Mar Mir
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.
chuffnobbler
Utterly ludicrous in every way, Howards Way feels like it has been beamed in from another planet, not from twenty years in the past. It's always held up as the ultimate example of British aspiration in the 80s: powerdressing, shoulderpads, big hair, big cars, mobile phones, powerboats, money money money. The world seen in Howards Way is completely unlike anything of my experience that it seems alien."Find out who's behind that Guernsey holding company. I'm worried we're vulnerable to a takeover bid". "Who's fronting that nominee company?". "You're a paper millionaire now you've gone public". "We must have a majority holding in the Placenta Corporation". "I'll put it to the board of Diagonal Holdings". Utterly meaningless and baffling. Every character tries to take over everyone else's company, and the business dealings are totally opaque and difficult to follow. I have no idea who owned which company at any given time, and all the obvious drama inherent in the boardroom discussions might have been in another language. Maybe this is how life really was in the 80s.With everyone commissioning everyone else to build them a world-class boat, before going out for a luncheon appointment with The Bank, Howards Way repeats the same series of story lines over and over again. Every year, every character has business dealings in some exotic clime or other, and half the cast decamp for a sunnier location. The Bermuda stuff in the last series is very strange. Malta, Gibraltar, France and Guernsey poke their heads up from time to time.The characters have a real life to them, though, and his is where the show really succeeds. Old fashioned Jack Rolfe (It's my bloody yard!) and staunch Tom Howard (We need to move into the 1980s, Jack!) lead the drama to begin with.Jan Howard becomes a businesswoman overnight, then a world-class dress designer overnight. The younger generation have standard-issue sexual crises, but the one to keep an eye on is Abby. Mousy little tie-dyed teenager she may be to begin with, but the change that happens as the series moves along, leading to gobsmacking changes in series six, are very memorable. Boo-hiss Charles Frere turns out to have a heart of gold (though you'll have to wait a while to see). His battles with his dad, boggle-eyed old bounder Sir Edward, are enormous fun. Then there's Sir John, who is everyone's bank manager and blabs everyone's details to Sir Edward before beetling off to patronise awful shiny-suited Ken Masters by calling him "Kenneth". Avril is a vision of commonsense and rises above all of the double dealings around her (at least, I assume she does, as I understand very little of what anyone is talking about in those boardroom scenes).No-one is madder than Polly. A bored trophy wife, she's rather sympathetic from time to time. She fails to understand why Jan is upset when Polly sets up another company using Jan's name, and then starts trying to expand to America. The writers must have had a brainstorm that day. Actually, there may be someone madder than Polly. Sarah Foster is utterly barking.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.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. It's the characters with integrity that stand out. The only working class person allowed dialogue is Bill From The Mermaid Yard, who steals every scene he is in just by not having to talk about share prices. Gerald Urquhart's old school tie hoves into view every now and then; he is utterly competent, likable and honest. The fact that he is gay is conveniently forgotten after some quite strong and dramatic scenes in which AIDS is skirted around and then finally mentioned, and he cops off with Kate O'Mara."Hello Ken / How did you know I was there? Have you got eyes in the back of your head? / No, I'm standing downwind of your aftershave". Oh, Kate O'Mara. Can it get any better? Illogical, insensible, pompous, baffling, contradictory, naff, glam, witty, addictive, dated ... I cannot recommend Howards Way highly enough.
sophia-nelson
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
