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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carrie Fairchild" data-source="post: 389076" data-attributes="member: 673">So, I’ve set sail on the Flying Fish and finally started dipping into Howard’s’ Way. I’d seen bits and pieces previously and watched the Cult of Howards Way documentary on BBC but this is the first time I’ve seen full episodes. I’d read and heard that it gets soapier as it progresses but I’m quite happy to report that it is pretty soapy to begin with, if a bit of a slow burner.Howard patriarch Tom is an aviation designer with an expensive sailing hobby. He’s lives in middle class bliss on the sunny south coast with wife Jan (only works two mornings a week in a chandlery to keep her in high fashion pastels) and their teenage offspring Leo (who has decided to ditch college before it’s even begun) and Lynn (who loves sailing as much as Daddy does). The cat is thrown among the pigeons when Tom announces that he’s been made redundant and plans to embrace his love of sailing by investing his golden handshake into the troubled Mermaid boatyard, run by boozy, cigar toting Jack Rolfe and his recently returned daughter Avril, back from London after her relationship with a mystery man fell apart.Circling the central premise are a cast of equally beautiful people suffering from equally middle class problems. Jan’s boss Ken Masters is a business tycoon in the making with a penchant for big haired blondes. Randy Ken is matched only by Jan’s friend Polly Urqhuart, the seemingly neglected wife of absentee Gerald, who is perpetually on the lookout for her next shag and who spends her time inviting men (including Tom) to use her pied a terre in London. Polly’s plaindaughter Abby has just gotten back from Swiss finishing school and marks her return to Tarrant by trying to drown herself in the Solent.As I said, it’s a slow burner compared to its US counterparts but you can see all of the pieces coming together. There’s also something a bit Jason and Sable about Tom and Jan. All seems quite rosy in the marriage as the show begins but they’re soon at each other’s throats. Also, some of the dramas are very middle class. Lynn throwing a strop and ending up in floods of tears when she hears that Daddy has to sell the boat to finance his new business venture, is not a trauma you can feel any empathy for. I do like how it’s written though. I’m four episodes in and Tom has yet to share any screen time with Ken and Jan has yet to share any screen time with Avril or Jack. So the two separate worlds of the Howard couple, which is causing friction in their marriage, have yet to collide. Sort of reminds me of Sons and Daughters when they’ve characters scattered between Sydney, Woombai and Melbourne, before they all come together in an explosive clash.</blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?