is back in Kings Oak.

• Episode 2300 - Released on VHS in 1989 direct from the ATV 2" videotape. VT Clocks intact on VHS confirming its episode number. Currently missing from the archive. This episode is the edition directly before Meg and Hugh's 1975 wedding.

• Episode 2815 - Released on VHS in 1989 direct from the ATV 2" videotape. VT Clocks intact on VHS. Originally transmitted in 1977 it contains part of the 'racist storyline'.

• Episode 2867 - This episode was not copied to a digital format by Carlton, but is believed to reside 'somewhere' in the BFI. It contains one of Vera Downend's final storylines from December 1977.

• Episode 3008 - This episode was not copied to a digital format by Carlton, was however stored at the BFI. Now returned to ITV. Diane's brother Terry is giving her cause for concern, while Meg has to deal once more with Irene Bailey. 1978.

• Episode 3409  - This episode was not copied to a digital format by Carlton, but is believed to reside 'somewhere' in the BFI. January 1981.

It is likely that the editions 2300 and 2815 are also mis-placed in the BFI archive. The survival of episodes 1885 and 1887 are less likely. One former Central employee suggests that these may have been accidentally wiped. They suggest occasionally 1" master tapes were marked as 'dub copies' in error. These tapes were in general re-used later. It doesn't however explain what happened to the original film copies which should still be in the ITC archive alongside episodes 1884 and 1886.

Today, thankfully, archive television is now known to have an audience and is being looked after - and even searched for. Since Granada International took charge of the motel its never been in safer, or better, hands.

Granada and ITV would like to where possible re-find as much as possible of the lost ATV episodes. Of course no one expects to discover the master tapes, but over the years fans and viewers have taped episodes on various visual formats. Some lost episodes have turned up from the 1970s on Betamax, N1500 tapes and VHS. Some episodes have even surfaced on audio.

If you think you've got a lost episode of Crossroads the ITV Archive and itv.com would like to hear from you. They are interested in any recordings of episodes broadcast before 1982 - on videotape or could even on reels of film! If you think you've got something in your garage or loft, drop the team a line at lost.crossroads@itv.com.

© Crossroads Appreciation Society 1988-present
Written by Mike Garrett