Handsome and beautiful, rich and happy, David and Barbara Hunter are the perfect pair.  But really, the Crossroads motel bosses are an odd couple - with one of the strangest romances in showbiz.

 

Now the serial is struggling, after dropping from the ratings for the first time in its 20-year run, the truth can be revealed about the real-life engagement of Ronald Allen and Sue Lloyd who play the Hunters.

 

They 'invented' it to please the fans and make their living together arrangement look more respectable.  And they admit they will probably never get married.

 

Ronald, 50, said:  "We may have the longest engagement in theatrical history but it is not necessarily a preamble to marriage.  We invented it ourselves as a gesture.  We didn't want to be seen as mere live-in lovers.  It seemed important to us to formalise our relationship.  We were secretly engaged in our own way for two weeks before anyone found out.  Then people noticed she was wearing a collection of diamonds on her left hand and started asking questions.  So we told them."

 

But the engagement is very different from most.

 

Ronald and 43-year-old Sue live together, but lead separate lives.  They fly off on holiday together but part when their plane lands.  They share a home in Birmingham, where Crossroads is made, but they have separate flats in London.  And it's all done deliberately so it will be easy if they ever decide to part.

 

Ronald said:  "It is very important that Sue is independent and has a place of her own to go to.  The practical things have to be taken care of.  The horror is the dreadful break-up of the practical structure of a relationship.  Who lives where and who has what.

 

"If you can get that out of the way, as Sue and I have done, it is a tremendous bonus.  If we came asunder and she ever needed the flat it would be there."