Motel revamp for ITV Saga

The Crossroads motel is shutting its doors at the end of the month until December.

Producers are promising a huge revamp of the ITV soap to give it a more Dallas-style feel.

ITV recently recommissioned the show, despite ratings falling to just three million viewers in three months. The last episode in the current run will be broadcast on August 30.

A spokesman for Carlton told Ananova: “We have great plans for Crossroads to make it a must-see daytime show. It’s going to be back bigger and better than ever.”

Filming of 240 new episodes – more than a year’s output – will start in October. The series has failed to live up to its award-winning daytime predecessor that was loved by viewers but hated by critics.

“Critics wrote frightful things about it, then comedians picked up on that and started making jokes. I personally found it insulting to seventeen million viewers who loved us.” – Sue Lloyd speaking to CAS News (ATV Today) in 2000

The Crossroads Motel first shut its doors in 1988 when a revamp, including new opening titles, theme tune and a clearout of cast, took the programme out of the ITV Top Ten for the first time since 1972 when the show was seen across the UK. Production Company Central also lost interest and refocused towards high-budget dramas rather than soap opera.