Former ITV Executive Andy Allan Dies

Allan, best known as the man who axed Crossroads, just as ITV planned to promote it to prime-time, has died aged 68.

As well as famously taking Britain’s most famous motel off-screens, Allan brought a host of television drama to the network – including Inspector Morse.

The son of a Chief Fire Officer Andy was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, in 1943, starting his media career as a television presenter for ABC Television, which broadcasted in the North and Midlands at weekends, before switching behind the cameras as a producer and later executive. In 1968 he had a short stint reporting for ITN News, the national news provider to ITV, before moving to London’s Thames Television a year later. With Thames he became a producer – and later executive producer – before finally becoming Head of News in 1977.

It was in this year he first swung his televisual axe and chopped the London news programme Today replacing it with Thames At Six. In 1978 he returned to the North East joining TTTV as Director of Programmes; finally reaching the ranks of Managing Director in the early 80s. When Charles Denton of Central moved on to oversee Central-funded spin-off Production Company Zenith, Andy Allan was asked to step into Denton’s shoes, becoming Head of Programmes at the ITV Midlands broadcaster in 1984.

Jane Rossington who starred in Crossroads from 1964 until 1988 told ATV Today, “We had a new managing director, Leslie Hill, and he said ‘I’d only been in the job three weeks and it was unbeknown to me that Andy Allan, through the press office, dropped this rumour that Crossroads was coming off… I didn’t know anything about it until it was a fete accompli. If I’d been there longer, it wouldn’t have come off, because once that went a massive money stream went with it.’”

The Crossroads Cast with producer William Smethurst in 1986.

On why Andy Allan axed a programme, which pulled in 13 million* viewers to ITV at 6.30pm – which was more than Emmerdale Farm managed to attract half an hour later – staff at Central appeared to be told it was in order to make more dramas at the Birmingham studios – which never were produced. Crossroads had been a cheap low buget daytime soap which baffled bosses that it could attract primetime ratings, and notably beat Coronation Street, a prime time serial, in the ratings for regular spells in the 1970s. When an episode of Crossroads aired in primetime in 1984 it gained over 18 million viewers* – which must have shocked executives so much a cast cull was swiftly brought in not long after “If we’d been on at 7pm four nights a week, we’d have topped the ratings all the time” Rossington adds.

Allen’s predecessor, Charles Denton, who wasn’t a fan of Crossroads but understood its commercial value told ATV Today,

“I kept Crossroads on because it annoyed the IBA [the TV regulator of the time]. Whatever the other [ITV] regions thought of the content of the programme that was irrelevant to them as all they were interested in was the fact it drew in large audience figures and generated a lot of cash. In fact in 1980 I wanted to put the show back on five nights a week.”

The IBA, who found ‘soap opera’ distressingly popular, overruled that idea. They had cut it down to four episodes in 1968, and down to three in 1979. Crossroads was top of their ‘dubious quality’ list, which Coronation Street was also listed in second place, however the Granada saga only aired twice-a-week at the time and was never required to be cut back.

Allan’s axing of Crossroads, which was not the most critically acclaimed show it has to be said, (although often unfairly mocked when wobbly walls frequented Weatherfield just as much as Kings Oak) happened at almost perfectly the wrong time for Central. Only a few years later ‘soaps’ became big television business, with Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale all seeing more and more episodes added to the schedules – which Crossroads had pioneered in the sixties being Britains first half-hour daily soap. Crossroads did win awards, but the audience affection towards it wasn’t enough. “Central were embarrassed by its image” Jane Rossington concludes, “It effected their egos as they couldn’t be proud of Crossroads at dinner parties.”

Noele Gordon the star of Crossroads for 18 years.

The final straw seemed to come when ITV announced it was moving Crossroads to a twice-weekly prime-time slot of 7pm to alternate with Emmerdale Farm, the saga was also to get a Sunday omnibus. Two weeks after than announcement, Allan told ITV the show would no longer be made by Central. The company also refused to allow the rights to be sold to an independent company to carry on its production.

The outrageous storylines of Crossroads, as they had been deemed, seem rather tame to the current goings on in Weatherfield and the village once known as Beckindale.

As Alan Giles, posting on the Independent news website, sums up, “People mock Crossroads – but when you consider the absolute banality of today’s soap operas – the constant misery of Eastenders and Emmerdale, the over-acting of certain cast members – the tram crashes, fires, innumerable murders, rapes and infidelities – the never-ending tat, Crossroads seems to be like Shakespeare in comparison.”

However the sacrificed soap opera did open up drama slots for Central, all be it productions made in Nottingham. Allan persuaded the ITV network to take on two hour long dramas, notably Inspector Morse starring John Thaw and long running hour long soapy-dramas such as Solider Solider with Robson Green and Peak Practice with Kevin Whately.

There was also success with factual including the much acclaimed investigative series The Cook Report in which Roger Cook exposed underhand practices by people and organisations. John Stapleton was just one of the high profile presenters to be lured to host regional debate series Central Weekend by Allan, others included Nicky Campbell and James Whale. The format Allan had pioneered back at Tyne Tees with Friday Live! in the late 1970s.

While there were many more successes, Andy Allan will forever be the man who axed Crossroads for soap fans. In a strange twist of soap opera irony his daughter, Lucy Allan, became the producer of Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks, taking over from Bryan Kirkwood. Her tenure at the saga proved to be far from successful. It seems neither generation were very good at understanding 6.30pm serials.

Production on the set of Crossroads in 1973.

“He had no idea of the value of a cosy, homely, late afternoon ‘easy’ serial which could be watched by all.” John Kavyo, founder of the still running official Central Crossroads Fan Club, said.

Andrew Norman Allan, born Newcastle 26th September 1943 – died Newcastle 28th November 2011.

*Broadcast Archive Ratings Log, it should also be noted that Allan axed Crossroads when it was at its general summer low in audience figures of 8 million.