Article by Jean Ritchie, The Sun newspaper January 1985 

 

The King of Soap slumped back into the elegant sofa at a top London hotel.  He was concentrating hard on not being sick over the young TV producer sitting in front of him.

 

For the axe had finally fallen.  After 14 years playing suave motel boss David Hunter in telly soap opera Crossroads, Ronnie Allen was out on his ear.  And the thought of being dumped after so long, without so much as a word of warning or a pay-off, turned the 50 year old actor's stomach.

 

Chainsmoking and still upset, tall, handsome Ronnie told me:  "I could not believe that this man who had just spent half an hour telling me how good I was and what an invaluable contribution I made to Crossroads was now telling me I was sacked!

 

"My legs went numb and I had this terrible uncertain feeling round my middle.  I already had a bad stomach and now I felt well and truly sick.  I will never know how I kept my self-control.  On top of that, this young man was asking me to make things easier and agree to resign.  He wanted me to 'do the decent thing.'  Well, that was an easy decision to make:  No way!"

 

A second blow followed.  For Ronnie's live-in lover Sue Lloyd, who plays his wife in Crossroads, was also getting the chop.

 

"Inside I wanted to scream," admitted 44 year old Sue, who has been in the series for six years.  "But neither of us showed how devastated we felt.  It was like acting in a sketch.  I felt it wasn't happening to us, it was happeneing to characters we were playing."

 

The brutal joint axing came as a complete shock to Sue, but for Ronnie the suspicion had dawned the night before.

 

He told me:  "It did not hit me at first.  After all, on that fateful Friday, executive producer Jack Barton had rung to tell me that Crossroads had broken through the 15 million audience barrier.  So when our new producer, Phillip Bowman, rang to ask if we could meet him in a London hotel the following afternoon for a chat, I never thought twice about it.

 

"I woke up at about five o'clock in the morning, and in those cold, early-morning hours it came to me in a flash that we were going to be sacked.  Suddenly I thought.  'Why on earth would he take us to tea if he just wanted to discuss the odd change here and there?  He's going to fire us.'

 

"I didn't tell Sue.  I couldn't bring myself to wake her up.  Looking back I wish I had - it might have helped to prepare her.  But I kept quiet and just spent the rest of the day with a cold sinking feeling in my middle.  Even that didn't prepare me for that awful feeling when he said, 'We're going to write you out'.

 

"In a funny sort of way the whole thing was more embarrassing for Bowman than it was for us.  He had arrived at the hotel without a tie, and the management had politely informed him that he had to keep his coat on.  He sat huddled in his raincoat and I remember him saying how very good we both were.  So good that they had to get rid of us!"

 

Sue shook her blonde head in disbelief, and said;  "I didn't have an inkling.  I was sure the invitation was just to discuss changes in the story.  The worst I thought was that our parts were going to be reduced.

 

"Before we all met I had lunch with my old mates Dudley Moore and Jeremy Lloyd.  I told them I was having tea with my producer, but it was nothing serious.  How wrong can you be?"

 

The only light moment in the whole afternoon was when the meeting was interrupted by an anthusiastic American fan.

 

"It was bizarre" said Ronnie.  "There we were trying to get to grips with having been sacked, when this American millionaire spotted us.  Crossroads is broadcast in Canada and he had been able to pick it up and raved on and on about me and Sue.

 

"Afterwards I said to Bowman:  'You must think we paid him to say that.  If this was soap opera, you would now say:  'I'm giving you your jobs back after hearing how popular you are.'

 

"Bowman just smiled.  When he first became involved with the show he had made reassuring speeches to everyone about how it would be all right.  Now there are a lot of others very worried about their futures.

 

"Even after all this time we are only on weekly contracts.  But because the story line is worked out so far in advance we always knew we were safe for at least two or three months.  For the last few years my future has always been talked about in terms of years ahead.

 

"Under the previous producer, Jack Barton, we never needed a written contract.  He was a gentleman who has always kept his word in any dealings we had with him.  I hope this new producer will keep his word and not get rid of us until May."

 

The news of the couple's axing was made the following Monday and some of the cast were in tears.  The first person to speak to Sue was Claire Faulconbridge, who plays Miranda Pollard in the series.

 

Sue said:  "She kissed me and said how sorry she was.  There were tears in her eyes.  I could have broken down but I was determined not to."

 

Ronnie said:  "I felt like hitting Bernard Kay, who plays Harry Maguire, because he said,  'My God, you two are good actors.  You didn't give away a clue.'

 

They both feel bitter about being fired.  "If anyone could tell me what it adds to the show, I'd understand," said Ronnie.  "I honestly cannot see why it had to end.  We have neither of us stopped being able to act.  David and Barbara have not stopped being interesting characters.  And judging by our fan mail, I can say they have not lost their appeal to the audience."

 

The couple have found their sacking easier to bear because it has hit both of them.  "We have clung togehter," said Sue.  "It would have been terrible if Ronnie had been sacked and I hadn't."

 

Ronnie agreed.  "Having her in it with me has made it possible to bear," he said.  "On my own I don't know how I could have coped.  My life has been shattered."