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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carrie Fairchild" data-source="post: 390719" data-attributes="member: 673">I’m on the home stretch now, with only four episodes left of series one and the soapiness sure is escalating. Charles Frere is becoming more of a presence, dropping into the grounds of stately homes in his helicopter and hosting champagne breakfast meetings on his yacht. He really accentuates the class divide among the monied set of Tarrant, no more so during a cocktail party at the Urquharts. Charles is top tier, mixing with titled merchant bankers and other dignitaries. The Howards fall somewhere in the middle while poor Ken Masters, while wealthy, is bottom of the ladder with his new money. Ken knows it too and seems a bit embarrassed when trying to explain his petrol station / chandlery empire to Sir Something of an international bank. He’s only mixing with the high flyers because they want his waterfront site for a new property development.Jan is continuing her climb to the top. Not content with any old tat for her new boutique, she’s off to London where designer friend Sonya (who I’m convinced was the inspiration for Fleur in Absolutely Fabulous) has introduced Jan to Claude Dupont, a young French photographer/ designer who’s shooting models to the soundtrack of Roxy Music’s Don’t Stop The Dance. As an aside, one of the fun things about watching Howards’ Way is spotting the various actors who’ll later pop up in other things. Claude’s assistant is played by the patriarch of the Hart family who were infamously blown up in Family Affairs while the garage where Leo works in managed by Boycie from Only Fools and Horses. Speaking of Leo, he’s tracked down Abby to a dingy bedsit Southampton and while he disagrees with it, he’s supporting her decision to have an abortion. Yes, the most signposted plot twist in the show has finally been revealed. Abby is pregnant. By contrast, Lynne’s woes seem positively trivial. After Anthony Head threw yet more misogyny at Lynne and the crew of Jo Penhaligon’s boat, Lynne became even more determined to beat him and his boat of Hooray Henry bastards in the Fastnet Race. But not before some mid race drama, which saw a crew member with a Princess Diana haircut get thrown overboard and the aforementioned Jo have her arm broken (which she announced with the same urgency as one would use when asking if anyone would like a cup  of tea).And finally, Tom continues to blunder through his marital woes. Annoyed that Jan won’t put up their house as collateral to save the boatyard, he dives headlong into his attraction to Avril, aboard the family’s beloved Flying Fish no less, in broad daylight for all of Tarrant to see.</blockquote>

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