In theory, as she pointed out, there's nothing for a prep school headmaster's wife to do. But when she took the
job, she soon realised that theories were far from the practise. "I'm supposed to do absolutely nothing, but in fact
I seem to be the all-purpose dogsbody. Actually I've bitten off very much more than I can chew. When I was asked
to come back to the show I had to spend the next two months getting everything in order for the school before I left and I
nearly went around the twist worrying about it. But I think I developed an effective method of ordering absolutely everything
and if they can catch me out, then I'll present them all with a personal award."
With this kind of pressure in her private, non-Crossroads life, Justine Lord is having to face the fact that
her acting career may well be suffering at the expense of her work at school. "The school has taken me over and
I never meant it to. Five years ago, when I got married, I had all these ideas about what I might do. I'd
be nipping up to town, I'd be doing this, I'd be doing that ... I'd be looking after my house in London ..." When it
came to the crunch all these ideas were sacrificed to reality. Much to her chagrin, as she said, grinning at her old
hopes, her plans had developed on very different lines.
Among those plans, it is becoming increasingly clear that if she wants to keep on helping her husband, acting is heading
straight for the back seat. "I'd love to carry on, it would be a great pity not to, but it means such a lot of stress.
Not only for myself, but for all the people who have to stand in for me at the school. The teachers, the kitchen
staff and, of course, my husband who has to cope for himself all the time I'm away. I really don't think this is fair
on anyone."
Nevertheless Justine Lord remains the personification of Kelly as far as Crossroads viewers are concerned.
And there's no doubt that as long as she plays her kooky character, she's delighted by the person she has to portray.
"kelly's lovely. I think perhaps she is slightly mad, a bit of a nut, but she's a very nice nut. Originally she
was created for another series that Peter Ling wrote, 'Compact', with me in mind, but I was already playing something else
in that show. Then I found she had transferred here and I'm playing her, so I'm delighted."
All of which bodes well for Crossroads fans. Let's be frank, it wouldn't be fair to expect Kelly to hang
around that long, it just isn't in her character. No doubth it won't be long before our intrepid journalist is off on
her travels once more, but until she does everyone at Crossroads, and David Hunter in particular, will be as delighted
as she is to have her on the team.
