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''Howards' Way'' is a television drama series produced by
BBC Birmingham BBC Birmingham is one of the oldest regional arms of the BBC, located in Birmingham. It was the first region outside London to start broadcasting both the corporation's radio (in 1922) and television (in 1949) transmissions, the latter from th ...
and transmitted on
BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
between 1 September 1985 and 25 November 1990. The series deals with the personal and professional lives of the wealthy yachting and business communities in the fictional town of Tarrant on the south coast of England, and was filmed on the River Hamble and the
Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...
. Most of the
location filming In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...
for the series was carried out in
Bursledon Bursledon is a village on the River Hamble in Hampshire, England. It is located within the borough of Eastleigh. Close to the city of Southampton, Bursledon has a railway station, a marina, dockyards and the Bursledon Windmill. Nearby village ...
,
Hamble Hamble may refer to: * The River Hamble in Hampshire, England * Hamble aerodrome on the banks of the River Hamble. ** Hamble-Warsash Ferry, a ferry service on the River Hamble * Hamble-le-Rice, a village on the river Hamble, close to the city of Sou ...
, Swanwick,
Warsash Warsash is a village in southern Hampshire, England, situated at the mouth of the River Hamble, west of the area known as Locks Heath. Boating plays an important part in the village's economy, and the village has a sailing club. It is also home ...
,
Hill Head Hill Head is a residential area and village on the coast of the Solent. It is located south of Stubbington, west of Lee-on-the-Solent and south east of Titchfield, in the borough of Fareham, Hampshire. Hill Head is in the Gosport parliamenta ...
, Lee-on-the-Solent,
Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...
, Hythe,
Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
and Fareham—all in
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
. The Jolly Sailor pub in Bursledon featured in several episodes.


History

''Howards' Way'' was created and produced by
Gerard Glaister John Leslie Glaister DFC (21 December 1915 – 5 February 2005), known as Gerard or Gerrard Glaister, was a British television producer and director best known for his work with the BBC. Amongst his most notable successes as a producer were '' ...
and
Allan Prior Allan Prior (13 January 1922, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, – 1 June 2006) was an English television scriptwriter and novelist, who wrote over 300 television episodes from the 1950s onwards. He was founder-writer of influential poli ...
, with lead writer Raymond Thompson as story and script consultant—at a point in the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's history when the organisation was making a concerted populist strike against ITV in its approach to programming. The series debuted on
BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
in 1985, the same year that the BBC launched its first ongoing
soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
'' EastEnders'' as a challenge to the ratings supremacy of ITV's '' Coronation Street''. Although ''Howards' Way'' is commonly cited as an attempt to provide a British alternative to glossy American sagas such as ''
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
'' and ''
Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...
'', it also acts as a continuation of plot themes explored in a previous Glaister series, '' The Brothers'', which involved a family's personal and professional crises running a road haulage firm, and embraced several soap opera touches in its characterisations and storylines. The original working title for the series was "The Boatbuilders", which was ultimately rejected when it was felt that it sounded like a documentary series and wouldn't grab viewers' attention. The theme music was composed by
Simon May Simon May (born 15 August 1944) is a British composer. He has composed many British television theme tunes, including ''EastEnders'' and ''Howards' Way'', and the music for the 1988 film ''The Dawning''. Biography Born in Devizes and a pupi ...
and performed by his orchestra. Executive
Leslie Osborne Leslie Marie Osborne (born May 27, 1983) is a retired American soccer defensive midfielder who last played for the Chicago Red Stars in the NWSL in 2013. She is a former member of the United States women's national soccer team and previously pl ...
secured a co-writer credit, but in reality did not contribute to the composition. After series one, Don Black was commissioned to write lyrics for the theme; May had suggested the title "Almost There", which Black changed to "Always There". The song was recorded by
Marti Webb Marti Webb (born 13 December 1943) is an English actress and singer, who appeared on stage in '' Evita'', before starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's one-woman show '' Tell Me on a Sunday'' in 1980. This included her biggest hit single, " Take T ...
, and reached number 13 in the
UK singles chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. The upbeat variation of the theme, "Barracuda", was used over the show's end credits in 1987–1990, and was a "re-visitation" of a section of May's song "Believe" for his musical ''
Smike ''Smike'' is a pop musical adaptation of a small part of Charles Dickens' 1839 novel ''Nicholas Nickleby'', that was televised for the BBC in 1973. The musical is based on the character Smike from that novel. The TV production starred Beryl Reid ...
''. Inspired by a storyline in ''Howards' Way'', Gerard Glaister went on to create '' Trainer'' (1991–1992), set in the world of horse-racing, and also featuring several of the same cast members.


Plot

The protagonists in the early episodes are the titular Howard family—Tom ( Maurice Colbourne), wife Jan (Jan Harvey) and grown-up children Leo ( Edward Highmore) and Lynne (
Tracey Childs Tracey Childs (born 30 May 1963) is an English actress, known for playing Lynne Howard in the 1980s drama series '' Howards' Way''. Her other television roles include Marianne Dashwood in '' Sense and Sensibility'' (1981), Linda Cosgrove in '' ...
). Tom is made redundant from his job as an aircraft designer after twenty years and is unwilling to re-enter the rat race. A sailing enthusiast, he decides to pursue his dream of designing and building boats, putting his redundancy pay-out into the ailing Mermaid boatyard, run by Jack Rolfe (
Glyn Owen Glyn Griffith Owen (6 March 1928 – 10 September 2004) was a Welsh stage, television and film actor, perhaps best known to British TV viewers for three roles: that of Dr Patrick O'Meara in ''Emergency Ward 10'' (ITV, 1957–61), Edward Hamm ...
), a gruff traditionalist, and his daughter Avril ( Susan Gilmore). Tom immediately finds himself in conflict with Jack, whose reliance on alcohol and whose resentment of Tom's new design ideas threaten the business, but has an ally in Avril, who turns out to be the real driving force behind the yard with her cool, businesslike brain. Jan, who has spent the last twenty years raising the children and building the family home, is less than impressed with her husband's risky new venture, and finds herself pursuing her own life outside the family through establishing a new marine boutique whilst working for Ken Masters ( Stephen Yardley). Other major characters introduced during the first series are Kate Harvey (
Dulcie Gray Dulcie Winifred Catherine Savage Denison, (''née'' Bailey; 20 November 1915 – 15 November 2011), known professionally as Dulcie Gray, was a British actress, mystery writer and lepidopterist. While at drama school in the late 1930s she met ...
), Jan's sensible and supportive mother, the millionaire businessman Charles Frere (
Tony Anholt Anthony Anholt (19 January 1941 – 26 July 2002) was a British television actor, known for his role as Charles Frere in the BBC drama series '' Howards' Way'' (1985–90). In 1974 he was cast as Mark Colebrook, a crooked architect in ''Contact ...
) and the wealthy but unhappy Urquhart family. Gerald ( Ivor Danvers) is the right-hand man of Charles Frere. Polly (
Patricia Shakesby Patricia Shakesby (born 6 November 1942) is an English actress and playwright, best known for her role as Polly Urquhart in '' Howards' Way''. She is also notable for being an original cast member of ''Coronation Street'', in which she played S ...
), a friend of Jan, is a bored corporate wife preoccupied with preserving her social status, and their daughter Abby (
Cindy Shelley Cynthia Shelley (born 23 March 1960 in Barnet, Hertfordshire) is an English actress, known for her roles in two BBC television dramas of the 1980s: Alice Courtenay in '' Tenko'' and Abby Urquhart in ''Howards' Way''. Career Shelley made her tele ...
) is a socially awkward young woman who has returned to Tarrant after completing her education at a Swiss finishing school and who establishes a friendship with Leo Howard. Unlike the comparatively close and secure Howard family, the Urquharts have secrets to hide. Gerald and Polly's marriage is a sham—an arrangement to cover the fact that Gerald is bisexual, to give him respectability in the business world and give a name to Abby, Polly's illegitimate daughter after an affair at university. Abby herself is pregnant, after a brief relationship in Switzerland. The first series establishes the narrative blueprint for the remainder of the programme's run: combining standard melodramatic storylines involving family drama, romance and extramarital affairs (Tom and Avril, Jan and Ken) with business-related plots of corporate intrigue and scheming for power, climaxing with an end-of-series cliffhanger. In the first series, Lynne Howard is seduced by Charles Frere. She runs tearfully across the Tarrant harbour during a rainstorm after finding him in bed with another woman, trips and falls unconscious into the water. Later cliffhangers would involve a fatal water-skiing accident, a plane crash, an accident during a powerboat race and a road accident. By virtue of being produced during the mid-to-late 1980s, ''Howards' Way'' gives much insight into
Thatcherite Thatcherism is a form of British conservative ideology named after Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher that relates to not just her political platform and particular policies but also her personal character and general style of manag ...
values, in its portrayal of the years of boom and bust, of individual aspiration and enterprise, and the conspicuous consumption of wealth. The class clashes during the decade were reflected in the character of Ken Masters, a
nouveau riche ''Nouveau riche'' (; ) is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. The equivalent English term is the "new rich" or "new money" ( ...
chancer always involved in shady schemes to establish himself as a credible figure in the business world, but generally looked down upon by those with 'old money' (for example Charles Frere and merchant banker Sir John Stevens ( Willoughby Gray) and often used as an unwitting pawn in their wider power games. Through the character of Jan Howard and her attempts to go it alone as a businesswoman by establishing her own fashion label, the series explored a standard 1980s melodramatic motif of female emancipation via capitalism, similar to that associated with the characters of
Alexis Colby Alexis Carrington Colby (; formerly Dexter and Rowan) is a fictional character on the American TV series ''Dynasty''. She is the ex-wife of Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) whose schemes cause one problem after another for him and their children. ...
in ''Dynasty'' and Abby Ewing in '' Knots Landing'' and with ITV drama series ''
Connie Connie is a given name. It is often a pet form (hypocorism) of Concetta, Constance, Cornelia, or Cornelius. Given name or nickname Women * Connie Achurra, Chilean chef * Connie Binsfeld (1924–2014), American politician * Connie Booth ...
''.


Reception

Although derided by critics as a cheesy melodrama, ''Howards' Way'' nevertheless proved to be a hugely popular programme for the BBC, both domestically and in overseas sales. While the series was unable to compete with the likes of ''Dallas'' and ''Dynasty'' in terms of opulence, its stylistic aspects did develop as it went on, with the staging of powerboat races and fashion shows, and extensive location filming in Guernsey,
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
and
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...
as the storylines dictated. A number of new characters were also introduced later in the series, such as Sarah Foster (Sarah-Jane Varley), a glamorous business partner for Ken Masters, Sir Edward Frere (
Nigel Davenport Arthur Nigel Davenport (23 May 1928 – 25 October 2013) was an English stage, television and film actor, best known as the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Birkenhead in the Academy Award-winning films '' A Man for All Seasons'' and '' Chariots of F ...
), the rich tycoon father of Charles Frere, Orrin Hudson ( Jeff Harding), the American father of Abby Urquhart's baby, Emma Neesome ( Sian Webber), a beautiful engineer who came to work with Tom Howard and Jack Rolfe at the Mermaid yard, and Vanessa Andenberg (
Lana Morris Lana Morris, born Avril Maureen Anita Morris (11 March 1930 – 28 May 1998) was a British film, stage and television actress during the 1950s and 1960s. She played the role of Helene Hillmer in the 1967 BBC adaptation of ''The Forsyte Sag ...
), an elegant widow and old flame of Jack Rolfe. Midway through the show's run, Charles is revealed to be Abby's biological father. In a parallel with ''Dynasty'', actress
Kate O'Mara Kate O'Mara (born Francesca Meredith Carroll;Michael CoveneObituary: Kate O'Mara ''The Guardian'', 30 March 2014 10 August 1939 – 30 March 2014) was an English film, stage and television actress, and writer. O'Mara made her stage debut in a ...
, who had previously starred in ''The Brothers'' and had also appeared in the American supersoap as Caress Morrell, was also brought in, to play ruthless businesswoman Laura Wilde. The seeds for the demise of ''Howards' Way'' were sown in 1989 when, during the production of the fifth series, lead actor Maurice Colbourne, who played central character Tom Howard, suddenly died from a heart attack during a break in filming. Episode nine featured his last appearance with the remaining episodes hurriedly rewritten to explain the character's absence. He was finally killed off at the beginning of the sixth and final series, commissioned to end the programme and to tie up all the storylines. The final episode of ''Howards' Way'' was transmitted on 25 November 1990.


The Boats

Central to the plot were three yachts - ''The Flying Fish'', a Laser 28; ''Barracuda of Tarran''t, the prototype of the Sadler Barracuda 45, and ''Spring of Tarrant'', the prototype of the MG Spring 25. Both the Barracuda and Spring were designed by Tony Castro.


Main cast list


Series overview


DVD releases

The show is rated  PG  for Parental Guidance in Australia and  PG  in New Zealand for violence and coarse language.


In other media

A medley of the theme songs from ''Howards' Way'' and '' EastEnders'' was recorded by
the Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...
and reached No. 86 on the UK singles chart in December 1986.


References


External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0134250, title=Howards' Way
Howards' Way @ TV.com
1985 British television series debuts 1990 British television series endings BBC television dramas BBC Birmingham productions British television soap operas English-language television shows 1980s British drama television series 1990s British drama television series Nautical television series Television shows set in Hampshire Television series by BBC Studios