Kings Oak was the fictional village in the television serial ''

Crossroads Crossroads, crossroad, cross road or similar may refer to: * Crossroads (junction), where four roads meet Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a 1930 Brit ...

'' which ran on

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between 1964 and 1988. The show was revived in 2001, the main building being renamed a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

. In 2003, halfway through the third comeback series, ratings stated to decline, so it was decided to axe the programme for good. The final episode ended on a dream sequence in which one of the characters ''Angel Samson'', played by Jane Asher, had thought up the whole thing. The character was actually working in a

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

as a checkout operator. The show is sometimes written as King's Oak. Between 1964 and 1970 most of the scenes of the village were actually all recorded inside the Associated Television Studios in

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, England. Located immediately to the north-east of Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a ward within the metropolitan authority. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Birmingham City Centre. History Aston wa ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. Still photographs would be used to illustrate Kings Oak and its locations during episodes; places used for these pictures included

Bournville Bournville () is a model village on the southwest side of Birmingham, England, founded by the Quaker Cadbury family for employees at its Cadbury's factory, and designed to be a "garden" (or "model") village where the sale of alcohol was forbidd ...

, Yardley and

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south ...

Tanworth-in-Arden

In 1970 ''

production company,

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, furnished the serial with the use of an

outside broadcast unit Outside broadcasting (OB) is the electronic field production (EFP) of television or radio programmes (typically to cover television news and sports television events) from a mobile remote broadcast television studio. Professional video camera ...

to use for a limited number of episodes a year. This enabled filming to take place in and around "Kings Oak" and so a real-life village was sought. Producer

Reg Watson Reginald James Watson (27 August 1926 – 8 October 2019) was an Australian television producer and screenwriter. He was executive producer on ''Crossroads (British TV series), Crossroads'' and created Australian media exports serials such as ' ...

picked the

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

village of

Tanworth-in-Arden Tanworth-in-Arden (; often abbreviated to Tanworth) is a small village and civil parish in the county of Warwickshire, England. It is southeast of Birmingham and northeast of Redditch, and is administered by Stratford-on-Avon District Council. ...

. Tanworth-in-Arden was used until the programme's end in 1988; the final scene in ''Crossroads'' takes place on the village green. As well as the village centre being used for Kings Oak, other buildings were also transformed for the series. Tanworth-in-Arden's Bell Inn public house became the Running Stag, St Mary's Church was St Lawrence's and the Tanworth Post Office became the Kings Oak version. Other places in the village used for Crossroads include the exterior of the village general store and the railway station. "Kings Oak" was supposed to be slightly larger than Tanworth, and in later years the production crew also used Bristol Road in

Selly Oak Selly Oak is an industrial and residential area in south-west Birmingham, England. The area gives its name to Selly Oak ward and includes the neighbourhoods of: Bournbrook, Selly Park, and Ten Acres. The adjoining wards of Edgbaston and Harborne ...

as part of the village. This was supposed to be the main shopping front street.

Village history

Kings Oak, according to a 1964 ''

TV World Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

'' article on the village, is exactly ten miles south of Birmingham. The Kings Oak Guidebook, as written by ''Crossroads creator

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, (issued by ATV) brings to light some (fictional) facts about the village: Originally the Village was called 'Slohtran Ford', which means "marshy ford". The hamlet was originally inhabited by foresters who built their huts at the easiest crossing point for the River Slotter, which runs through the centre of "Kings Oak". The name "Kings Oak" comes from the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, when King Charles hid there for a night in a giant oak tree. In 1969 the village of Kings Oak had 750 inhabitants and was administered by its own Rural Council. The village has two churches, St Lawrence's and the Methodist Church. The three mainstay pubs were The Crown, The Kings Oak and The Running Stag. Other locations in the village include the Fairlawns Hotel, Crossroads Motel, Ravoli Cinema, Robins Warehouse and a small police station. The village has a housing estate called Kings Hill. There are a couple of nearby towns and villages to "Kings Oak", the biggest is Heathbury - an industrial town, which is six miles north of the village centre. Also Castlewich and Merryfields are located nearby.

New series

In 2001 ''

'' was revived by

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Televi ...

. Despite many aspects of the original series being dropped from the new version, the name of "Kings Oak" was kept as the location of the Crossroads Hotel; however this Kings Oak looked nothing like its predecessor. The new filming locations were Bingham and its market place. Also Redmile featured as part of the village. Both of the Carlton used locations are in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

. In an unusual coincidence however, Julia Burchell, who played Nicola Russell in the revived series, comes from Tanworth in Arden, the original filming location.

External links

Crossroads Locations
Further information on the ''Crossroads'' Fan Club page
Kings Oak History
The History of the Village and also the Crossroads Motel

Crossroads2001 website details on the more recent Kings Oak locations {{Crossroads (soap opera) Fictional elements introduced in 1964 Crossroads (British TV series) Fictional populated places in England Fictional neighborhoods