Series / Howards' Way

A British Soap Opera running from 1985 to 1990, Howards' Way was an attempt to create a British counterpart to American Prime Time Soap series like Dallas and Dynasty.

It follows the lives of a group of people undertaking several business ventures near Southampton, all focused on sailing. The program begins when Tom Howard is made redundant and invests in a struggling boatyard owned by Jack Rolfe and his daughter Avril. He attempts to modernise the business, much to the dismay of traditionalist Jack. Meanwhile, Tom's wife Jan aspires to begin her own marina boutique business under the support of her employer Ken Masters. Other major initial characters include the Howards' children, Lynne and Leo; the Urquhart family, wealthy but distant and unhappy; Jan's mother Kate; and millionaire business tycoon Charles Frere, whose rivalry with Ken Masters in business would become the main plotline later on.

The characters' ambition and the stylistic aspects scale as the series progresses, with more glamour, higher stakes, plotlines moving abroad and new characters introduced.

Howards' Way contains examples of (spoilers unmarked):

• A Deadly Affair: When he discovers that his wife is having an affair with their business partner Ken Masters, Mark Foster is Driven to Suicide.
• Abhorrent Admirer: Phil Norton to Lynne when she works at the pub in series 1.
• Abortion Fallout Drama: Abby leaves home in series 1 to avoid this with her family. Subverted as Leo persuades her to keep the baby.
• Age-Gap Romance: Brief ones include Charles and Lynne at the end of series 1, and Jack and Dawn in series 2. Also Jan and Sir Edward Frere in series 3.
• Amicably Divorced: Tom and Jan, after they separate. They remain good friends throughout, even having a champagne toast to their divorce, and Jan invests in the Mermaid Boatyard during its Broke Episode at Tom's request.
• And Starring: The first two series have "And Tony Anholt". From series 3 this is replaced with "And Nigel Davenport as Sir Edward Frere".
• Anyone Can Die: Surprisingly downplayed for a soap opera, though still present. See Character Death below.
• Artifact Title: Gradually becomes one later on as the plots move further away from the Howard family.
• Awful Wedded Life: Polly and Gerald Urquhart. Justified when it turns out Polly is The Beard to Gerald and she accepted him for an Honorable Marriage Proposal when she fell pregnant.
  • Also mentioned in the past for Jack Rolfe and his late wife, and Sir Edward Frere and his wife.
  • Tom and Jan are this for a bit before they separate.
  • In fact the only complete aversions are Lynne and Claude, and Kate Harvey. Marriage is not a good idea in the universe of this show!
• Bolivian Army Cliffhanger: At the end of series 3: Charles Frere and Avril Rolfe's plane crashes. Series 4 reveals both survive, though the pilot dies.
• Bus Crash: Tom Howard, between series 5 and 6.
• Career Versus Man: Jan's replacement fashion designer Anna Lee has to choose between marrying her family's chosen fiance and working for Jan. Justified as Anna is British Chinese and is expected by her family to follow cultural standards. Eventually it seems she has to choose the man as her family threaten to cut her off if she doesn't accept, but she goes for the career instead.
• Character Death: Several. There's the one-shot Mr Travis killed in a boating accident, Claude Dupont, Mark Foster being Driven to Suicide, Tom Howard's offscreen death between series 5 and 6 and Sir Edward Frere.
• Character Development:
  • Jack Rolfe eventually accepts that he is stuck in the past and Tom Howard is trying to do the right thing in modernising the boatyard.
  • After their divorce, Tom and Jan gradually redevelop more and more trust for each other and become more determined and ambitious.
  • Polly realises that she needs to do more with her life rather than moping about the house all the time, and becomes quite successful when she joins Jan's boutique. Eventually she ends up becoming an independent businesswoman.
  • Abby becomes more strong-willed and less socially awkward in the later series.
  • Charles Frere is eventually shown to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who can be genuinely sympathetic if he tries.
• Characterisation Marches On: Charles Frere starts out as a rather flat, overtly villainous character, and later on is shown to be much more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. This is exemplified when Lynne returns for series 6 and rekindles her relationship with him. Word of God says the writers softened his dialogue because they found him to be too boring.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Davy disappears between series 2 and 3 with no explanation. He's mentioned a bit early on but this stops quickly, so one assumes he might have been one of the boatyard workers fired.
• Cliffhanger: Employed at the end of every series, and some other episodes too.
• Cliffhanger Copout: Initially averted, as cliffhangers were employed quite sparingly and resolving them was always done fairly and was key to the following episode. Towards the end though, this became common, with episodes ending with cliffhangers that weren't relevant to the plot and would just be resolved in a throwaway manner halfway through the episode.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: Amanda Parker, who replaces Abby in series 3, is almost her complete opposite: outgoing, carefree and uncommitted. She also begins a relationship with Leo very quickly, in stark contrast to his Will They or Won't They? dynamic with Abby. This gets lampshaded by Leo.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Charles Frere is not above various shady methods to expand his empire.
• Custody Battle: Over Abby and Orrin's baby. Abby is persuaded to give up her son to Orrin as she has not been prioritising motherly duties, but continues to fight for custody. Orrin's family are much more powerful and wealthy, giving them greater strength in the fight. Eventually it's resolved by Abby leaving for America with Orrin.
• Debut Queue: The first episode starts with Tom, Jan, Lynne, Leo, Jack, Avril, Ken and Polly. Abby arrives at the end of episode 2, followed by Kate's first appearance in episode 3. Gerald becomes Unseen No More in episode 6, and finally Charles Frere arrives in episode 7.
• Disposable Fiancé: When Leo discovers his girlfriend Amanda Parker is engaged, she dumps her fiance for him.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Claude is killed in a water-skiing accident at the end of series 2.
• Dysfunctional Family: The Urquharts, definitely.
• Entitled to Have You: Amanda seems to think she is entitled to have Leo, saying that she has rarely had to chase after a man before.
• Estranged Soap Family: Averted by having Leo and Amanda get a Shotgun Wedding, so there was no need to have Lynne not bother to return for their wedding. It's still quite striking that she never once comes back to meet her brother's wife, though. Averted again when Lynne returns to Tarrant after Tom's death.
• Everyman: Bill Sayers, foreman of the Mermaid Yard, who avoids the more abnormal plotlines and simply wants to make sure the yard continues operating effectively. He's also the only working-class person allowed dialogue with any of the main characters.
• Expy: Jack Rolfe is Edward Hammond from The Brothers, Ken Masters is Max from Secret Army as a contemporary business tycoon. Both were played at least part of their run in the previous shows by the same actors.
• Family Versus Career:
  • Both Tom and Jan become more detached from their family once they start their business ventures, leading to their marriage collapsing.
  • A similar plotline is explored in series 3 when Polly believes Gerald isn't paying her enough attention as he is too focused on his business plans.
• Fanservice: Lynne and Sarah get several extended shots wearing swimsuits. Claude becomes shirtless on his honeymoon in series 2 as well.
• First Father Wins: Ultimately Abby ends up with the father of her first child and not with Leo.
• Fourth-Date Marriage:
  • Played straight with Lynne and Claude. They become engaged after two episodes together, then marry after two more. Possibly Foreshadowing, as the marriage only lasts two episodes before Claude dies. It's not entirely clear how long they were together for before marrying though, as each series appears to cover a whole year.
  • Later Deconstructed with Leo and Amanda, who marry after about half a series together. As he doesn't know her properly, he doesn't realise that Amanda has bad intentions, though her father has warned him. By the end of the same series they've agreed to get a divorce.
• Gold Digger: Polly Urquhart is only married to Gerald as he financially supports her lavish lifestyle. There's an unusual male example in Charles Frere, who was already wealthy but married his wife to be able to develop land her family owned. He divorces her shortly after her introduction as the venture is complete.
• Happily Married:
  • Tom and Jan at the start of the show have been married for twenty years. It doesn't last.
  • Lynne and Claude, until Claude dies.
• I Am Not Your Father: Gerald reveals this to Abby in series 2. She later realises her real father is Charles Frere, which he confirms.
• Inciting Incident: Some of the plotlines would have progressed in some form without it, but the initial event triggering the series is Tom Howard being fired from his job. Without it, he'd never have invested in the Mermaid Boatyard (and it would probably have eventually become bankrupt), Jan may never have begun her own business, their marriage might not have collapsed, and Abby would not have been saved by Leo.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While Ken Masters isn't very sympathetic to Sarah when Mark commits suicide, he is right that it isn't fair to blame him alone for it when she was equally part of their completely consensual affair.
• Just Friends: Leo and Abby. The series goes to some lengths to justify it, through giving them both a Romantic False Lead who they have badly failed relationships with and Abby having a baby by another man who she intends to get custody of. Subverted when they finally get together.
• Lampshade Hanging: The series happily points out the fact that it's recycling the same storylines every couple of series.
• Love Triangle: The first series has Tom/Jan/Avril and Jan/Tom/Ken. Later on we get Ken/Mark/Sarah and then Leo, Abby and Orrin in the last two series.
• More Experienced Chases the Innocent: Amanda is clearly very experienced and quickly goes after Leo, who has never had a real girlfriend before.
• My Local: The Jolly Sailor. It's a real-life historical pub.
• New Old Flame: Admiral Redfern arrives in series 3, and is said to have been in a relationship with Kate Harvey before the war. He clearly still has feelings for her.
  • Also Jack Rolfe's old flame Vanessa Anderberg.
• No Bisexuals: Gerald decides late on that he has realised he is not actually gay: he genuinely loved Polly and is now attracted to Laura. The possibility he could be bisexual is never discussed.
• Obnoxious Entitled Housewife: Polly.
• Odd Friendship: Jack and Kate, a gruff alcoholic and a sensible, maternal woman.
• Only Friend: Leo is initially Abby's only friend when she returns, and it is later mentioned he is the only person she can rely on. May be the case the other way round too, as Leo is never shown to have any other friends.
• Parental Neglect: Abby has suffered from her neglectful mother. Gerald lampshades that he seems to love her more than Polly does, when Abby is her biological child.
• Pet the Dog: After two series of being a Jerkass, Charles Frere is surprisingly sympathetic to Gerald after James dies. He offers him a blank cheque to pay for his expenses in travelling.
• Promoted to Opening Titles: Often happens after a character that is sticking around has made a few appearances, presumably so you can't immediately know if they're going to be a regular. Examples include Tony Anholt in series 1, Malcolm Jamieson in series 2, and Sian Webber and Willoughby Gray at the start of series 4.
• Put on a Bus: Abby leaves to go to America at the end of series 2, and Lynne goes away to start a sailing school after Claude dies between series 2 and 3. Both return. There's some less important characters that this happens to as well when their plotline finishes, like Orrin who goes back to America, Richard Shellet and Anna Lee.
• Replacement Flat Character: After Avril started getting more developed as a character, left the Mermaid Boatyard and ended her relationship with Tom Howard, Emma Neesome is introduced to fill her original position of "Love Interest for Tom working at the boatyard who sides with him over Jack".
• Resign in Protest: Both Sarah Foster and Leo Howard quit Leisurecruise as they grow tired of Ken Masters' manipulation.
• Retcon: In early episodes, a recurring plot point was that Gerald was a closeted homosexual, and Polly was The Beard for him. Later on, Gerald stated that he used to think he was gay, but now realised that he was not and had genuinely loved Polly. Granted, he could be bisexual, but then why did he say he was stuck with a woman that a couple of years earlier he was visibly shown to be tired of and barely seemed to like?
• Romantic Runner-Up: Leo ends up as this to Abby.
• Satellite Love Interest: In the first series, Dawn has no purpose other than starting as Ken's girlfriend, realising he is infatuated with Jan, then leaving him. Subverted when she returns in series 2, as she briefly becomes important to his business scheme, introducing him to Mark Foster.
• Serial Escalation: As the series continues, the business stakes get higher. Justified as ambitious businessmen like Ken and Charles would continue to expand to maintain success.
• Serial Homewrecker: Ken pursues two different married women at different times in the series. He doesn't get to be with Jan until after she separates from Tom, but Sarah doesn't wait that long. It seems that like most cases of this trope, he is motivated by sexual gratification and being better than their husbands, as both are in failing marriages at the time.
• Series Continuity Error: Vanessa's surname was Anderburg for her appearances in series 3, then it was changed to Andenburg when she became a regular character in the last two series.
• Slimeball: Ken Masters. He is unsophisticated, capable of manipulating numerous people for his own financial or personal gain, and occasionally turns rather pathetic when faced with genuinely threatening people like Charles Frere.
• Thanatos Gambit: This seems to be Mark Foster's plan when he discovers his wife's affair with Ken (their business partner) and commits suicide. Sarah will inherit his share of their business, crippling Ken's capability of growing the business as she now has twice his stake, and she will also be stricken with guilt that her husband killed himself over her affair while being forced to continue working with Ken.
• The Alcoholic: Jack Rolfe, on and off. He turns to drink whenever he is failing at anything and usually has to be convinced off it by Kate or Avril. Deconstructed when he has a heart attack owing to his poor diet and alcohol consumption.
• The Ghost: We never see Gerald's friend James who he is visiting during series 3, except a couple of scenes in Gerald's head showing his dead body. Also Amanda's Disposable Fiancé.
  • At first it looks like Gerald himself might be this, but it's subverted as he becomes Unseen No More halfway through the first series
• The Missus and the Ex: Discussed. Jan discovers she is trying to rent premises from Avril and thinks this trope will be in play. However, she finds out that Tom and Avril have broken up by this time (which is known to the audience already).
• The Mole: David Lloyd becomes Ken's financial adviser for a short time. He's actually working for Charles Frere, who knows Ken will take pleasure in doing the opposite of whatever David says.
• Will They or Won't They?: Leo and Abby. They do have a relationship for a while, but ultimately finish the series apart.
  • Also Tom and Jan, but in their case it's Will They or Won't They reconcile? They don't, as Tom dies.
• Working with the Ex: Avril becomes part of Charles Frere's Relton Marine project in series 2. They end up reconciling for a while, though break up later on.
  • When the Mermaid Boatyard is going through a Broke Episode in series 3, Jan buys some of Tom's shares, at his suggestion. Tom then buys some of Jan's stake in Periplus later on.