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Anyone remember Benny from Crossroads? |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 625
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Anyone remember Benny from Crossroads?
If you are of a certain age you probably have a reasonable memory of the storylines in Crossroads.
Benny, a mentally challenged character, went out one day to get a spanner but never returned nor was spoken about again by the other characters. Saun has just left for a holiday and to see his son, Dylan. Any chance he will vanish never to be spoken about again. There is a good relationship developing between Billy and Todd, and a lot of potential story development between two sound characters played by two competent actors.
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#2 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
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Quote:
If you are of a certain age you probably have a reasonable memory of the storylines in Crossroads.
Benny, a mentally challenged character, went out one day to get a spanner but never returned nor was spoken about again by the other characters. |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Jul 2015
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It's hard to believe that Benny, the simple, wooly-hatted odd-job man with a pet dog called Moses, was once one of the most recognisable faces on TV, but then it's hard to believe that Crossroads in all it's plonking glory, was once such a big part of everyday life.
I think the elusive spanner was a hiatus rather than a departure. Paul Henry, the well-spoken actor who played Benny, used to take time off to pursue his theatre career and so made a 'Crossroads exit' i.e staying off-screen and unmentioned for six months and then suddenly re-appearing with no reference to where he had been. There had been a period of Benny-mania at one point where Paul Henry was ticked off for selling wooly hats to fans outside the studios in Birmingham where the show was made (possibly a rumour) and released a record called something like 'Meet Me At The Crossroads' (not a rumour). By the time I was old enough to watch evening TV, about five or six, Crossroads was going through it's desperate final phase where the title was amended to Crossroads-Kings Oak and Tony Hatch's excellent theme tune had been changed for something less distinctive. The producers were ill-advisedly aiming the show at a yuppie audience, but they weren't fooling anyone. Even as a little kid, I could see Crossroads was shoddy. I remember one scene where Benny turned up late for a staff party and the motel receptionist told him 'You've missed all the grub' - a line of dialogue that belongs on the pages of the Beano, surely? Nowadays Crossroads-Kings Oak would be referred to as a re-branding. Part of the new look was to put Benny in a suit rather than his more familiar wooly hat and dungarees and present him as a more aspirational figure. Strange times, indeed. |
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#4 |
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Join Date: Nov 2008
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I loved Crossroads and have fond memories of Benny's friendship with 'Miss Diane'
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#5 |
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Join Date: May 2008
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Wasn't he last seen putting up the Xmas decorations?
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#6 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
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As a child, I was never sure if Meg's son, can't remember his character's name, but the actor was Roger Tonge, was really a paraplegic. Never seen him outside the programme so I presumed he was always in a wheelchair.
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#7 |
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Join Date: Sep 2012
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Ah there's a blast from the past-good old Crossroads 🙂
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#8 |
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Join Date: Dec 2014
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Quote:
As a child, I was never sure if Meg's son, can't remember his character's name, but the actor was Roger Tonge, was really a paraplegic. Never seen him outside the programme so I presumed he was always in a wheelchair.
He apparently became disabled in real life after he took on the role playing a disabled person. Very sad end to his life, in real life. |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
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Born 46 Died 81
So mid thirties, no age at all. Not much information on line. Didn't know this, I'm quite shocked!
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#10 |
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Quote:
Born 46 Died 81
So mid thirties, no age at all. Not much information on line. Didn't know this, I'm quite shocked! ![]() |
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#11 |
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Join Date: Sep 2012
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There was even a song about him called "Benny's Theme".
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#12 |
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Join Date: Oct 2009
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Quote:
Born 46 Died 81
So mid thirties, no age at all. Not much information on line. Didn't know this, I'm quite shocked! ![]() Then something like a year later, there was a scene where his mother Meg (played by Noele Gordon) was sitting in a chair looking sad, and her daughter Jill asked her why she was sad: "You're thinking about Sandy, aren't you" AFAIK this was the first time it had been alluded to on screen; we were to assume that Sandy had died at some point but there was no indication when, or how, or whether there was a funeral. And after that it was never mentioned again. Hilarious really, and typical Crossroads. |
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#13 |
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Wantage, Oxfordshire
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I used to like Benny back then, but now, with all this silly PC business, I feel uncomfortable when watching him in a Crossroads episode on YouTube. Silly really. I can relate to Sam on Emmerdale as my Autistic son is very similar to the character of Sam. Does anyone know whether Sam is Autistic or why he seems to have certain learning difficulties?
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#14 |
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Join Date: May 2008
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I'm sure I've seen benny's last scene (which occurred only a few months before the end of Croasroads) and he does a knowing look to camera- Crossroads 'broke the 4th wall' numerous times). Anyone remember?
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#15 |
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Join Date: Mar 2008
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Miss Diane, she do say.
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#16 |
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Join Date: Nov 2008
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Benny is well remembered because he was an easy 'go to' for 70's impressionists.
Eddie Large could barely get through a show without a good bit of 'Miss Diane-ing'. Normally in between Deputy Dawg and Cliff. |
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#17 |
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Join Date: May 2013
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Quote:
I used to like Benny back then, but now, with all this silly PC business, I feel uncomfortable when watching him in a Crossroads episode on YouTube. Silly really. I can relate to Sam on Emmerdale as my Autistic son is very similar to the character of Sam. Does anyone know whether Sam is Autistic or why he seems to have certain learning difficulties?
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#18 |
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Join Date: May 2013
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Quote:
Benny is well remembered because he was an easy 'go to' for 70's impressionists.
Eddie Large could barely get through a show without a good bit of 'Miss Diane-ing'. Normally in between Deputy Dawg and Cliff. ![]() ![]() ![]()
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#19 |
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Join Date: Apr 2006
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AH,, Crossroads - the wobbly sets, the dreadful acting - it was so bad it was good! Shughuie McPhee, Amy Turtle, Glenda,..........................that woman with the weird piled up hair who was married to David(?) Happy days!
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#20 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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Quote:
The producers were ill-advisedly aiming the show at a yuppie audience, but they weren't fooling anyone. Quote:
Wasn't he last seen putting up the Xmas decorations?
As ridiculous as the show could be at times, there was something compelling about it. It was soap opera in it's true sense as it was high drama all the way. It seemed to borrow more so from the US soaps than it's UK counterparts in terms of storylining and the various cliffhangers it used. The often OTT drama of Hollyoaks today has it's origins in Crossroads I reckon. |
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#21 |
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Join Date: Oct 2009
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"Me & Miss Diane went to see a film about a big fish that do keep eating people"
(Benny talking about seeing 'Jaws') |
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#22 |
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Join Date: Feb 2010
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Sean won't just disappear, at least I hope not! When people leave Corrie they usually have a good reason and it is explained.
The only exception I can think of in recent times is Faye's little baby's paternal grandparents disappearing off to Canada all of a rush, uprooting their settled life and depriving Anna and Tim of seeing their granddaughter. That struck me as totally unealistiic. Yes I remember Benny well. I worked with a good friend, now 50-ish, just a few years ago whose older siblings called him, "Benny" in honour of the Crossroads character . His nieces and nephews called him, "Uncle Benny" too. He took it very well.
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#23 |
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Join Date: Apr 2016
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Quote:
AH,, Crossroads - the wobbly sets, the dreadful acting - it was so bad it was good! Shughuie McPhee, Amy Turtle, Glenda,..........................that woman with the weird piled up hair who was married to David(?) Happy days!
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#24 |
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,179
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Yes I remember...such disturbing memories...
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