When the low-key soap Crossroads first aired on British TV, the only thing viewers needed was wooden acting, a dodgy script and wobbly sets.
But 60 years from the first episode, TV bosses have issued a caution that shows long-running, which was originally broadcast in the teatime slot, may cause offense.
Some classic episodes of the series, set in a fictional Midlands motel, have been released on the ITVX streaming service, but they come with a content warning that states the program ‘contains broadcasting standards, language and attitudes from a time’.
But the decision was considered ‘pathetic’ and condescending.
Among those who criticized the warning was actress Fiona Curzon, who played motel temptress Faye Mansfield between 1975 and 1977.
Paul Henry, as Benny Hawkins in ‘Crossroads’ – a British ITV soap opera that ran from 1964 to 1988
She said: ‘I just think it’s really sad. I am so sick of all this. You can’t say boo today.
‘I don’t think anyone sitting down and watching Crossroads will be surprised by anything. On the contrary, I thought, ‘What is the problem with the people who issued the warning?’ The point is that we were very moderate back then.’
And Professor John Sutherland, author of Triggered Literature said: ‘The implication of the danger of ‘contains the standards of broadcasting and the language and attitudes of the time’ is that we are the most enlightened generation who can judge, from our greatness, all our deluded ancestors. You think so? Look around you.’
Crossroads, which ran from 1964 to 1988 with a brief revival in 2001, created some of the most popular characters in soap opera history including matriarch Meg Mortimer played by Noele Gordon, gloomy Benny played by Paul Henry and gossipmonger Amy Turtle (Ann ). George).
It was praised for having a main character in a wheelchair – Meg’s son Sandy, played by Roger Tonge – and a prominent black character.
Although it is one of the most popular programs on British TV, it was made quickly and with low production values, which inspired Victoria Wood’s parody Acorn Antiques.
ITVX declined to comment but an insider said content warnings ‘are standard practice to allow viewers to make informed choices’.
WARNING: This soap legend may cause offence
Sandy Richardson
Sandy Richardson, who is the son of matriarch Meg, became the first character killed in a British soap opera after Roger Tonge, the actor who played him, developed Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which affects his mobility.
Instead of writing the character out of the show, the producers decided to make him a wheelchair user after a car accident. Tonge died at the age of 35 in 1981.
Noele Gordon as Meg Mortimer and Roger Tonge as Sandy Richardson in Crossroads
Benny Hawkins
Benny Hawkins, a simple craftsman, quickly proved himself when he joined the show in 1975.
Famous for his fur hat and friendship with ‘Miss Diane’, Benny – played by Paul Henry, now 78 – stayed on until the show ended in 1988.
In 2017 Henry proved his real intelligence by winning Celebrity Pointless.
Meg Mortimer and David Hunter
Meg Mortimer, played by the late Noele Gordon, was the doyenne of the Crossroads Motel and her firing from the soap in 1981 caused a national outcry.
Fans breathed a sigh of relief when the bosses decided not to kill the dead character and instead send him to die on the QE2 to start a new life overseas. The character returned in 1983 for two episodes in Venice. Gordon died in 1985.
David Hunter was the co-owner of the hotel, played by Ronald Allen. The actor parodied himself in several episodes of the alternative comedy series The Comic Strip Presents and died in 1991, aged 60.
David Hunter, as played by Ronald Allen, with Meg Richardson, as played by Noele Gordon in ‘Crossroads’
