There are also "permanent crossovers" that can occur when a character leaves one show to join another. It will often happen when a character has outlasted its usefulness on one show and joins another because the character can bring story possibilities to the other show. It can also be the result of one show being cancelled and the character being "continued" on another show (often a spin-off). These sorts of crossovers ("adoptions") can often give a show a shot in the arm creatively, since the character joining their show often brings a certain amount of popularity and already has a history that can be drawn upon.
When the Golden Girls spin-off Golden Palace was not renewed, GG's other spin-off Empty Nest took on original "Golden Girl" Sophia Petrillo (played by Estelle Getty) in a supporting role. She was still the same Sophia, just used much more sparingly since she was there mostly to deliver a few jokes and then leave. Sophia had of course been part of lots of crossover stories between GG and EN when both aired on NBC, but she was the only GG character who was tapped to become a permanent part of Empty Nest.
When NBC's Another World was cancelled in 1999, it was discovered that Tom Eplin, the actor who played Jake McKinnon, had negotiated a contract with the production company that paid him his salary for four years regardless of whether the show was on the air or not. The production company moved him and his character to another of their soaps, As the World Turns rather than just buy out his contract. The writers of ATWT did not need the character nor did they particularly want it, but the production company didn't really give them any choice but to fit him into the show. As soon as Eplin's contract was up four years later, they killed him off without a second thought.
The very best-ever permanent crossover plot has to be the move of uber-villain Sheila Carter from The Young and the Restless to its sister show, The Bold and the Beautiful. To say Sheila had been painted into a corner would be an understatement, but Head Writer Bill Bell was brilliant enough to imagine the character could
continue her reign of terror on the other show. Thirty years later, Shelia can still draw a crowd.
After Clive Mantle had finished on Casualty, after a gap, he was back as Mike Barratt but instead on Holby City. His first episode of Holby City had him down in the ED, encountering old friend Duffy (Cathy Shipton), herself crossing over from Casualty.
Connie Beauchamp from Holby City had appeared in Casualty in big crossovers and a further appearance helping out in the ED before becoming a permanent regular on Casualty. She still made some crossover appearances to Holby City after that and had a major role in the last major crossover between the two shows in 2019, to mark Holby City’s twentieth year.
While Nick Jordan (Michael French) was created for Holby City. He debuted in two episodes of Casualty, prior to his two year stint on Holby City. Then, over five years later, he returned for both parts of the second major Christmas crossover disaster story beginning on Holby City and concluding on Casualty. Then months later he was back on Holby City for a few months, delightfully causing trouble upstairs for a few months before sadly leaving. Then two years later, he was back full-time but in Casualty instead. And was there for over four years. His character had transitioned to Emergency Medicine, because he was hiding the fact that he had a brain tumour. During that time, there was an instance when Charlie Fairhead collapsed in Casualty and Nick Jordan accompanied him upstairs to Holby City, where Charlie needed surgery. Nick’s visit to Holby City wasn’t received well by either Jac Naylor or Ric Griffin.
Alex Walkinshaw decided to leave his role in Casualty (filmed in Cardiff) because he wasn’t seeing much of his family. But he was offered a permanent role on Holby City (filmed at Elstree) and has stayed there. But has made some guest appearances on Casualty since. Including in Casualty’s 30th anniversary special, that featured at least three Holby City regulars. The story then crossed over to Holby City before continuing on Casualty, with some further appearances by Holby City characters on Casualty in the weeks afterwards.
The Bill had a few spin-offs too. Ahead of the debut of MIT, one of the characters from that show appeared on The Bill. And the first episode of MIT solved the murder of a long-running character on The Bill, featuring several characters from The Bill making crossover appearances in the first episode. Later on, a regular character from The Bill was forced out of her job and then became a regular on MIT.
Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.
m.youtube.com
