Harockerce What a beautiful movie!

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

RaspberryLucozade I really did want to like 'Howards' Way' very much but sadly I just came away feeling bored and disappointed. As unfair as it sounds, I was unable to even get past the first episode. I do not normally give up quite so quickly on something, but the wafer-thin plotting and one-dimensional characters did nothing to endear itself to me.'Howards' Way' follows the struggles of the Howard family. Tom Howard is an aircraft designer who is made redundant after twenty years of loyal service. He then invests his money in the Mermaid boatyard ( as he has a passion for ships and vessels ), which is on the brink of ruin. The owner of the boatyard, Jack Rolfe is an alcoholic who does not get on with Tom at all. Jack's daughter and secretary, Avril, however has a soft spot for Tom.Tom's wife Jan however does not have faith in Tom's risky enterprise and so decides to take a full time job in a marine boutique.From the little I have seen, 'Howard's Way' looks like a dramatised version of the equally awful BBC sitcom 'The River' ( which starred David Essex ). Maurice Colbourne is unbelievable and wooden as Tom and Jan Harvey, who played his wife Jan, is equally as stilted. Glyn Owen also failed to convince as the dishonest Jack. Though to be fair, 'Howard's Way' did have some decent performers, such as Susan Gilmore's Avril and Patricia Shakesby's Polly.The end credits of each episode would have the camera close up on a statue of a female bust, whilst the Simon May composed theme tune ( which is also one of the very few decent things about the show ) played over the credits. This was parodied in the very first epiosde of BBC Scotland's 'Naked Video' in which a hand appeared and proceeded to grope the breasts on the statue.

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.

tsusanboss 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!

soap_expert 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!