The news that I was being fired from Crossroads shattered me. After playing the principal part of
Meg Mortimer for 17 years I was hurt and humiliated by the manner of my dismissal.
My manager had gone to ATV to discuss the renewal of my contract for 1982. It seemd a routine formality - until
Charles Denton, the company's Controller of Programmes, announced: "All good things must come to an end."
I was in Birmingham, where Crossroads is produced and where I live, when my manager telephoned to break
the news. At first I couldn't grasp it. I had harboured suspicions that I was being eased out because I seemed
to have been given less and less to do, but when I had queried this the producer had told me: "Just be patient, darling.
In a few weeks' time you'll be complaining of overwork."
I had never dreamed I would be sacked out of hand. I put down the phone in tears. I poured myself a glass
of wine but I was too upset to drink it. I cried all that night.
During the unhappy days that followed, before anyone else was told and before the Press gave over their front pages
to headline the story in their boldest type, I spent hours remembering the happy times and marvellous people I had known in
Crossroads and this sent me to the scrapbook in which I have kept pictures and cuttings recalling them.
It also carries reminders of another life, before and outside Crossroads, and these have helped me to come
to accept that while one way of life was about to be ended, a new, unexpected, one was about to begin.
Millions of viewers have known me as Meg and among them must be some who would like the opportunity of being at my
elbow while I turn some of the pages of my scrapbook and recall what they mean to me. This book provides you with the
opportunity to recall with me my early days, my stage appearances, my career in television, glimpses of my private life and
thoughts for the future.
