Hazel Adair
Hazel Adair in the black-sleeved dress with the cast of “Crossroads” & “Compact”
My mother was television pioneer Hazel Adair, who created TV hits Crossroads and Compact amongst many others. She wrote the first drama to be aired on the newly launched ITV in 1955 and helped set up The Writers Guild of Great Britain, becoming the first female co-chair alongside Denis Norden later down the line. Hazel played a significant part in black history by creating some of the first regular roles for black actors on TV see Guardian article here.
My mother Hazel Adair was a pioneer of television, having created several soaps, including Sixpenny Corner which was the very first programme ever broadcast by the new commercial channel Associated Rediffusion in September 1955. It was the precursor of Coronation Street and East Enders. She also worked on Emergency Ward Ten as a scriptwriter and created with her writing partner Peter Ling the long running Compact and Crossroads. She truly did break the glass ceiling in television which was very male dominated until the latter part of the 20th century.
The Life of Hazel Adair
From soap operas such as Crossroads and Compact to erotic movies in the 1970s, Hazel Adair was responsible for writing them all…
Hazel Adair, who has died aged 95, was the co-creator, with Peter Ling, of Crossroads, the ITV soap opera which, while much-mocked for its wobbly sets, was immensely popular; she also scripted numerous dramas for radio, television and films, and had a successful spell in the 1970s as a writer of…
Hazel Adair, the first woman Chair of WGGB in 1965-66, created Britain’s first daily TV soap, Sixpenny Corner, and also our first mass-audience soap, Compact. If that wasn’t enough, she went on to create the legendary Crossroads in collaboration with Peter Ling…
Matthew Bannister on Obituary podcast series, analysing and celebrating the lives of people who have recently died. Hazel Adair, the TV scriptwriter behind hit series like Compact, Emergency Ward 10 and Crossroads…
Hazel Adair was born on July 9, 1920 in Darjeeling, India. She was a writer and producer, known for Can You Keep It Up for a Week? (1974), Virgin Witch (1971) and Crossroads Motel (1964). She was married to Ronald Marriott and Gordon Mackenzie. She died on November 22, 2015 in the UK…
HAZEL Adair, who has died aged 95, was a pioneer of British television soap operas. She introduced black and homosexual characters into stories she wrote for such series as Emergency – Ward 10 and Crossroads, which she dreamed up in a single bank holiday weekend with her writing partner Peter Ling…
Born Hazel Willett in Darjeeling, India. Her father, Edward, worked as an engineer in Calcutta during the Raj. He and his wife Ada returned to Britain when their daughter was nine months old, they divorced in 1923 with her mother remarrying later Edward Hamblin…
Pseudonym of India-born actor, television producer, scriptwriter and author Hazel Joyce Marriott (1920-2015), in the UK from infancy, perhaps best known for her co-creation with Peter Ling of the British daily television serial Crossroads (1964-1988); she also wrote as by Clare Nicol and Klaus Vogel…
Hazel Joyce Marriott (née Willett; 9 July 1920 – 22 November 2015), known professionally as Hazel Adair, was a British actress turned screenwriter and creator of soap operas for radio and television. She is best known for co-creating Crossroads with Peter Ling…
Hazel Adair, who has died aged 95, was a pioneer of soap opera on British television. She was the co-creator of Sixpenny Corner, Britain’s first daily soap; Compact, the first serial to feature a regular black character; and, most famously, Crossroads…
Adair published a number of novels, dabbled in Britain’s 1970s sex-film industry, and stood up for her fellow writers’ rights as a leading light of the Writers’ Guild…
Here she is interviewed by Dr. Mary Irwin during her work on the AHRC-funded ‘A History of Television for Women in Britain, 1947-89’ at the University of Warwick in September 2011. You can also read Anthony Hayward’s obituary of Hazel here. Our condolences go to Hazel’s family so were so kind and supportive in facilitating Mary’s interview with her…
Channel 4 Documentary Featuring Hazel Adair, on the Sex Comedies of 1970s
