Howards Way - Complete Series 1-6 Box Set [DVD]

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The series combined 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.

The ending is pure comedy gold. Abbey, who, from nowhere and with no business experience, manages somehow (and unexplained) to persuade the shareholders of Frere Holdings Plc, a huge, very successful public company, that Charles Frere, her father and the chairman, is not up to the task, despite decades of profits, success and expansion, Leo takes over the Mermaid Yard....he's come a long way through the series, from environmental activist, to petrol pump attendant, to selling boats, to powerboat champion, to senior manager businessman, to America Cup boat designer!! Jan's company goes public, Lynn Howard becomes pregnant by Charles Frere, despite her almost dying in an incident after a previous relationship with him, (are the Howard children mentally ill getting involved with people that nearly killed them?!) and Ken Masters takes over just about everything without a mention of how he's managed to extract millions to fund these ventures! Southampton Town Hall became a Swiss bank, Rhode Island was recreated at Warsash on the River Hamble, and Claude and Lynne’s romance on the QE2 was filmed partly on the Isle of Wight ferry and partly on a decidedly unglamorous dredger in the Solent. Also, keep an eye open for wooden Kate Harvey. At the very end of the series, she's seen shuffling some papers and explains she is planning her campaign to be elected to the local council. An episode later, someone asks if she'll be late for her committee meeting. Utterly preposterous. Other major characters introduced during the first series are Kate Harvey ( Dulcie Gray), Jan's sensible and supportive mother, the millionaire businessman Charles Frere ( Tony Anholt) and the wealthy but unhappy Urquhart family. Gerald ( Ivor Danvers) is the right-hand man of Charles Frere. Polly ( Patricia Shakesby), a friend of Jan, is a bored corporate wife preoccupied with preserving her social status, and their daughter Abby ( Cindy Shelley) 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. I've actually got the full 6 series box set on DVD somewhere but have still managed to be caught up by the reruns on Drama and the catchups on the UKTV play app ! Stupid I know

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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. The other member of the clan was Tom’s mother-in-law, Kate (Dulcie Gray), a compulsive gambler but also an absolute treasure, prepared to help out any time, any place, anywhere. When she did a stint in Jan’s clothes shop, one critic dubbed her ‘the world’s oldest boutique assistant’. 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. 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?

Look out for some wonderful guest stars and guest characters: Catherine Schell, Pamela Salem, Michael Cochrane, a young Anthony Head, boo-hiss Francesca Gonshaw, a gozzy-eyed animal rights baddie, Stephen Grief as his standard-issue "oily foreigner" character. So much of Howards Way is familiar, it fits like a glove.

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