41-660: Howards' Way is a television drama series produced by BBC Birmingham and transmitted on BBC1 between 1 September 1985 and 25 November 1990. The series deals with the personal and professional lives of the wealthy yachting and business communities in the fictional town of Tarrant on the south coast of England, and was filmed on the River Hamble and the Solent . The series was notable for its pioneering camerawork onboard yachts, often filming multiple yachts racing in choppy waters and high winds, and its extensive location shooting mainly on
82-681: A Laser 28; Barracuda of Tarrant , the prototype of the Sadler Barracuda 45, and Spring of Tarrant , the prototype of the MG Spring 25. Both the Barracuda and Spring were designed by Tony Castro . The show is rated PG for Parental Guidance in Australia and PG in New Zealand for violence and coarse language. A medley of the theme songs from Howards' Way and EastEnders
123-443: A heart attack during a break in filming. Episode nine featured his last appearance with the remaining episodes hurriedly rewritten to explain the character's absence. He was finally killed off at the beginning of the sixth and final series, commissioned to end the programme and to tie up all the storylines. The final episode of Howards' Way was transmitted on 25 November 1990. Central to the plot were three yachts - The Flying Fish ,
164-539: A hugely popular programme for the BBC, both domestically and in overseas sales. While the series was unable to compete with the likes of Dallas and Dynasty in terms of opulence, its stylistic aspects did develop as it went on, with the staging of powerboat races and fashion shows, and extensive location filming in Guernsey , Malta and Gibraltar as the storylines dictated. A number of new characters were also introduced later in
205-489: A name to Abby, Polly's illegitimate daughter after an affair at university. Abby herself is pregnant, after a brief relationship in Switzerland. The series combined standard melodramatic storylines involving family drama, romance and extramarital affairs (Tom and Avril, Jan and Ken) with business-related plots of corporate intrigue and scheming for power, climaxing with an end-of-series cliffhanger. Howards' Way proved to be
246-504: A storyline in Howards' Way , Gerard Glaister went on to create Trainer (1991–1992), set in the world of horse-racing, and also featuring several of the same cast members. The protagonists in the early episodes are the titular Howard family—Tom ( Maurice Colbourne ), wife Jan ( Jan Harvey ) and grown-up children Leo ( Edward Highmore ) and Lynne ( Tracey Childs ). Tom is made redundant from his job as an aircraft designer after twenty years and
287-469: Is a socially awkward young woman who has returned to Tarrant after completing her education at a Swiss finishing school and who establishes a friendship with Leo Howard. Unlike the comparatively close and secure Howard family, the Urquharts have secrets to hide. Gerald and Polly's marriage is a sham—an arrangement to cover the fact that Gerald is bisexual, to give him respectability in the business world and give
328-637: Is an English actor from Kingston upon Thames , London . Best known for playing Leo Howard in the 1980s BBC drama Howards' Way . He also appeared in Doctor Who , playing Malkon in the 1984 serial Planet of Fire . Highmore attended Guildford School of Acting . He is the father of actor Freddie Highmore , who played Charlie Bucket in the 2005 film version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , and Bertie. Edward and Freddie starred together in Jack and
369-735: Is responsible for providing local radio services and the regional television news broadcasts on BBC One during the times when all regions opt out of the network feed to provide their own local news programming, which in the BBC Birmingham area is called Midlands Today . BBC Midlands Today is broadcast from in the Mailbox in Birmingham, and is the regional news for; 52°28′34.42″N 1°54′15.32″W / 52.4762278°N 1.9042556°W / 52.4762278; -1.9042556 Edward Highmore Edward Thomas Highmore (born 3 April 1961)
410-419: Is the regional operation providing news, current affairs and other regional programmes. Some departments within BBC Birmingham, such as factual programming, have been subject to review as part of a wider restructuring process. Much of the factual department, making programmes such as Countryfile , has been moved to either Bristol, Salford or other BBC offices. Before 1971, several converted buildings across
451-423: Is unwilling to re-enter the rat race. A sailing enthusiast, he decides to pursue his dream of designing and building boats, putting his redundancy pay-out into the ailing Mermaid boatyard, run by Jack Rolfe ( Glyn Owen ), a gruff traditionalist, and his daughter Avril ( Susan Gilmore ). Tom immediately finds himself in conflict with Jack, whose reliance on alcohol and whose resentment of Tom's new design ideas threaten
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#1733084771054492-584: The 1970s-1990s was snooker programme Pot Black , generally shown most Fridays throughout the year at 9.00pm. Well-known BBC programmes based in Birmingham included the drama series Dalziel and Pascoe , Dangerfield , All Creatures Great and Small , Howards' Way , This Life , daytime soap opera Doctors , anthology series The Afternoon Play and daytime property show To Buy or Not to Buy . Quiz shows including Telly Addicts were recorded at Pebble Mill. Gardening programme Gardener's World , cooking show Hairy Bikers , factual series Coast
533-510: The Asian community. These were presented and produced by Mahendra Kaul and directed by Ashok Rampal, and broadcast on Sunday mornings on the sole BBC Television channel at the time. The programme, Apna Hi Ghar Samajhiye (" Make Yourself At Home ") aired on Sundays at 9.00am for half an hour. The Birmingham studios also occasionally accommodated productions usually based in London when regular studio space
574-598: The BBC’s flagship show Masterchef would have already taken up residence. The move coincides with BBC’s lease at The Mailbox coming to an end having been located there since the move from Pebble Mill in 2004. In the 1970s and 1980s, BBC Birmingham was home to the English Regions Drama Department, established in 1971, and headed by the senior BBC producer David Rose . Its remit was to produce programmes set in various regions of England in order to provide balance to
615-472: The Factual Unit in 2012 meant no factual programmes outside of regional output are produced in Birmingham. The Midlands contributes the highest portion of the BBC's revenue through licence fees (£942 million) yet has the second lowest amount of BBC spending in the region, after Northern Ireland. This equates to "91% of Midland BBC licence fees spent elsewhere" As with all other BBC regions, BBC Birmingham
656-827: The Midlands area usually via the main TV transmitter mast at Sutton Coldfield. In 1959 the BBC acquired the Victorian-era ex-boxing booth/cinema/theatre at Gosta Green and this was completely internally altered to become a fully equipped TV studio and TV film unit with canteens, offices, green room and editing suite. Network television was based at Gosta Green just north of the city centre. Regional television and some radio production were in Broad Street. Other radio studios were located at Broadcasting House in Carpenter Road, Edgbaston, and at
697-660: The Walker Hall in Ampton Road, Edgbaston. The Carpenter Road site also housed the administrative offices. All these departments, together with a new local radio station, were unified on the Pebble Mill site in a phased move during 1970/71. The new complex, known as the Broadcasting Centre, was the BBC's first building designed for both television and radio studios, and housed the corporation's largest TV studio outside London at
738-529: The business, but has an ally in Avril, who turns out to be the real driving force behind the yard with her cool, businesslike brain. Jan, who has spent the last twenty years raising the children and building the family home, is less than impressed by her husband's risky new venture, and finds herself pursuing her own life outside the family through establishing a new marina boutique whilst working for Ken Masters ( Stephen Yardley ). Other major characters introduced during
779-658: The city were used for the BBC's operations in Birmingham. At some point after the Second World War the BBC took over the headquarters of the Birmingham Royal Institution for the Blind, a very large collection of buildings in Carpenter Road, Edgbaston. Here in the 1950s were several radio studios, the largest of which was used by the Midlands Light Orchestra for rehearsals and live broadcasts. In 1957 BBC TV
820-576: The closure of Pebble Mill and the development of other BBC sites. Doctors is currently produced at the BBC Drama Village in Selly Oak , and The Archers is produced for BBC Radio 4. For afternoon broadcast after Doctors , Father Brown and Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators are current BBC Birmingham productions whereas The Afternoon Play , Land Girls , WPC 56 , and The Coroner are former productions. The closure of
861-529: The countryside and environmental series Countryfile and viewer feedback show Points of View were also all based here, until moving to BBC Bristol and BBC Northern Ireland respectively. The original series of Top Gear was also produced by BBC Birmingham as was some content of the astronomy-based programme The Sky at Night , while the rest is produced in Selsey . BBC Birmingham output has steadily diminished over time as production has moved elsewhere with
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#1733084771054902-415: The first series are Kate Harvey ( Dulcie Gray ), Jan's sensible and supportive mother, the millionaire businessman Charles Frere ( Tony Anholt ) and the wealthy but unhappy Urquhart family. Gerald ( Ivor Danvers ) is the right-hand man of Charles Frere. Polly ( Patricia Shakesby ), a friend of Jan, is a bored corporate wife preoccupied with preserving her social status, and their daughter Abby ( Cindy Shelley )
943-679: The output from London . Among the Department's best known productions are perhaps Boys from the Blackstuff (1982); Play for Today - The Fishing Party, contributions to Thirty-Minute Theatre ; and a series of plays by new writers, called Second City Firsts , produced by Peter Ansorge and Tara Prem which aired on BBC2 . The unit also produced the first BBC Television drama with a predominantly black and Asian cast, Empire Road (1978–79) also on BBC2. The long-running Sunday evening series The Brothers (1972–79), which starred Jean Anderson ,
984-509: 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 and Dynasty , it also acts as a continuation of plot themes explored in a previous Glaister 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. The original working title for
1025-491: The regular house band, who also performed the show's signature tune. The programme was directed and produced by Roy Norton and Roy Ronnie. In 1981, an early evening version of a 1960s hit show on BBC1 called Six Five Special re-surfaced during the Mill's summer break, presented by Donny MacLeod and Marian Foster, and occupying the slot vacated by Nationwide . During the early '60s, BBC Birmingham pioneered television programmes, for
1066-417: 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. The theme music was composed by Simon May and performed by his orchestra. Executive Leslie Osborne secured a co-writer credit, but in reality did not contribute to the composition. After series one, Don Black was commissioned to write lyrics for
1107-624: The series, such as Sarah Foster (Sarah-Jane Varley), a glamorous business partner for Ken Masters, Sir Edward Frere ( Nigel Davenport ), the rich tycoon father of Charles Frere, Orrin Hudson ( Jeff Harding ), the American father of Abby Urquhart's baby, Emma Neesome ( Sian Webber ), a beautiful engineer who came to work with Tom Howard and Jack Rolfe at the Mermaid yard, and Vanessa Andenberg ( Lana Morris ), an elegant widow and old flame of Jack Rolfe. Midway through
1148-486: The show's run, Charles is revealed to be Abby's biological father. In a parallel with Dynasty , actress Kate O'Mara , who had previously starred in The Brothers and had also appeared in the American supersoap as Caress Morrell, was also brought in, to play ruthless businesswoman Laura Wilde. During the production of the fifth series, lead actor Maurice Colbourne, who played central character Tom Howard, suddenly died from
1189-730: The south coast of Britain. Most of the location filming for the series was carried out in Bursledon , Hamble , Swanwick , Warsash , Hill Head , Lee-on-the-Solent , Lymington , Hythe , Southampton and Fareham —all in Hampshire . The Jolly Sailor pub in Bursledon featured in several episodes. All interiors were filmed in Studio A at the now-demolished BBC Pebble Mill studios in Edgbaston , Birmingham . Extensive two-storey sets were constructed inside
1230-574: The studio (the Howards and the Urquhart homes were both functioning two-floor sets). The smaller Studio B (used for regional news) was also occasionally used as an on-screen fashion photography studio. Other areas of the large 1970s TV and radio complex (opened in 1971) were used for the many board room scenes in the series, with long corridors and lifts sometimes doubling as a busy hospital and meeting rooms became lavish corporate hospitality suites. Howards' Way
1271-450: The theme; May had suggested the title "Almost There", which Black changed to "Always There". The song was recorded by Marti Webb , and reached number 13 in the UK singles chart . The upbeat variation of the theme, "Barracuda", was used over the show's end credits from series 3 until the show ended, and was a "re-visitation" of a section of May's song "Believe" for his musical Smike . Inspired by
Howards' Way - Misplaced Pages Continue
1312-463: The time, and quickly became popular. The Pebble Mill format returned in 1988 as Daytime Live , renamed Scene Today and finally Pebble Mill . There was a Pebble Mill spin-off during the 1970s, when BBC 1 rested its main Saturday chat show, Parkinson . BBC Birmingham was commissioned to produce a late night replacement. The result was Saturday Night at the Mill with Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen as
1353-557: The time. When Pebble Mill closed in 2004, BBC Birmingham moved to the Mailbox building in the city centre, and to the BBC Drama Village in the Selly Oak district. It was announced in August 2022, that BBC Birmingham will leave The Mailbox for the new creative quarter in Digbeth, Birmingham from 2026. The new broadcast centre will occupy the former Tyhpoo Tea factory. By then in adjacent studios
1394-411: Was already the main "switching centre" for the national network for radio and TV. Carpenter Road was also the base for BBC Midlands TV outside broadcasts with MCR10 – a articulated mobile control unit – equipped with Marconi Mk1 3 inch image orthicon cameras. It was also the base for the necessary VHF/UHF "Links Unit" to get the outside broadcast pictures and sound back into the national network – in
1435-417: Was also a fixture at the studios. BBC Birmingham used the main foyer of its Pebble Mill building for the early afternoon television magazine programme Pebble Mill at One , which ran from 1972 until 1986 and raised the profile of the studios to something of a national institution. The idea to use the foyer came about because of a lack of other studio space. It was one of the few daytime magazine programmes at
1476-674: Was based at the Pebble Mill Studios , replacing studios on Broad Street , but in 2004 moved to the Mailbox facility in the city centre. Pebble Mill has been demolished to make way for a dental hospital and school of dentistry, which opened in 2016. BBC Birmingham is not to be confused with BBC Midlands , which is also based at the Mailbox. BBC Birmingham is the name of the Network Productions Centre in Birmingham making network programmes for television and radio . BBC Midlands
1517-453: 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 in its approach to programming. The series debuted on BBC1 in 1985, the same year that the BBC launched its first ongoing soap opera EastEnders as a challenge to
1558-537: Was established in Birmingham for the first time taking over the MLO's studio and installing the necessary lighting on builders' scaffolding. By gutting an ex-London redundant BBC TV outside broadcast unit ("Scanner") the necessary three cameras (RCA 3 inch image orthicons) were salvaged. The associated camera control units, sound and vision production/mixer desk and seating were all very precariously held together with Dexion angle and old packing cases. A smaller room alongside
1599-700: Was recorded by the Shadows and reached No. 86 on the UK singles chart in December 1986. BBC Birmingham BBC Birmingham is one of the oldest regional arms of the BBC , located in Birmingham . It was the first region outside London to start broadcasting both the corporation's radio (in 1922) and television (in 1949) transmissions, the latter from the Sutton Coldfield television transmitter . From 1971 BBC Birmingham
1640-509: Was unavailable, for example the children's programmes, Play School and Jackanory , and the current affairs programme Nationwide during the power cuts of 1972 when the Lime Grove studios in London were in darkness. Some nationally popular programmes were hosted by BBC Birmingham and recorded at the Pebble Mill Studios which included the children's programme The Basil Brush show. A popular BBC2 programme from Birmingham for much of
1681-414: Was used for early evening local news broadcasts by dragging a camera in from the main studio. Acoustic treatment was achieved using old egg trays glued to the walls. It was all "make do and mend" and breakdowns were frequent. In 1959 a new purpose built news studio equipped with latest "miniature" Vidicon cameras was established in Broad Street in an old building backing on to Gas Street Basin. This building