''Garnock Way'' was a short-lived Scottish

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 ...

, produced by

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is th ...

for the ITV network, running from 1976 to 1979. It was replaced by ''

Take the High Road ''Take the High Road'' (renamed ''High Road'' from 1994 to 2003) was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, which started in February 1980 as an ITV network daytime programme, and was broadcast until 2003. It was set in the ficti ...

'' which also featured actors

Eileen McCallum Eileen McCallum, MBE (born 2 December 1936) is a Scottish actress who is best known for playing the part of shopkeeper Isabel Blair through the complete run of soap opera '' Take the High Road'' from 1980 to 2003, and as Liz Hamilton from 2005 ...

, Bill Henderson, Paul Kermack, Michael Elder and

John Stahl John Macdonald Steele (23 June 1953 – 2 March 2022), better known as John Stahl, was a Scottish actor best known for playing Rickard Karstark in HBO's '' Game of Thrones'' and Tom 'Inverdarroch' Kerr in '' High Road''. Life and career Stah ...

History

Garnock Way was set in a mining community in a town halfway between

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. It was deemed to be too gritty for network consumption, which resulted in only certain stations broadcasting the series. In the summer of 1979 ''Garnock Way'' was axed and replaced by ''

'', which was a bigger budget affair and more in keeping with the 'tartan' perception of Scotland as it was deliberately set in a more beautiful part of Scotland. In 2010 it was announced that ''Garnock Way'' would be one of the STV archive programmes soon to be available on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. The STV Player channel on the video-sharing website launched on 20 August 2010. However, just four episodes of the series are known to exist, and these are available on the STV Player.

Transmissions

Only a few ITV stations broadcast the series: * Southern Television from June 1976 until September 1977 * HTV throughout 1977 *

Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 service provided by ITV (TV channel), ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Anglo-Scottish border, England/Scotland border region, ...

From late 1976 until Summer 1979 * UTV From March 1977 until Summer 1979

Characters

*Jean Ross –

*Alex Ross – Gerard Slevin *Tod Baxter – Bill Henderson *Mary Baxter – Terry Cavers *Louise Baxter – Harriet Buchan *Jock Nesbit – Paul Kermack *Willie Mclean – William Armour *Hughie Ross – Alan Watters *Sandra Cully –

Dorothy Paul Dorothy Paul (born 1937 as Dorothy Pollock) is a Scottish stage and screen actress, comedian, and entertainer. She performed onstage often at the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow. Acting career Originating from the Dennistoun area of Glasgow, she ...

*Cully – Jackie Farrell *Cliff Hewitt – George Howell *Effie Murdoch – Ginni Barlow *Harry Murdoch – Bill McCabe *Carla the café owner -

Ida Schuster Ida Schuster (28 September 1918 – 9 April 2020) was a Scottish theatre, radio and television actress, theatre director, and a leading figure in Glasgow's 20th-century Jewish theatre community. Biography One of nine children, her parents were ...

*Det Sgt Golspie – Michael Elder *PC Scoular –

*Georgina Munro –

Jan Wilson Jan Wilson CBE (1944 – 2 August 2010) was a Labour councillor in Sheffield and formerly the leader of Sheffield City Council. Her career outside politics saw her volunteer with the Citizens Advice Bureau in 1975, and she joined the staff in 1 ...

The outside scenes depicting the characters' houses were filmed in Charles Street,

Torbothie Torbothie is a small area in the town of Shotts, North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and conta ...

, an area of

Shotts Shotts is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow () and Edinburgh (). The village has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertra ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It als ...

. The still picture at the start of the programme, showing the street with the monument, is of the Mercat Cross in

Airth Airth is a Royal Burgh, village, former trading port and civil parish in Falkirk, Scotland. It is north of Falkirk town and sits on the banks of the River Forth. Airth lies on the A905 road between Grangemouth and Stirling and is overlooked by A ...

References

External links

* ( STV Player) * The Glasgow Herald - 30 Mar 1976 P7 - https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC {{Soap operas in the United Kingdom 1970s British television soap operas 1970s Scottish television series 1976 Scottish television series debuts 1979 Scottish television series endings English-language television shows ITV soap operas Lost television shows Scottish television soap operas Take the High Road Television shows produced by Scottish Television