Crossroads

Book excerpt: 'Crossroads', one of the most successful programmes on television, has attracted a huge and devoted audience of some 15 million regular viewers. Yet, like many soap operas, it is derided by the press and treated with distaste by other programme-makers. Indeed, despite its popularity, its very future currently hangs in the balance. While doing independent research on popular television in the ATV studios in 1981, Dorothy Hobson observed the storm that developed around the company's decision to dispense with Meg Mortimer, star of 'Crossroads'. The repercussions of that announcement were immense and highlighted the gulf between the broadcasting authorities and the progaramme's critics, and the 'Crossroads' production team and the audience. Through talking to the actors, the programme controller and the viewing public, she went on to explore the contradictions of why and how a soap opera is made and viewed, examining the appeal of 'Crossroads' and attempting to locate the programme as part of contemporary popular culture. The result is a revealing, controversial but also very absorbing analysis of a soap opera in crisis.