While Benny and Ed may not have the happiest of roles to portray in the series, for Thomas Heathcote and Paul Henry, working on Crossroads has proved the same enjoyable experience as it has for the rest of the actors who join in making this one of the nation's favourite TV series.  Says Thomas Heathcote, "I see Crossroads as a challenge.  It's not like one-off TV plays where you have to worry about camera angles, have weeks rehearsal and so on.  You can't be so exact, and anyway we just don't have the time for retakes.  It's a hell of a challenge for an actor, and I like it."  Like Heathcote, Paul Henry has always enjoyed playing Benny.  As many critics have pointed out, of all the roles in the series Benny demands very great delicacy in his portrayal.  It would no doubt be all too easy to let him slip into being a total idiot, a figure of fun, and Paul Henry has no intention of permitting himself or Benny, to fall into that trap.

 

With trials, tribulations and the budding of strange new emotions, the lives of Ed and Benny have never been simple, and it's probably true to say that there will be difficulties ahead for this gentle, honest duo.  But it's equally true that between them Thomas Heathcote and Paul Henry will carry on bringing to life two characters who show another side of the varied and unfailingly interesting world that makes up life at Crossroads.