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Peter Ling

Published Monday 2 October 2006 at 09:30 by Patrick Newley

Crossroads creator Peter Ling was one of television’s most prolific scriptwriters and during his long career wrote scripts for many top rating series including Dixon of Dock Green, Sexton Blake, The Avengers and Doctor Who.

With Hazel Adair he created Compact (1962-65) a twice weekly BBC soap set in the offices of a women’s magazine but the pair’s most famous creation was ITV’s long running soap Crossroads (1964-88) starring Noele Gordon as the owner of a Midlands motel. Few programmes have been so derided by critics who complained of wobbly sets and poor acting but at the height of its popularity in the sixties and seventies Crossroads was regularly watched by millions and attracted a devoted following both in the UK and Australia.

Ling was also the originator of the BBC Radio 2 soap Waggoners’ Walk, a series which reflected the swinging sixties and featured three young women, sharing a flat in Hampstead. Like Crossroads, it attracted a loyal following and in the seventies had four million listeners a day.

Peter Ling was born on May 27, 1926 in Croydon, Surrey, the son of Theodora, a school teacher and Fred Hugh, a concert party magician. Educated at Whitgift Grammar School Ling performed as an Ovaltinie on the famous children’s radio show.

He began writing stories at an early age and his first novel published at the age of 18. During the Second World War he was a Bevan Boy but as he suffered from ill health he was unsuitable for underground work and served in the Pay Corps. On being demobbed he was diagnosed with TB and while in a sanitorium began writing for radio.

He later moved into television, scripting the children’s show Whirligig (1950) and in 1954 married an actress from the programme, Sheilah Ward. He was appointed script editor for Rediffusion where he wrote material for many detective series. He also hawked songs around London’s Tin Pan Alley and in 1961, a single for Matt Monroe, Why Not Now, reached the charts.

His teaming with Hazel Adair on Compact proved to be a turning point in his career. Although the show was criticised for being too wholesome it was successful in the ratings and caught the eye of TV mogul Lew Grade who asked the pair to write a new daily serial for ATV.

Crossroads was originally shown only on Central and Southern TV but such was its popularity it was networked nationally in 1972. The show also attracted celebrities such as Ken Dodd, Bob Monkhouse and Larry Grayson who asked to appear on the show and high profile fans of the soap included Mary Wilson, wife of the former prime minister Harold, and the Queen Mother, who visited ATV’s studios. Despite its critics, Gordon said that the show gave her more opportunities to act “than any artist had had in the history of TV or the theatre”.

The show was cut to four episodes a week in 1967, and then, on the instructions of the IBA, who were concerned about its quality, to three episodes a week in 1980. In 1988, after 4,500 programmes the show was axed despite a public outcry. Victoria Wood, however, sent the programme up gloriously in Acorn Antiques and even became a patron of the Crossroads Appreciation Society.

In the nineties Ling returned to writing scripts for radio. He wrote a number of single plays as well as adapting Sherlock Holmes stories and an Arnold Bennett novel, Imperial Palace.

He died on September 14. His wife predeceased him and he is survived by his four children.

Vicky Ling writes: “Entertainment was Peter’s natural home - even his hobbies were crossword puzzles and amateur theatre. He realised his childhood dream of becoming a writer, and since his death many people have told me how he touched their lives with his stories, which is very moving.”

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