Crossroads

This had potential. A soap opera set in a hotel could've been good if the producers and writers and cast actually made the effort.

I was disappointed. But I liked the plot line in the 2001-2002 version involving Jake Booth emotionally abusing Tracey Booth, his wife, and Tracey turning into an alcoholic. I loved this plot line and I felt very sorry for Tracey Booth and the way she was being abused by Jake.

I hated having to watch Miss goody-two shoes Nicola Russel get her top GCSE grades though. The plot line was dull, stupid, boring, irrelevant, and ultimately insulting to those who got bad examination results like me. I felt that this plot line took the biscuit out of those students who may've done badly in the year 2001, I did badly and felt like this plot was rubbing my nose in my failures, if that makes sense.

Most of the plot lines were dull, the ending was just pure stupid. I liked Cindy Marshall-Day's performance and Colin Wells was great. But they were the only decent two cast members.

The Samson's were horrible. They should've had more violence, lies, deceit, and betrayals, then the soap could've been much better.

If they try it again, it needs big reforms if it is to have a fighting chance of succeeding.

As a soap-a-holic, I was pleased to hear that "Crossroads" was making a comeback, as I was only three years old when the show was cancelled, and therefore never saw it.

Alas, I was rather dissapointed with what I found. Crossroads Motel had been demolished and replaced with a Crossroads four star hotel. Some of the acting from the new actors is terrible, the script is dier at times, and what seems like the beginning of an ongoing storyline is over by the commerical break.

But perhaps the biggest mistake of all was killing of Jane Rossington as Jill Harvey. Jane was the best of the three original cast members that had returned to the show. The writers killed her off because the ratings weren't high enough.

If that were the case, then surely the most sensible thing to do would have been to pull the plug on the whole show, and not the best character.

I'm not too surprised. Even at the age of 15, I have noticed a severe landslide in the quality of British TV. The overall quality of British soaps has plummetted, making most of British TV cheesy, boring and unrealistic.

Take the conversations held by some of the teens in Crossroads - nobody talks like that!!!!

5 out of 10.

Dallas's shower scene showed us that we dream in colour, Crossroads' finale told us that Jane Asher dreams at lightspeed: she got through the whole 5 months of the Hotel saga down in a blink.

Using the tried and tested Dallas dream trick, Crossroads bowed out with Angela (Jane Asher) realising her life as vampish hotel owner Angel Samson was a dream. The reality was that she crimped her hair, spoke with a Brummie accent and worked on a supermarket checkout, with former nemesis and sometimes friend Kate Russell as her co-worker.

As gag endings go, St. Elsewhere's was classier and Sledge Hammer's much funnier, but neither could touch this for the number of accents attempted. I actually lost count of how many accents were represented in the supermarket.

Most of the regular characters made appearances in the supermarket. Battleaxe Hotel receptionist Virginia became a battleaxe checkout supervisor married to Security Guard Rocky Wesson. Betty Waddell became a (geographically non-specific) customer in love with Rocky (I ask you!?!?). Thrusting American Businessman Max Samson was transformed into a lager and crisp buying American scruff, while the Samson twins, Ryan and Jimmy, had their roles reversed, with 'sex god' Ryan turned into a total geek, and former geek Jimmy becoming a Cockney sex toy for the Wise sisters (Phil, Lola and Belle). Even camp gay chef Vince underwent a total transformation to a Brummie layabout married to a shell suit wearing Helen Raven.

Perhaps the clumsiest joke was Tracy Boothe, going from booze hound Bar Manager to the alcoholic star of a TV show called, yes, you guessed it..... 'Crossroads'

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Only six months into the new re-vamped Crossroads,and rumor is already starting to spread of a potential axing.Well,to be honest,this is not really surprising.As high hopes as anyone might have had for this new edition , it's really just not up to scratch.The main problem being the acting:it is , whatever way you look at it, wooden.Everyone involved simply reads their lines out as blankly and dully as you can imagine,so that they sound almost like cyborgs.The stories are rather cliched and predictable,with love triangles,high stakes and adversity being mainly on the agenda.And it is so hard to believe that all this could be going on under the roof of a hotel.Worth watching,but certainly only as something to glance at while eating your snack.**

A lot of the UK press are really criticising Crossroads at the moment but that's just because of the stigma it has from the old series. The new version really is a classy soap. Sure it's plots are totally unbelievable (like the current 2 Sarah-Jane's plot) but thats what makes it so good.

It's a world away from the likes of Eastenders and Coronation Street and all the better for it. Sure some of the younger actors leave a lot to be desired in terms of talent but characters like Billy, Kate Russell, Doris and Patrick Russell are brilliantly played.

All Crossroads needs is a few of the creases ironing out and it could easily go up against the likes of Brookside and Emmerdale.

Please Carlton, have some confidence. Don't axe Crossroads!!!