Hazel Adair (Obituary, 24 November) was also responsible for introducing the first black character to Crossroads. I appeared as Melanie Harper, the adopted daughter of the main character Meg Richardson. This is important to remember because it was not long after Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech. At a time when racial tension was quite high, especially in places such as Birmingham where the show was based, the decision to introduce a main character who was black was unprecedented and a brave decision for a soap that was sometimes ridiculed.
Cleo Sylvestre
Joint artistic director, Rosemary Branch Theatre
• I have always welcomed the blossoming of our garden forsythia bush as a sign that spring was really under way. By last Tuesday it was covered in glorious colour. Either the bush is confused, or I am.
Peter Hutchinson
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
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