Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
The comings and goings of life in a Birmingham based motel - as depicted in ITV's soap opera Crossroads - had kept television viewers gripped since 1964. But its the real life stories behind the soap's characters that This Is Your Life was concerned with.
So, from the hustle and bustle of reception to the gossip in the garage, we look at those motel employees who received the Big Red Book treatment...
Noele GORDON Meg Mortimer 7 February 1973 Noele - an original member of the Crossroads cast having played the central character of the motel owner since the soap began in 1964 - was surprised by Eamonn at the soap's ATV studios in Birmingham. |
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Stan STENNETT Sid Hooper 5 January 1983 The versatile entertainer - who spent a long stint as the resident comedian with The Black & White Minstral Show, before joining the television soap in 1982 - was surprised by Eamonn at HTV Studios, where the show was then recorded. |
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Kathy STAFF Doris Luke 21 March 1984 The actress - known to television viewers as Nora Batty in the BBC's sitcom Last of the Summer Wine - was surprised by Eamonn in the London store Harrods - along with her colleagues from the ITV soap opera Crossroads, in which she plays cleaner Doris Luke. |
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Paul HENRY Benny Hawkins 27 March 1985 Eamonn surprised Paul - who has played the role of simple minded bumbling handyman Benny since 1975 - at a petrol station, with the help of fellow cast members Sue Hanson and Gabrielle Drake. |
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Gabrielle DRAKE Nicola Freeman 8 April 1987 Eamonn donned Victorian garb to surprise the actress during a photo call for the play Caught in the Act at the Phoenix Theatre in London's West End. |
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Jane ROSSINGTON Jill Richardson 20 January 1988 'Let's unfold an era that you began' was how Eamonn opened this edition having surprised Jane at a mock-up of the Crossroads set in a London hotel foyer. |
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Richard THORP Doug Randall 13 July 1994 Although best known for his role as Alan Turner in a different soap - Emmerdale - Richard appeared in Crossroads briefly in 1975 – as a sailor! Michael surprised him on the Emmerdale set, and his guests include actors Muriel Pavlow and Ian Bannen. |
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Sue NICHOLLS Marilyn Gates 29 November 1996 Michael caught up with Sue - now a regular cast member of Coronation Street - outside the Street's hair salon, where her character, Audrey Roberts, works. But before Sue joined the Street, she spent four years from 1964 playing a waitress at the Crossroads Motel. |
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