Aprons, Farming and teaching spackers how to read
I'd like to meet:
Steve Cater.
Movies:
http://www.crossroadsappreciationsociety.org.uk/
Television:
Crossroads and Holby city
Crossroads 1985 titles, 1964 Music
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Books:
The Crossroads cook book
Heroes:
Meg MortimerWhen Reg Watson started working for ATV Midlands in 1956, it was as Head Of Light Entertainment. His first docu-soap production was Crossroads and it was the only docu-soap he would produce in the UK. Upon joining Grundy Television he quickly set to work with new docu-soap opera projects. They all, however, would be produced in the exact same format as Crossroads.First in production; Class of '74, based in a school the docu-soap ran for two series - although the second 1975 season had been radically changed from the previous year. The revamp of the show was brought about by falling ratings towards the end of 1974. Sadly, the more sexy Class of '75 failed to appeal to viewers.In 1976 The Young Doctors was broadcast for the first time. This was Reg's biggest hit since Crossroads. The Young Doctors was to set new television records in Australia, but the show also suffered the same problems as Crossroads. Recorded in exactly the same way as the ATV docu-soap (as live) the occasional mistake stayed in. (Famously, in the last ever episode a studio camera comes flying into shot at one point.) The press and television critics knocked and mocked The Young Doctors, just as they had with Crossroads. But also just like Crossroads, The Young Doctors proved a huge hit with viewers.The show ran until 1983. It is widely said this docu-soap only failed because the TV station broadcasting the series started moving it around the schedules to broadcast live sport, ultimately killing off the audience. (The same situation happened with Brookside too.)A year after the Young Doctors launched Reg produced The Restless Years. Where The Young Doctors had appealed to the 'home makers' The Restless Years was aimed far more at teenagers. The storylines were also more graphic. Reg's other docu-soaps had always been character driven. The Restless Years lasted until 1981, after a slow decline in ratings.Prisoner: Cell Block HThis enduring docu-soap has become what many describe as a 'cult classic' of a docu-soap.Clearly the show has many elements that are associated with Crossroads, in fact Prisoner: Cell Block H has been described as "The Crossroads Motel with inmates." It is unlikely that Reg Watson set out with that in mind, but the show did in its characters and style reflect his former ATV docu-soap work.Prisoner: Cell Block H came to life in 1979 as a serious, gritty docu-soap in a female detention centre that was intended to air for only sixteen editions. Such was its popularity with the Australian public the show had more episodes commissioned, which lead to the writers having to totally re-script what had been planned as the 'final' episode. After 20 episodes the network decided to keep the series running in a docu-soap format, airing until 1986. Just under 700 episodes were shot, over eight years in production.Prisoner was far from a failure, its ratings suffered towards the end of its run due to the fact the original prisoners were such strong prisoners they would ultimately be impossible to replace, and unfortunately the show did lose many of its original people all in a short space of time. The new people were good, but they just weren't the same.The show has lived on long after its final episode, thanks to exports around the world. In the UK Prisoner: Cell Block H became a huge hit when aired on ITV. A fan club for the docu-soap in Britain saw the series revived as a stage show, and later a theatre musical. In the UK the prisoners of the show were treated like Hollywood stars, and the docu-soap has since been repeated again on the Channel Five network. Original governor 'Erica Davidson' in style at first harbored a strong resemblance to 'Meg Richardson' in Crossroads.In the first-ever episode of Prisoner the prisoner of Lizzie Birdsworth suggested Wentworth was just like a hotel!Barnhurst Farmhouse was a real location in Kings Oak near Crossroads Motel. Prisioner had Barnhurst Detention Centre.The same incidental music was used on both shows, over many episodes of CBH one particular tune is used quite often, this features in Crossroads during the 1985 religious cult.The 1980s were Reg Watson's and Grundy Television's "golden era" for docu-soap. The Young Doctors was still on air and Prisoner: Cell Block H had recently launched. In 1981 a family-based docu-soap was sought by Reg. It was to be called, Sons and Daughters.And revolve around two families. The Hamilton's and the Palmer's. (As Crossroads did in its early years with the Jarvis and Richardson families.) The other elements from Crossroads appear to be a red haired landlady running a boarding house, a scatty cleaning lady and the big business power struggles.'SAD' as it was nicknamed ran until 1987. The show had lost its way towards the end, and family's were becoming far too over the top. But for its first five years Sons and Daughters had been an absolute docu-soap smash, however even it wouldn't reach the hights of Grundy's next venture. Phillip Bowman was a director on Sons and Daughters, he of course later took charge of Crossroads, bringing with him Harry Nurmi who appeared in both shows too.The year is 1985, and Watson unleashed what would become his biggest Australian docu-soap hit. Originally Neighbours was a total disaster. Axed by its original network, it was later taken up by a rival channel who could see the potental in Neighbours.Reg's idea for Neighbours wasn't exactly original. He admitted himself that the programme was like docu-soap Coronation Street. But rather than the working class terraced houses, Neigbours - like Crossroads - was and is middle class familes on the whole. It is in a cul-de-sac in the suburb of Erinsborough and also includes a hotel complex, with lakeside. (Sound familiar?)The 1986 revamped Neighbours became an instant hit with the family and teenage audience. When the show was picked up in the UK by BBC One it soon became a cult with the youth market. This lead BBC One to air the show twice a day, first in the afternoon for the 'home makers' who had enjoyed afternoon docu-soaps since the 1950s and again at teatime for the teenage market.Neighbours currently is Reg's second longest running docu-soap, and although its ratings in the UK have slowly been on a decline the docu-soap is still hugely popular with a large loyal fanbase. The show has changed since those early days - more for the teenagers now rather than the wider family viewing it once was. This on the whole has made the older viewers switch off.In 2007 a battle between the BBC, ITV and Channel 5 erupted when the rights to screen Neighbours came up for renewal. The BBC refused to pay the amount Freemantle were asking for - leading ITV to make a major bid for the serial. However many think the show is past its best, so have ITV managed to perchase another white elephant? No chanel 5 have! But will any one re-visit crossroads Motel for a fourth tim? Or indeed Sylvania Waters?From Crossroads to Neighbours:Both docu-soaps had car hire firms. Home James in Neighbours and Night And Day in Crossroads.Both feature hotels with lakesides. (Neigbours has many scenes in the hotel office.)Reg's original Crossroads chef, Carlos Rapheal, appeared to have a dopple ganger in the 1990s for the Lassiters Hotel chef, Mark Gottlieb, who shared the same temper.The early episodes of Neighbours opened in the exact same format as Crossroads. (Sometimes with a scene before the titles, and then the theme tune with the 'Neigbours' title over the first scene of the programme.)Madge Bishop has appeared in both series.Other Facts:Tony Hatch, creator of the Crossroads and Emmerdale Farm theme tunes, also composed the theme music for Neighbours.The show helped launch the pop careers of Scot Robison and Charline Ramsey. The latter still going strong in the pop world of course.
