User reviews

I never really bothered with Howards Way on its original run i thought it was a lame,cheaply produced British rip off of Dallas,Dynasty,Falcon Crest and the like which i loved watching back in the eighties. But since the re-runs on UKGold i've become hooked, okay its still got the wooden acting,the slightly scary eighties fashions and hair don't's but all this adds to the charm which partly comes from the nostalgia buzz of times past. But in a decade when all we are subjected to in the way of televised entertainment is reality dross and x-list celebrity talent(less)shows or soaps that make the performances in Howards Way look like Oscar contenders then i'll take the nostalgic look back to times when entertainment was exactly that and not the twisted view of what producers consider reality to look like on todays airwaves.

This is another British TV production that kids of my generation (I was born 1982) would sit through with our parents without actually understanding what the hell was going on ! Sure, some people my age will say this show brings back slightly discomforting memories, hence watching it on Sunday evening was the last thing you'd do before another burdening week of school !

Yesterday I found DVD Series 1-4 of this in Oxfam; one hell of a find for just £6 ! I've already seen half of Series 1, and it's the 1st time I've seen this programme in over 30 years since 1990; OH THE NOSTALGIA !

The plot is basically about Southern 80's yuppies and their luxury boats and racing triumphs in the fictional South Coast port town 'Tarrant'. Beneath the 'glamorous' surface it portrays their stressful lives, filled with affairs, family breakdowns, redundancy, bankrupcy, deceit, feud and the odd death. This show has a gritty realism to it, portraying the upper-middle-class as yet another struggling and potentially unhappy social sector, a sector that self-induces such stress and sadness through the ritual pursuit of the rat-race !

Watching this as an adult, it's easier to follow and understand the plot and cultural setting. However, as the series' progress the plot does become a tad muddling. Around the middle of Series 2 too much of the story revolves around all the characters' prestigious (and often questionable) boring rat-race business pursuits, and not enough around their personal lives, thus portraying the lack of genuine priorities among the upper-middle-class ! Sure, as an outsider to corporate business culture it's hard to understand what a lot of it even means !

Culturally, it was quite archetypal of the 80's British middle-class, what with floral wallpapers (and dresses/blouses to match), venetian blinds, chic kitchens, white boats, extravagant shoulder pads, long pleated skirts, and of course chief actress Jan Harvey's short peroxide perm; back in the day people would actually go to the hairdresser's and ask for a 'Jan Howard' !

As a bloke, there was obvious universal appeal, regardless of what you thought of the actual programme; SARAH-JANE VARLEY (who plays boating tycoon Ken's girlfriend). Little, extremely cute, tender and culturally refined, what with her little round toned face, little thin flat lips and beady eyes; Cute beyond possibility ! An English Rose if ever there was one ! Tracey Childs (Howards' daughter Lynne) was a cute curvy stunner and all. What with this show having a coastal setting, it was nice seeing all these cute stunning girls in bikinis.

All in all, I'll give this 6/10. The cute, stunning bikini-clad girls aside, it's culturally and atmospherically vibrant enough, even if all the pretentious yuppy rat-race business affairs are boring, confusing and quite gut-wrenching !

Loved this when first on and was concerned how it would have aged but the first series did not disappoint and I was amazed how many plots and characters I remembered I did have a laugh that Abbey seemed more miserable in Tarrant than a Japanese prisoner of war camp.but it dropped off fast the second series was like a different show and the emphasis shifts from Tom and boating to Charles his father and Ken's business back stabbing indeed it felt like Dallas with 3 evil businessmen and 2 nice businesswomen but as a viewer I never felt invested in any of the plots as they rolled through and were then forgotten by the cast and me and the next boring deal arrived Watching one episode after the other jack's I build wooden boats spiel got very tiresome he hardly had a genuine conversation with anyone indeed the script overall is incredibly poor never seems to develop the story or go anywhere I must commend the female casting their was certainly enough variety to keep all the dads and sons happy to watch,my favourite must have been Sarah Jane Varley as I recognised her immediately despite never seeing her in anything else.

Thirty odd years down the road and I still have a strangely soft spot for this - not always well written, with annoying contradictions, baffling plots and some hurried directing leading to some rather indifferent acting - yet highly entertaining series.

As the title implies, the series depicts the progress of the Howard family through a colourful multitude of sub-plots, ranging from believable, interesting and touching to baffling, infuriating and preposterous. The central theme is the collapse of the marriage of Jan and Tom Howard, who - despite their difficulties - continue to be devoted to each other. I believe that the producers' original intention was to show their passage from divorce through a variety of affairs back to reconciliation.

The second and parallel theme of the series is the story of Jan and Tom's upstanding son Leo Howard and his touching on-and-off relationship with a girl from the neighbourhood, Abby Urquhart. If Jan and Tom were to be reunited despite all the ups and downs, then it would be logical to expect a similar conclusion for the younger couple.

Unfortunately in the aftermath of the sad demise of Maurice Colbourne who played Tom Howard, the production suffered from chaotic, hastily rewritten ideas. Jan was paired off with some other, less exciting partners, while Abby inexplicably morphed from a relatively level-headed albeit dour young woman into a devious business tycoon and a total monster.

The story of Leo and Abby begins as perhaps the most heart-warming thread in the series. How could the scriptwriters let us down so badly?

I still believe that, had the series continued, the final outcome could have somehow brought these two together again - slowly and painfully (can you imagine all those other delicious twists and turns?), but eventually for good. After all, somewhere half way through the series, Abby states quite resolutely that Leo is her ideal partner for life - and throughout Series 5 and 6, there are strong hints that she does not trust Orrin after all and may even be double-crossing him... oh, bliss! I like to think there was going to be more to the story than we were allowed to see. The creator of the series, Gerard Glaister, left some notes in which he envisaged series 7, which did not materialize. Thus it is reasonable to believe that the actual story remains unfinished and the aim of the last series was to prepare the viewers for more twists and surprises. I cannot resist imagining something like a collapse of the Hudson empire, Abby's return to England with her sons and her attempts to win Leo's trust and affection back. That way the final toast to the Howards would have been so much more satisfying.

And maybe Avril as well. The rest were completely self centered snobs. The girl who played Abby was a similar character in Tenko with a face you want to slap and say get a grip!

Then there's the oily Ken Masters, brilliantly played by the XYY Man Stephen Yardley, god's gift to women Tony Anholt from the Persuaders and the late Maurice Colbourne from Gangsters in the titular part. Sadly he died suddenly just before his 50th birthday in the middle of production for the 5th series.

At the time this was being aired I live on the Isle of Wight so identified a lot of the locations.

Despite the cast of awful people, especially Polly Urquhart, we all know people like it, but so many in such a small place, it's an addictive watch, a bit dated though, especially the hair and fashions.

Sunday night ..winter , this was brilliant viewing...classic 1980s drama ...a story of redundancy...starting over again...social position , changing times ...almost Jane Austin interesting to see that even then having a good position in a good industry was seen as the pinnacle of your career...Jan being a stay at home wife and mother ..again basking in the glory of her husbands job and situation. Mixing with the right " set" in Tarrent..is seen as important for Polly and for her daughter Abbey...these days Abbey and Leo seem ahead of their time..they would be recycling and working on an Eco project back then it seemed at odds with the 80s being socially aware. This is a glimpse back to the 80s , before we recycled ..where all things were possible if you throw enough money at it...and a throw away world .Ken Masters desperate to become socially acceptable and never would as even then you had to be born in the right post code . The wooden boats being the start of thinking the old ways might not be so bad . One day this will be used in history ..how it was the good and bad.. Pure Austin...

I used to watch the filming around and about when they made this series. I lived in Warsash at the time and as a young naval architect I had a part time job in Hamble with Tony Castro who was the real life designer of the Barracuda.

At the time it was interesting to see familiar locations and being part of the yachting fraternity I quite enjoyed watching on Sunday evenings.

Fast forward many years later (and now I'm a lot older of course) I have watched this recently and what a load of pretentious nonsense it is.

The awfully superior snob Lynne ( I even hate the way she walks) the ridiculous Leo who all of a sudden has come from nothing to be a must have power boat racer and businessman , Jan Howard who has come from housewife to super dooper clothes designer in a month as is her husband Tom who appears to be a world class yacht designer all of a sudden.

Being involved in this industry , a member of various yacht clubs in the locality and family who are well healed in this area and part of the yachting fraternity I cannot think of anybody at the time who appeared anything like this pretentious bunch.

Perhaps I moved in the wrong circles, but I don't think so.

I have had many a great holiday on the Isle Of Wight and of course this means going over by ferry, i love this bit.

Im not a sailor, but i do love boats.

I love visiting harbours and hearing the wind in the rigging and the seagulls squawking over head.

I must visit The Jolly Sailor one day for a nice cold pint of cider out side with the brilliant view across the river Hamble where Jack Rolfe would sit and have his, this is just down the road from Southampton and also not to far from Portsmouth.

I am at present collecting the complete series of Howards Way, as i just love the drama of it all so much, i have just bought series three.

If you have not seen it yet, please do, it's great, i believe there are Howards Way boat trips to go on up the Hamble in the area as well, they should be good.

So there you are a very nice family drama to watch and enjoy.

And then when you are in the area you can visit all the filming locations as well, brilliant.

Hope this comment helps you all, good luck and farewell.

From Dave Horton, Croydon, Surrey. Added 2nd September 2007.

Oh how much I loved Howard's Way, and just imagine my happiness when I saw that it was being shown on UK TV Drama every weekday at 12 and then at 6. It is also repeated on Sundays at 2pm.

Watching it again takes me back to the 80s. A time when Sunday evening's were made eating crumpets doused in butter, drinking tea and watching slimy old Ken Masters in his brilliant white suits. Along with Jan Howard and her 'cutting edge' fashion house (mmmn, polka dots and American football style shoulder pads)

Was gutted to read on this site that Charles and Jack are no longer with us - god bless ya, and thanks for making a very warm childhood seem even warmer.

Howard's Way is available on DVD from this link: http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=srmr&page=title&r=R2&title=867783

Brilliant.

I followed Howards Way from its original pilot, to its final show and I loved it. You must remember that when it was aired it was gripping stuff (and still is in my opinion), great scenery and fantastic music score, in my mind a classic series and one proud to stand there tall in the BBC library. For those interested, I have checked DVD online web stores, and the cheapest at present is with HMV where Season 1 and Season 2 retails for £15.99 each (as at 31.08.06), the link is here: http://tinyurl.com/oofue If this link fails to work, go to http://www.hmv.co.uk/ and search for Howards Way, this brings the total to about £32 for both the 1st and 2nd Season, I am a registered user of HMV and on checkout got a £5 discount. This in my mind, is great series, and one I love, and will enjoy watching again - to all those who have never seen it, its worth watching! brilliant stuff!!

Chris

I've just started watching this again from the first episode, thank you Drama channel in the UK, and I still love it, I was hooked from the very first episode in September 1985 and I've not seen it since. Anyone interested in the history of ladies fashion must watch this to be able to appreciate how bad ladies fashion was in the mid 1980s, it was absolutely terrible and actually laughable looking back now but this adds to the enjoyment. I spotted Boycie from Only Fools and Horses in episode two, he appears very briefly as a petrol station manager. A fabulous piece of TV history not to be missed, Dallas on boats. The fashion crimes are getting worse as the series progresses and is wonderful to see. The women's outfits get more silly with each episode and the male characters have joined the fun. The French fashion designer has a silly ponytail at his neck of the type much mocked by "Cassandra" in "Only Fools and Horses", and some male characters have been seen with the sleeves of their suit jackets rolled up. Will fashion sense return by the end of the show? I do hope not. I'm pleased to report that the ladies' fashions are getting worse and not better, long may it continue. An update in due course. Every episode contains a disaster, and not just of the fashion variety, death, injury, loss of job, loss of money, business gone bad. The characters in Dallas had an easy time of it in comparison. Leo is a very confusing character, when he was a bit of a soft mummy's boy he drove a Morgan, an old man's car, but now that he drives a convertible Saab turbo he's become a macho man. Will his personality change again with the next car he has? Watching five episodes a week has compressed time of course with a baby that to me was born a few weeks ago is now four years old in the programme. Hair styles, and cars, have changed over the years but the clothes are still silly, hurrah! Not many episodes left to watch now, sadly. I have just watched the last ever episode and I'm going to miss it. At least Abby finally got her long overdue makeover and got away from her usual terrible clothes, and she got a haircut also. We need a follow up series starting from when this one finished, a whole new cast would be required of course.

Been watching the repeats recently and counting the promotions of alcohol per episode - so many!

Ken Masters is my favourite, such a rascal. Abbi is shallow, abandoning a child to follow an interest in protesting.

Jan is marvellous, plays the vulnerable so well.

Plotline is great, although I soon lost track of what charactors owned what company. Sailing scene were so good, and clearly the actors were trained for it. Jack Rolfe is great, what a great voice. Clearly with a northern accent, he's portrayed as "local" which is strange.

I'm glued to the current repeats daily at 2pm.

Great escapist TV, well done the BBC.

I was only 12 years old in 1990 when I bought the Howard's Way theme music on audio cassette - it was the first recording I ever bought!!

It was great to watch on a Sunday night! I always wanted to be out on the sea and be as successful as them!

Due to the recent repeats on UK Drama, there is now quite a lot of interest from fans on various websites who also seem to love the show and the music as much as I did.

Those sunsets and seascapes and the fantastic music would be better than ever if they were digitally remastered and released on DVD !!! It's high time it was!

Me and my mate ended up really quite worse for wear and ended up watching about three seasons of this in one night. Don't really remember anything about it but we kept it on, can't have been that bad.

I was in my mid teens when this was on the box. My friends and I would all head home in time to watch it (as we always had for Dynasty etc...) Howard's Way was full of love, affairs, breakups, snide business deals and for a 14 year old it had all we needed without anything OTT. The clothing...shoulder pads, shiny 'sateen' fabric, that awful Lynne Howard character who all my friends and I wanted to punch. We absolutely hated her in the first series trying to look sexy to Tony Head and later to the plank of wood who is Charles Frere. Nobody can see through him. As for Lynne's brother, Leo...he is a dreadful creature. I just wish he could close his mouth and take that gormless expression off his face. I don't know how the writers manage with this show, a different writer on every episode.

I watched Howards Way in the 1980's and would agree it is something of an icon for that decade. I am less sure about the programme quality as most of the acting was wooden and the story lines paper thin.

Maurice Colbourne was very arthritic as Tom, the archetypal 80's man who, laid off and down and out, rose from the ashes to develop and run a successful business of his own.

Jan Harvey was passable as was the actor who played Ken Masters, Tony Anholt was also reasonably believable. But Edward Highmore, Tracey Childs, Cindy Shelley, Nigel Davenport Michael Dennison and Dulcie Gray - to name but a few, were just picking up a fee. Certainly actors of Dennisons and Davenports quality must have realised that this was just a small gravy train. That said, the series was hypnotic because it was so bad - and I watched it most weeks for this. If you want to praise good 80's drama - maybe the Boys from the Blackstuff would be more like it. Howard was escapist drivel by comparison.

The reason why there were 'only' six series of 'Howard's Way' was that following the filming of Series 5, prior to it being shown on BBC, Maurice Colbourne died whilst on holiday, so the producers and writers had to decide what to do. It was decided that instead of leaving everything up in the air, it was best to film one final series with the aim of tidying up hanging story lines.

One of the central sets used is the pub. This is 'The Jolly Sailor' at Bursledon on the Hamble River between Farham and Southampton. The outside has not changed much including views of Jack Rolfe's boatyard in real life the Elephant Yard. Inside the pub there is a small memorial to the series in the form of a framed photo of the cast.

The pub was closed to the public during the summer whilst filming went on.

I totally disagree what this person has written as I think Howard's Way was brilliant! It had great acting, great storylines and a brilliant theme tune. It should have ran much longer in my opinion. It was the BBC's version of "Dallas" and "Dynasty" and I think they did a great job!

We are pleased to announce that Howards' Way will finally be available on DVD Region 2 for the first time ever.

We hope you will be just as excited about this release as we are ... Join Jan Harvey, Maurice Colbourne and Stephen Yardley for tales of love, deceit, family trials and tribulations in this fantastic long awaited drama featuring the well known theme tune by Simon May and possible extras.

Howards'Way Series 1 available 20th March 2006 4 DVDs, Region 2 !!!

Also available later in 2006 Series 2, 3 and 4

Thanks

Having lived and worked on the Solent I can vouch for the characters being very true to life especially the husbands & wives behaving badly!! The clothes were realistic for the time ( I can remember wearing a huge hair bow)and anyone who thinks there's no money in Southampton needs to think again you only need to look at the Port Solent & Ocean Village developments with the Sunseekers parked outside!I'm glad to hear its being released on DVD next year-all we need now is a re-run of Eldorado and my happiness will be complete. I don't think Howards Way would have worked as a soap as it would have been difficult to keep up the great story lines but it has to have been worth a few more series at least!

Howards Way was the greatest television series of all time and i am sick of continuing to enquire as to why this series is not released on DVD. No one can give a definitive answer if it were on DVD it would be an instant hit. Tony Anholt was by far my favourite character, an extraordinarily handsome man the epitome of suave. I still cannot believe that he is no longer with us, Tony was brill!! Its just wonderful to see him again on the re runs on UK Drama. It seems more interesting now than it did then. i would dearly like to know where all the locations were on the filming of the series. I just wish the series had continued beyond the 6 series.

Curerently being re-run on UK Drama, this was the BBC's answer to "Dallas" and "Dynasty".

Totally implausible plots, big shoulder pads, badly acted, intrusive syrupy incidental music and characters with no redeeming features whatsoever (aside possibly from Avril Rolfe, played by Susan Gilmore). It made for unmissable TV. I don't think it was meant to be a comedy, but it certainly made me laugh.

The ridiculous notion that Southampton was a financial hub and the focus of the fashion world beggared belief. I cannot believe that anyone of the viewing millions actually understood anything Charles Frere, Gerald Urquhart and Edward Frere were talking about when it came to "big" business. And how did Jan Howard go from bored housewife to top fashion house proprietor in about three weeks ?!

I was obviously not alone in my assertion of the appalling manner of the acting as I cannot remember any of the cast being in anything after Howard's Way. Top of the "they should never work again" list was the oily fashion victim Ken Masters (Stephen Yardley) closely followed by Kate "Dahhhhling" Howard (Dulcie Gray) and the over-the-top-meistress, Kate O'Mara.

They don't make them like this anymore.... amen to that !!!