Howards' Way: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:48, 17 January 2025

Latest revision as of 04:47, 13 April 2025

Line 49:

==History==

''Howards' Way'' was created and produced by [[Gerard Glaister]] and [[Allan Prior]], with lead writer Raymond Thompson as story and script consultant—at a point in the [[BBC]]'s history when the organisation was making a concerted populist strike against [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] in its approach to programming. The series debuted on [[BBC One|BBC1]] in 1985, the same year that the BBC launched its first ongoing [[soap opera]] ''[[EastEnders]]'' as a challenge to the ratings supremacy of ITV's ''[[Coronation Street]]''. Although ''Howards' Way'' is commonly cited as an attempt to provide a British alternative to glossy American sagas such as ''[[Dallas (1978 TV series)|Dallas]]'' and ''[[Dynasty (1981 TV series)|Dynasty]]'', it also acts as a continuation of plot themes explored in a previous Glaister series, ''[[The Brothers (1972 TV series)|The Brothers]]'', which involved a family's personal and professional crises running a road haulage firm, and embraced several soap opera touches in its characterisations and storylines.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/hampshire/content/articles/2009/01/08/howards_way_feature.shtml |title=Hampshire - History - Howards' Way |publisher=BBC |date=23 June 2009 |access-date=29 July 2014}}</ref>

The original working title for the series was "The Boatbuilders", which was ultimately rejected when it was felt that it sounded like a [[documentary]] series and wouldn't grab viewers' attention.