Showbiz 5 Special: Remembering Cleo Sylvestre

Showbiz Newswrap celebrates the late Cleo Sylvestre in her trailblazing role of Melanie Harper in ATV’s Crossroads…

It was episode 1219 in January 1970 that Melanie Harper walked into the reception of the Crossroads Motel and left the staff – and viewers – surprised when she announced she was Meg Richardson’s daughter. Meg, played by telly pioneer Noele Gordon, had been seen since episode one in 1964 with her two children Sandy (Roger Tonge) and Jill (Jane Rossington). There had been no mention of Melanie – Meg’s adopted daughter up until this point.

Melanie wasn’t the first child Meg adopted, she was a foster mother to Stevie Harris (Wendy Padbury) and later Bruce Sorbell (Paul Aston), but Melanie was a ground-breaker in soap opera – at the time Crossroads was the only ‘true soap’ on British Television airing four-days-a-week in the American style format that no other show, until the arrival of Hollyoaks, would adopt.

The introduction of the character of Melanie had been brought about by producer Reg Watson shortly after politician Enoch Powell had been making those terrible ‘Rivers of Blood’ speeches, which resulted in a lot of racial tension up and down the country – especially in cities like Birmingham. Melanie Harper arrived from France, where she had been studying. She surprised the staff and viewers when she arrived in the motel reception at the end of the episode declaring to receptionist Sandra Gould (Diane Keen) that she was Meg’s daughter.

Plots concerning Cleo saw her earning money as a waitress at the motel and striking up a comedy double-act with Susan Hanson as Diane Lawton, so much so viewers wrote in to ITV suggesting that Melanie and Diane get their own Liver Birds style spin-off sitcom. One such highhearted story saw Melanie and Diane pretending to be ill to get out of work, and the staff running after them in their sickbeds. In a more serious plot Crossroads covered illegal immigration when Melanie tried to help smuggle her French boyfriend into Britain.

Cleo, speaking at the “Soap Queens” event of 2001 – a tribute to Noele Gordon and other leading ladies of popular sagas, serials and soaps – at London’s National Film Theatre, recalled her days in Birmingham:

“I joined the cast in January 1970. At the very end of an episode, I walked into the motel with a suitcase and rung the reception desk bell. The receptionist came out and I said “Can I speak to Mrs Richardson, please?” and she said “Yes. Who shall I say is asking for her?” I replied, “Tell her it’s her daughter.” And then the music came up. What a cliffhanger! This was the first time Meg’s other daughter had been mentioned…

“We were doing five episodes a week, and sometimes I’d be in all of them. The cast and crew were absolutely smashing, especially Noele Gordon, who was lovely. She was very friendly, and always went out of her way to be helpful.”

Unfortunately ATV wiped all of the episodes of Crossroads Melanie featured in, so all that survives are a few photographs from 1970 and 1971. A tragedy of a TV policy of the time to reuse many tapes to save money. Here are a few of those images from the ATV archives as a tribute to the pioneering stage, film and television performer.

ATV 1971: Susan Hanson and Cleo as Diane and Melanie

ATV 1970: Noele Gordon as Meg with Cleo as her daughter Melanie

ATV 1970: Cleo worked as a waitress and receptionist at the motel