Almost 40 years ago, the UK's answer to Dallas and Dynasty hit our screens. Howards' Way, the BBC 1 drama based on the south coast of England, was the epitome of 80's Britain - big aspirations, big business, big hair, and big boats.
But I rewatched it recently with one question in mind: how often do the characters say the word "business"?
Heading back to Tarrant
I rediscovered the show in 2020 thanks to a the podcast, Always There. I say 'rediscovered' as I vaguely remember it as a child. I was just 3 when series 1 started, but I have distinct memories of what must have been the last series being on TV in 1990, when I was 8.
Centred around the Howard family, the father figure, Tom, has just been made redundant and decides to take his pay-off and his aircraft design skills to the water to design boats. That makes sense for the fictional town of Tarrant on the outskirts of Southampton.
The slight odd direction is the one taken by Jan, Tom's soon-to-be ex-wife. Starting out as a part-time secretary, she starts a high-class marine fashion boutique. As you do. This leads to her rapidly developing a chain of boutiques, and then starting a world-class fashion house. Again, as you do.
The maritime theme runs deep in the series, from the small, traditional Mermaid boatyard to the modern "plastic bathtub" speed boat builders of Relton Marine and resellers Leisure Cruise, you're never too far from a vessel.
So, why am I talking about this?
Well, the podcast led me to watch the series (handily available on YouTube). I did eventually buy the DVDs, purely because I was getting fed up of some very odd edits, janky audio, and questionable quality. But it was enough to fall in love with it.
As I was secretly watching the shows on my days off but whilst my husband was at work, he'd sometimes come home and catch me involved in the goings-on of Tarrant. Intrigued, he started to watch too. I could see him looking up from his phone more often, until he was (almost) as involved as I was.
His ultimate takeaway from the show:
"they say 'business' a lot"
I hadn't really thought about it whilst watching it, but he was right. Between Frere Holdings, Relton, Leisure Cruise, and the boutique/fashion house Periplus / Howard Brooke / House of Howard, there's a lot of talk of business, contracts, shares, and public listing. Well, it was the 80s, and the business and banking boom that followed the dark days of the 1970s - the 3-day working week, the Winter of Discontent, and 25% inflation.
For around 2 years, that thought - "they say 'business' a lot" - played on my mind. There was only one way to move on from this. I was going to have to count the number of times the characters said "business".
Minding their business
About a month or so ago I started rewatching Howards' Way. I'd just have them on in the background, but I'd be actively listening out for any mention of the 'b' word. Spoken, whispered, shouted, business, businessman, businesswoman - any iteration was logged in my spreadsheet along with the character name, episode, and timestamp.
But I couldn't just stop there, could I?! I had the episodes, I had the timestamps, I have video editing software. Yes, I just had to make a compilation of all the mentions of business.
And, so, I present almost 8-and-a-half minutes of pure business joy, complete with the stats:
Watch it on my YouTube channel, Stop, Rewind, Eject.
Please, go and watch it. I spent far too much time on it for you to just keep reading for spoilers!
...
..
.
Ok, so you've watched the video, yes? All 8 minutes 26 seconds of it? Great. Here's the stats in a more readable format for you! You've earned them.
I'm just really, really hoping I haven't missed any.
- Number of times 'business' was mentioned: 826.
- Did you just notice there were 826 mentions and the video was 8:26 long? Excellent.
- Number of people saying 'business': 70.
- That's 30% of all IMDB-listed characters, and 78% of characters that appear in more than 1 episode.
- 'Business' first said by Tom Howard, S01E01, 22:14.
- 'Business' last said by Lynne Howards, S06E13, 42:08.
- 'Business' said most by Ken Masters.
- 108 times over 78 episodes.
- That's an average of 1.4 times per episode.
- The earliest mention of 'business' in an episode was made by Sir Edward Frere, S03E10, 1:23. That's 8 seconds after the opening titles ended.
- The latest mention of 'business' in an episode was made by Jack Rolfe, S02E09, 47:36. That's 10 seconds before the end credits.
- Episodes with the most 'business' mentions: 28 mentions in episodes S03E11 and S06E03.
- Episodes with the fewest 'business' mentions: 2 mentions in episodes S01E04, S01E05, S02E05, and S05E06.
- Time spent saying 'business': 6 minutes 41 seconds.
- That's 0.17% of the 64 hour, 16 minute, 49 second full runtime.
'Business' count by series
| Series | Count | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Series 1 | 71 | 5.5 per episode |
| Series 2 | 110 |
8.5 per episode |
|
Series 3 |
219 | 16.8 per episode |
| Series 4 | 124 | 9.5 per episode |
| Series 5 | 144 | 11.1 per episode |
| Series 6 | 158 | 12.2 per episode |
| Total | 826 | 10.6 per episode 137.7 per series |
| Rank | Person | Count | Appearances (IMDB) | Appearance Average | Rank | Person | Count | Appearances (IMDB) | Appearance Average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ken Masters | 108 | 78 | 1.4 | 35= | Jenny Richards | 2 | 12 | 0.2 | |
| 2 | Charles Frere | 107 | 72 | 1.5 | 35= | Dawn Williams | 2 | 8 | 0.3 | |
| 3 | Jan Howard | 77 | 78 | 1.0 | 35= | Sonia Fielding | 2 | 3 | 0.7 | |
| 4= | Gerald Urquhart | 52 | 71 | 0.7 | 35= | Bernie Rosen | 2 | 1 | 2.0 | |
| 4= | Sir Edward Frere | 52 | 29 | 1.8 | 35= | Anthony Elliott | 2 | 1 | 2.0 | |
| 6 | Avril Rolfe | 51 | 78 | 0.7 | 35= | George Vassilli | 2 | 1 | 2.0 | |
| 7= | Jack Rolfe | 36 | 78 | 0.5 | 35= | Imposter Pierre Challon | 2 | 1 | 2.0 | |
| 7= | Laura Wilde | 36 | 26 | 1.4 | 43= | Bill Sayers | 1 | 73 | 0.0 | |
| 9 | Tom Howard | 31 | 61 | 0.5 | 43= | Emma Neesome | 1 | 22 | 0.0 | |
| 10 | Sir John Stevens | 27 | 40 | 0.7 | 43= | Richard Shellet | 1 | 10 | 0.1 | |
| 11 | Leo Howard | 21 | 78 | 0.3 | 43= | Colin Linsdale | 1 | 10 | 0.1 | |
| 12 | Polly Urquhart | 19 | 54 | 0.4 | 43= | Allan Parker | 1 | 7 | 0.1 | |
| 13 | Robert Hastings | 17 | 11 | 1.5 | 43= | Laurie Meadows | 1 | 2 | 0.5 | |
| 14 | Kate Harvey | 15 | 68 | 0.2 | 43= | Hitoshi Serozawa | 1 | 2 | 0.5 | |
| 15 | James Brooke | 14 | 12 | 1.2 | 43= | Antonia Rogers | 1 | 2 | 0.5 | |
| 16= | Sarah Foster | 11 | 30 | 0.4 | 43= | Sir Alan Rockwell | 1 | 2 | 0.5 | |
| 16= | Orrin Hudson | 11 | 23 | 0.5 | 43= | Derek Fielding | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 18= | David Lloyd | 9 | 14 | 0.6 | 43= | Michael Anderson | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 18= | Pierre Challon | 9 | 6 | 1.5 | 43= | Mr Kennedy | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 20 | Vanessa Andenberg | 8 | 28 | 0.3 | 43= | Vicar | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 21 | Lynne Howard | 7 | 36 | 0.2 | 43= | Relton Board Member (Henderson) | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 22= | Abby Urquhart | 6 | 64 | 0.1 | 43= | Beth Drysdale | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 22= | Claude Dupont | 6 | 13 | 0.5 | 43= | Dorothy Parker | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 22= | Vicki Rockwell | 6 | 11 | 0.5 | 43= | Ruth Silberston | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 22= | Admiral Francis Redfern | 6 | 9 | 0.7 | 43= | Alfred Alvarez | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 22= | Lee Simons | 6 | 2 | 3.0 | 43= | BBC TV Reporter | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 27= | Amanda Parker | 5 | 12 | 0.4 | 43= | Southern TV Reporter | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 27= | Anna Lee | 5 | 12 | 0.4 | 43= | Paul Sumner | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 27= | Mark Foster | 5 | 10 | 0.5 | 43= | Journalist | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 27= | Richard Spencer | 5 | 5 | 1.0 | 43= | John Reddings | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 27= | Robert Hudson | 5 | 3 | 1.7 | 43= | Jackson | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 32= | David Relton | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 43= | Lord Henry Runswick | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 32= | Werner Grunwald | 3 | 2 | 1.5 | 43= | Eckhardt Sahnn | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 32= | Barrister | 3 | 1 | 3.0 | 43= | Yvette Studer | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 35= | Mike Hanley | 2 | 12 | 0.2 | 43= | Journalist 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 |
Some other great finds
Here are a few other things I spotted during the rewatch that I absolutely love:
 |
Series 1, episode 3: the TVS Southampton studios Meridian Broadcasting took the studios over when they won the franchise in 1993, but have since been sold, demolished, and housing built on the site. |
|
|
Series 1, episode 2: Tarrant (Bursledon) station Orrin's arrival in series 2, episode 2 means we get an appearance from a British Rail inspector. Was he a genuine BR employee or an actor?
|
 |
Series 1, episode 10: Southampton station. Keeping with the train theme, Southampton station gets an appearance, too. |
 |
Series 2, episode 3: I don't believe it! Richard Wilson makes an appearance as Viscount Lord Cunningham, whom Charles Frere sweet talks in to doing business. |
 |
Series 3, episode 10: this chunky boi Vodafone car phone. Enough said. |
|
|
Series 4, episodes 10 and 11: this beauty of an Acorn/BBC Archimedes A300 series. Could this be a sign of 1980s product placement?! The Acorn Archimedes A300 series was the follow-up to the BBC Micro and Master line of computers that were found in schools and homes across the UK as part of the BBC's computer literacy drive. You can't quite see it in these shots, but on the right side of the keyboard, just above the number pad, will be a BBC Microcomputer badge, as seen here. It's a descendant of this computer that powers pretty much every smartphone today thanks to the ARM processor chip, ARM originally standing for Acorn RISC Machine. This pristine model appears in series 4, broadcast in September-November 1988, and this line of computer was released just the year before. Aimed at educational and home use, is this a case of 1980s product placement? |
|
|
Series 5, episode 6: An early version of AutoCAD. And, if you look closely, the file path is c:\bbc\, so may be a borrowed computer with all the files set up for them. I love spotting things like this, just like the time Mr Bean was using an American Express card belonging to Mary Hutchinson of Thames Television plc. |
|
Series 5, episode 12: Kate's scream. It's so childish and I love it. |
|
|
|
Series 6, episode 5: wireless power was being harnessed in the 80s. This computer doing a great job of providing Avril with all the information she needs - despite it not being plugged in. The black squares on the left of the base unit are the power connectors, and the white cable to the monitor (which appears to be a Philips Monitor 80) is the video feed cable, but it's dangling off the side of the desk. The monitor could even be the same one used alongside the Archimedes in series 4. |
|
Series 6, episode 5: fancy that! Ed Winchester Orrin Hudson has a rather camp moment. |
|
|
Series 6, episode 6: Ken Master's perfect mobile phone timing. As Sir Edward Frere is being laid to rest, there's some comedic divine intervention for Ken. |
Further reading
Start by buying the DVDs! You can find them new and used on Amazon and eBay.
There's a great write-up about the entire show, including some behind the scenes info, by Matthew Lee here.
And another write-up here by Nostalgia Central.
There's even an official book! Published in by the show's creator, Gerard Glaister, along with Ray Evans, it provides great insight into the show, its creation, and its characters.
As I mentioned before, someone by the name of Leisurecruise has also uploaded the entire show to YouTube, and that's watchable here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Leisurecruise/videos
This post was edited 2022-09-25 13:37:13 to remove a reference stating that the Always There podcast was 'seemingly defunct'. Host Julia Raeside confirmed on Twitter that the show will return.