Camera angles were another of Crossroads' strong suits.
In 1947, a young Bedouin boy threw a rock into a cave and cracked open one of the great architectural finds of the last century. Now, with the discovery last week of the earliest surviving Crossroads episode in an unmarked tin in London, we have this century's Dead Sea Scrolls.
Understandably thrilled by their world exclusive, ITV.com have uploaded it for viewing. The excitement will baffle many, but for devotees who frequent the online Crossroads fansites, this is all their Christmases come at once - a new chapter in their personal never-ending story.
Widely derided, Crossroads ran for nigh on quarter of a century, achieving popularity many shows would slaughter their entire cast and crew for. Rather like those other cultural oddities heavy metal, grebo and dogging, Crossroads was one of those things that could only have been born out of the English West Midlands.
It was not unduly concerned with glossy production values. Shaky sets, fluffed lines and eggy pauses were as much a part of the Crossroads landscape as mute extras, uneven pacing and the stirring Tony Hatch theme tune. It's true that there is a rubbernecking element to some of the interest in the show. Some people are laughing at Crossroads, not with it.
Nonetheless, I think it's due a critical appraisal. It had a strong cast of memorable characters such as slow-witted man-boy Benny, pint-sized ballbreaker Shughie McFee and Noele Gordon is rightly recognized as one of the great soap matriarchs. You can see the blueprint of bizarre storylines with lightning-quick turnaround as a big influence on Neighbours.
People forget that Crossroads in its prime was a fearless taboo breaker, taking a lot of flak for an unmarried mother storyline in 1964. They went on to have the first regularly appearing black characters in a British soap, Meg's adopted daughter Cleo Sylvestre in the 60s with Carl and Merdelle joining her in the 70s. Other ground-breaking storylines followed: a teacher-pupil relationship, a test-tube baby, and witchcraft. Before Brookside was a twinkle in Phil Redmond's eye, there were no roads Crossroads wasn't willing to cross.
OK, on one level it was appalling - badly acted, nonsensically scripted and frequently taking crass to new levels. But the characters lived on in people's imaginations long after the sets had stopped shaking. That kind of emotional resonance doesn't come around every day. Plenty of cleverly scripted shows with slick production values disappear after a season or two simply because no one really cares about them. Sure, they are admired, but loved? That takes a special kind of show.
To this day people still love Crossroads in all its pioneering, taboo-breaking, line-fluffing glory. For this alone, I salute it. Truly, there has never been anything quite like it.
