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HOWARD'S WAY From Start - Drama Channel

293 replies

mum2jakie · 02/01/2023 14:09

Starting today - Howard's Way is showing every week day at 2pm on the Drama Channel.

That theme tune takes me right back to the eighties and Sunday evenings!!! I grew up in the Midlands so had no idea about half of the terms but loved it!

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ChicCroissant · 07/02/2023 21:58

The TV is showing Series three - I'm only on episode 3 of series 1, I'll never catch up! No Charles yet (although I always remembered him as being the bloke from Space 1999).

It is a mystery why with (my) age, the people who seemed the villains the first time around don't seem so villainous now and so much younger than I remember Jan seems more unpleasant now, I don't remember her being so money-focused before.

Sagittariusrising · 08/02/2023 12:14

@lieselotte Thank you so much for that clip. The close up of the dress showed the amount of detail beautifully and I really can appreciate the workmanship of it. It sort of has a 20s feel to it so that probably explains the headdresses a bit. I was disappointed that there wasn't an OTT dressmaker like the one in the programme though! I loved the way they kept the dress under wraps in the episode right up until the last minute, just like a royal wedding.

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mum2jakie · 15/02/2023 16:37

The series seems to have swapped one dour expressionless actress/character (Abby) for another 'star designer' Anna with the personality of a wet fish!!!

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PerkingFaintly · 15/02/2023 18:48

I see Ken has reverted to his shirtless jumpers now he's given up on Jan.Envy <-not envy

Jan seems more unpleasant now, I don't remember her being so money-focused before.

Yy. Fair enough she finally put her own money where her mouth is and staked the house. But now she's cuddling up to Sir Edward Frere, she's whining about Ken still having shares in the boutique: "Why is he still here? I don't need him any more." Hmm

She has a lovely smile, but she's really quite the user.

PerkingFaintly · 15/02/2023 19:25

<overinvested>

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mum2jakie · 15/02/2023 21:49

Neither Jan nor Tom come out of this very well. I don't think there is any chemistry between Ken and his new married lover though. Not even a Sade hip shake in site. They are about as convincing as Leo and his new rich girlfriend 😂 (Am a few episodes behind so not up to date with current broadcasts.)

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dew141 · 16/02/2023 06:55

I see Ken has reverted to his shirtless jumpers now he's given up on Jan. <-not envy

It's certainly a bold look. Particularly the lemon one. I think he's not too far from just about carrying it off though.

And it has to be better than Tom's action slacks, Leo's nut-crunching jeans and the Howard ladies' billowing sails.

ImAvingOops · 16/02/2023 09:14

I'm pleased to see that Charles Frere is still as gorgeous on reviewing as he was first time around!

I remember thinking that Tom was a prick, even when I was 11 and watching this, although I could never understand the appeal of slimy Ken.

I used to feel so sorry for Gerald, putting up with the awful Polly, who was constantly cheating on him. The bit about him being gay and this being a marriage of convenience must have gone completely over my head

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mum2jakie · 16/02/2023 19:13

Yes, Charles is pretty easy on the eye even all these years later. All that driving around in his big car is very Lady Penelope though! Gerald is coming across very sympathetically. I suppose in this day and age he would just be able to marry his gay lover and wouldn't need Polly as his beard.

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DramaAlpaca · 16/02/2023 22:15

Gosh, I didn't find Charles remotely attractive back then and I still don't now. I suppose he's the best of a bad bunch though!

The Gerald storyline went over my head years ago too. I also sympathise with him very much now, not least the poor man having to deal with the insufferable Polly.

ImAvingOops · 17/02/2023 10:03

I think Charles Frere set my 'type'. There's another thread going on about childhood things which turned out not to be true in adulthood (very funny and worth a read if you've not seen it) but I'm still vaguely disappointed that I haven't grown up to a HW lifestyle - yachts and millionaires! The 80s led me to believe life would be like a Judith Krantz mini series

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mum2jakie · 17/02/2023 21:28

The Howards' Way lot certainly seem to have a very cavalier attitude towards money. How many times can the Mermaid Yard be so close to bankruptcy?? And Kate lost her house through investing in a bloody race horse!

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RaraRachael · 22/02/2023 12:22

I'm catching up after being on holiday and have just started Series 3. I couldn't remember Cload being killed so soon after being married.

I did love Charles Frere back in the day - I was about 24 when it first aired - and still find him very attractive, but it's a look of the day. Now everyone has beards and imo look the same - I can't tell one current movie star from another,

PerkingFaintly · 22/02/2023 12:37

Pleased that Polly's getting her shit together, and that she and Gerald seem to be making a real go of it as companions.

Doesn't make up for her treatment of Abby, but there's scope for a happier future.

january123 · 22/02/2023 18:20

Anyone know when S4 is out?
Binge watched S3 and feel bereft Grin

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mum2jakie · 22/02/2023 20:07

I can't believe how quickly the Howard kids get married! Leo has only known crazy Amanda five minutes and he's married her already! The first proper girlfriend he's ever had...

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starlight36 · 23/02/2023 20:40

january123 · 22/02/2023 18:20

Anyone know when S4 is out?
Binge watched S3 and feel bereft Grin

It starts tomorrow on Drama at 2pm.

dew141 · 25/02/2023 07:43

I didn't find Jan nearly so annoying first time around. The wafting round pretending to be Vivienne Westwood makes me cringe, while simultaneously interfering with everyone else's business.

As for Sir Edward, it's akin to Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Just no. I still find Charles quite sexy, well, as much as a man that wears a beige suit, beige socks and beige loafers can be. I think it's his hair, it's an extraordinary and luscious Black Beauty-esque mane.

RaraRachael · 27/02/2023 18:16

I find Jan and her mother really irritating. They can't speak a sentence to each other without saying "Daaaahling".

Yes Charles is VERY attractive, I thought so then and still do now. I can't believe he's meant to be Sir Edward's son (presumably his mother must have been very pretty!)
Seeing Jan having to kiss and pretend to be in love with a very unattractive old man reminds me how horrible it must be to be an actress.

Leo's new girlfriend is awful - whiny, needy and wooden.

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mum2jakie · 27/02/2023 20:52

Yeah -Having a relationship with Sir Edward at Jan's age really does invite comments along the lines of "so what first attracted you to the multi-millionaire Paul Daniels?"

And another wedding proposal! Were the 1980s really so obsessed with engagements and weddings??

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RaraRachael · 02/03/2023 16:26

Are we seriously to believe that a party loving, flighty girl like Amanda would be remotely interested in someone as dull as Leo? I don't see how they could have got married after just deciding the day before.

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mum2jakie · 02/03/2023 22:04

It's hard to work out how time works in the land of Howards Way! Abby is back now and says she's been studying Photography in America for a year. Wonder how long she is actually supposed to have been living there for? I can't keep track. And what on Earth has happened to Lynn? Lost one husband and disappeared to America barely to be mentioned?

Leo remains me of the child character in Big when he is wearing them too -big shirts and suits. I also liked Charles Frere still wearing a shirt collar visible under his hospital dressing gown! Must wear one to bed 😅

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PerkingFaintly · 03/03/2023 11:00

Yes, Howards' Way time is bizarre!

I'm sure they finished a wooden boat overnight, from bare ribs to launch, in the first series. Shame Jack can't turn them out that quickly the rest of the time.

Lynn is in Italy teaching sailing with Jo Penhaligon, I think.

Chardonnay73 · 03/03/2023 13:06

I’m just loving this! Was slightly confused as a young teen at all the talk of consortiums and board meetings.
Not sure I really understand it second time around!
The fashion is fascinating though. And they are all raging alcoholics.
And Leo is still flipping annoying with his open mouth gormless expressions 🤣

dew141 · 03/03/2023 16:48

Was slightly confused as a young teen at all the talk of consortiums and board meetings.* Not sure I really understand it second time around!*

I may not have had the glitzy high life at the yacht club another poster mentioned. But I have worked in investment banking so now find it really annoying when they repeatedly use them in the wrong context (or put the emphasis on the wrong word which is pedantry on my part). Don't get me on to the venture capital nonsense....

Mind you, I can see an epic drinking game based around the utterance of 'nominee accounts'. And the mindless tapping at the 1970s early Amstrad-esque very green stock market terminal.

Yesterday's WTF moment was the theft of Jan's billowing fashion nightmares that meant Europe was no longer an option. I could really see the high-end couture shops in Paris and Milan stocking House of Howard in all its shoulder-padded gaudy glory had it not been for the break-in.