Jane Rossington
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Jane Rossington | |
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| Born | March 5, 1943 Derby, England |
| Medium | Television actress |
| Notable works and roles | Jill Chance in Crossroads (TV series) |
Jane Rossington (born March 5, 1943 in Derby) is a British actress, best known for her role as Jill Richardson in the soap opera Crossroads.
The daughter of a bank manager, she attended Sutton Coldfield Grammar School and was an amateur actress before appearing in repertory theatre in Sheffield and York.
Rossington was the only Crossroads original cast member to be in the first and last episode of the series. She was, however, no stranger to soap opera, having played the part of probationary nurse Kate Ford in the ITV series "Emergency Ward 10" (1957 - 1967).
Jane spoke the first words of the first episode of Crossroads on November 2, 1964, "Crossroads Motel, good evening." Jane played Jill Richardson, the daughter of the owner of the Crossroads Motel, Meg Richardson. For the 24 years she appeared in the show the writers delighted in making Jill suffer, and amongst other things, she was married three times -once bigamously- was a drug addict, an alcoholic and had a baby with her step-brother. As well as being the only star to remain in the show for its entire series, she also spoke the final words of the final episode in 1988.
Because no regular member of the cast of Crossroads had a permanent contract, Jane had plenty of time to pursue other roles, perhaps most notably that of Monica Downes in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers. She was, however, an integral part of Crossroads. When she became pregnant, the show's producer, Reg Watson, ordered the scriptwriters to include the pregnancy in the storyline. When Jane miscarried, Watson asked her if she would mind if the pregnancy storyline went ahead, as they had had such a positive response from the audience. Ironically, Rossington conceived again, so as not to alter the storylines, Jill appeared to be pregnant on screen for 11 months! Jill's daughter, Sarah-Jane, was sometimes played by Jane's own daughter, Sorrell.
After the demise of the original series, Jane was seen very little on television but frequently appeared on stage. When ITV1 announced in 2000 that the series was to be revived, Jane returned to the role. However, Jill was later 'killed off' by her estranged husband Adam, although she is likely to be still alive as the revamps were written off as a dream in the final episode when the new series was axed in 2003.
Jane now lives in Staffordshire with her second husband, chartered surveyor David Dunger. She has two grown children, Sorrell and Harry.
Since 1988, Rossington has been the main patron of the Crossroads Appreciation Society, and continues to take an active role in this.
