“Lost” Crossroads Episode to air on ITV.com and released on DVD

It’s enough to make star of the show, Meg Richardson, burst into song.

The earliest surviving episode of cult ITV soap Crossroads has been uncovered and will get a World Exclusive airing on itv.com this Friday, with the chance to buy it on DVD the week after.

Experts uncovered the 1965 episode in an unmarked tin in the old ATV archive, which now resides in west London. They thought most of the episodes from the decade had been lost forever as they used to tape over every episode after it was broadcast.

But eagle-eyed archivists spotted the black-and-white gem whilst looking for other episodes for a future DVD release of classic episodes from the Birmingham-based drama.

After finding two reels of film from 1973, they discovered a third can, labelled only “BM TR 2096”, and this was also laced up and run. It became clear that it was episode 126 from 1965 – and it’s an important snapshot of the earliest days of the soap. This edition stars the leading actress, Noele Gordon as Meg and also John Bentley as Hugh Mortimer (pictured above) – who Meg would later marry in 1975, bringing Birmingham City centre to a halt as thousands of fans flocked to the cathedral wanting a early peek of the event.

Now ITV.com will be showing the ‘lost episode’ online from Friday morning. Fans of the show- where some of the acting was more wooden than the sets – can watch the episode for free at www.itv.com/crossroads.

Marc Webber, Head of Content at ITV.com said “Crossroads will always have a place in people’s hearts. People poked fun at it for its wobbly sets and bad acting, but it continually attracted millions of viewers every week. Hopefully, some of those fans will join us on itv.com for a brilliant trip down memory lane this weekend.”

They will also be able to pre-order the DVD of the other two ‘missing’ episodes from 1973 as well as the 1965 show.

The premiere of this find marks a major re-launch of ITV.com’s archive video section, which contains full-length episodes of shows like Rising Damp, Survival and Joe 90.

Tim Beddows from Network DVD said “The discovery has wowed fans of classic British television, as it’s by far the earliest surviving example. It dates from April 1965, just months into the series’ run, when the show was broadcast five nights a week. At the time, the only comparable serials were Granada’s Coronation Street and the BBC’s Compact, both of which could be seen twice a week – so a five nights a week soap was a completely new idea – and particularly hard work to produce!.”

Originally broadcast five nights a week, Crossroads was the UK’s first true “soap” and because of its low-cost production and melodramatic storylines TV critics hated it. (what would they say about Emmerdale and Coronation Street these days?) But it was recorded ‘as live’ and short studio time dictated that more often than not, if a mistake happened – it simply had to stay or the entire episode would have to be re-recorded as no editing facilities were offered to the soap. Comedians also often joked that characters were always vanishing without a trace and no-one would notice. But it brought many television firsts to the screen – and more so, at teatime, which meant the programme could never have been as graphic as Brookside. It was proud of its social awareness, and today its name, and a scheme it helped found still runs: The Crossroads Caring For Carers.

A fan of Crossroads, Victoria Wood, sent up the soap in her popular sketch ‘Acorn Antiques’ – Wood is an honourary member of the Crossroads Fan Club. She, like millions of others enjoyed the show that original producer, Reg Watson, always described as family entertainment. Reg went on to use the same format with The Young Doctors – which also had much critical abuse – but equally became one of Australia’s longest running and most popular serials. It is due for a remake later in 2008. The ‘Crossroads’ format continues – although now with time for re-takes and editing – in the form of Neighbours, another soap Reg went on to launch in 1985.

Mike Garrett, of the Crossroads Fan Club – which launched in 1987 and is still one of the biggest in the UK – told SoapZone: “In all the episodes released on DVD so far, I’ve yet to see a set wobble. It was a happy, family show. I suppose its a bit like The Carpenters or Max Bygraves. Never fashionable, but hugely popular. The critics didn’t really knock the show, they just insulted sixteen million people who voted for it in awards, and watched it – and enjoyed it.” He continued: “As Michael Grade once said, the IBA (regulator) said it was ‘distressingly popular’ these are the people who are supposed to support viewers!”

A host of star names worked on Crossroads, including David Jason, Ken Dodd, Bob Monkhouse, Elaine Paige, Kathy Staff and Malcolm McDowell to name only a few.

Creator, Peter Ling (who died in 2007), told the fan club back in 2002: “Is there anything I would have changed? Not really. It was fun while it lasted, and I shall always have happy memories of it.” And on the topic of those ‘famous wobbly sets’ he said: ” Wobbly sets? Yes, initially. The reason was that the ATV studios in Birmingham were too small to accommodate all the sets Crossroads needed, so in the early days they hired a disused cinema in Aston and turned it into a makeshift studio.

“With time and space at a premium they could not build permanent sets but had to hire ‘flats’ (made for swift scene-changes in theatres) which, being made of canvas stretched over wooden frames, did tend to wobble and sway a little! After a while they enlarged the TV studios, making room for permanent sets with no wobble – unfortunately, the legend never died.”

ATV/ITV

Leading lady, Noele Gordon (pictured) – who played motel owner Meg Richardson, died in 1985. She won numerous awards between 1968 and 1981. Nolly, as she liked to be called, is still unbeaten for the number of soap awards she gained. When she died ITN described her as ‘The queen of British soaps.’

For all the derision heaped on the show, it maintained high ratings and a loyal audience throughout the course of its original run, 1964 until 1988. Sadly less than half of these survive, as like much of Britain’s TV heritage; it was deemed to have little commercial value for the future and erased.

If you think you’ve got a lost episode of Crossroads, 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.

Much more information can be found at the official fan club website here

The Crossroads page at ITV.com also has some classic episodes online to watch here

We’ll be looking at the big stars of Crossroads soon here at SoapZone.