Crossroads’ trigger warning (and it’s not for Benny’s hat!)

BEWARE: THESE SOAP LEGENDS MAY CAUSE OFFENCE

WHEN the low-budget soap opera Crossroads originally aired on British TV, the only warning viewers might have needed was that it contained wooden acting, dodgy scripts and wobbly sets.

But 60 years on from the first episode, TV bosses have issued a caution that the long-running show, which originally aired in a teatime slot, may cause offence.

Some classic episodes of the serial, set in a fictional Midlands motel, have been released on the streaming service ITVX, but they come with a content warning which states the programme ‘contains broadcast standards, language and attitudes of its time’.

But the decision has been slammed as ‘pathetic’ and condescending.

Among those criticising the warnings was actress Fiona Curzon, who played

‘It’s absolutely pathetic, I am so sick of all this’

motel temptress Faye Mansfield between 1975 and 1977.

She said: ‘I just think it is absolutely pathetic. I am so sick of all of this. You cannot say boo these days.

‘I don’t think anyone sitting down and watching Crossroads would be shocked by anything. On the contrary I think they would think, “what is the matter with the people who are issuing these warnings?” The point is we were very moderated in those days.’

And Professor John Sutherland, the author of Triggered Literature said: ‘The implication of the warning “contains broadcast standards and language and attitudes of the time” is we are the supremely enlightened generation capable of judging, from our eminence, all our deluded predecessors. 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 history including matriarch Meg Mortimer played by Noele Gordon, the dimwitted Benny played by Paul Henry and gossiping cleaner Amy Turtle (Ann George). It was praised for having a major character in a wheelchair – Meg’s son Sandy, played by Roger Tonge – and for its high-profile black characters.

Although one of the most popular programmes 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 a content warning ‘is standard practice to allow viewers to make informed choices’.