Jack Barton

Jack Barton was the producer of the UK soap opera, Crossroads (1964), during the 1970s. Barton was noted for tackling controversial subjects and during his tenure the soap covered subjects such as rape, racism, bigamy, test-tube pregnancies, physical handicap and Downs Syndrome. Born in Manchester Fred Bernard 'Jack' Barton had an interest in showbusiness from an early age. At 15 he joined Bertram Mills' Circus and at 17 moved to London where he studied tap dancing. Later he toured with stars such as Jessie Matthews and Sonnie Hale in musical comedies. During WW2 he served in the RAF and on being demobbed he moved to Scotland where he worked as a producer in variety shows. In 1955 he joined the newley formed ATV in Birmingham as a producer on shows such as Lunch Box, hosted by Noele Gordon. Crossroads, a new soap that featured everyday events at a Midland hotel, was launched by ATV in 1964 and Barton became one of the regular directors of the show. Under his auspices celebrities queued up to appear in Crossroads: Max Wall, Ken Dodd and Larry Grayson were just a few who were guest stars. One of the show's biggest storylines, directed by Barton, featured the 1975 wedding of Meg Richardson (Noele Gordon) to Hugh Mortimer (John Bentley) which brought the city of Birmingham to a standstill. The programmes heavy workload was cut to four episodes a week in 1967, and then, on the instructions of the IBA, which was concerned about the shows quality, to three episodes a week in 1980. In 1984 Barton finally left the series and was replaced by the Australian Phillip Bowman. When the plug was finally pulled on the show in 1988, after 4,500 programmes there was a public outcry but Central Television refused to reconsider. It was revived as a new daily serial by ITV in 2001 but was axed in 2003.