Trivia / Howards' Way

• Ability over Appearance: Sarah Foster was originally written as an older woman before Sarah-Jane Varley was cast.
• California Doubling: Very often in order to stay within budget. Different locations along the south coast of England stood in for Cannes, Rhode Island and Rome amongst other places.
• Character Outlives Actor: Just. When Maurice Colbourne died during filming of series 5, his character Tom Howard was abruptly Put on a Bus for the rest of the series. He was killed off between series 5 and 6, so it became The Character Died with Him.
• Dawson Casting: Edward Highmore was 24 at the start of the show and Cindy Shelley was 25, playing 18-year-olds Leo Howard and Abby Urquhart. Both characters are supposed to be one year older than Lynne Howard, who was played by 21-year-old Tracey Childs. Although her exact age is not given in-show, Amanda is probably meant to be quite a bit younger than 28-year-old Francesca Gonshaw.
• Defictionalisation: Both the Barracuda and the Spring of Tarrant boats were manufactured and sold in real life for a time after featuring on the show.
• Died During Production: Maurice Colbourne, who played original lead character Tom Howard, died of a heart attack during a break in filming of series 5. The writers were forced to abruptly write him out of the show, though a final series was produced to tie up the loose ends of the plot with the rest of the cast.
• Fake Nationality: Scottish Malcolm Jamieson as French Claude Dupont.
• False Credit: The theme song is co-credited to Leslie Osborne, who was not involved in the composition.
• Real-Life Relative: Admiral Redfern is played by Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray's real-life husband.
• Romance on the Set: Jan Harvey and Stephen Yardley married in real life after meeting on the set. Also Tracey Childs and Tony Anholt, who divorced in 1998.
• Spoiled by the Cast List: Usually if a new character gets added to the opening credits, you can assume they're sticking around for a while, while the recurring characters not on the opening credits are most likely just here for the current series or plotline. However, they averted this with series 2 episode 1, removing Tracey Childs from the cast list when the audience doesn't yet know if Lynne drowned, and if you were relying on this too much then Mark Foster's suicide five episodes after joining the opening credits in series 3 may surprise you.
• The Danza: Jan Harvey as Jan Howard. As a bonus, the character's maiden name was Harvey as well. Also Michael Loney plays Michael Hanley.
• The Other Darrin: Orrin Hudson was played by Ryan Michael in series 2, then Jeff Harding when he came back for series 5 and 6.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Kate Harvey was originally conceived as Jan's father. The Gender Flip was made as a female character was thought to be a better sounding board for Lynne and Leo.
  • It's likely had Maurice Colbourne not died during production of series 5, the later episodes would have involved Tom and Jan reconciling.
  • Series 6 was created with the intention that it would be the final series and appropriately attempts to resolve all plotlines, but Gerard Glaister's production notes state an extra scene was written and filmed that could have been inserted at the end if the BBC commissioned another series. It would have featured Laura telling Gerald that Abby had gone to America with Orrin, and Charles and Robert Hudson may be about to join forces.
• Working Title: The Boatbuilders.
• Write What You Know: Creator Gerard Glaister had many friends and colleagues who were keen yachtsmen, and his time in the RAF provided the basis for Tom's previous job as an aircraft designer.