When his much younger girlfriend meets Kate Harvey, he says that she's his niece.
Attempting to cheer up Tom Howard in the pub by singing 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow'. The patrons react with appropriate disinterest and a tiny token "Hooray" at the end, yet he carries on unfazed.
This exchange when Kate invites him to a dinner party:
Kate: Are you coming to that party? I think I'm going to need some sort of a buffer zone between the Parkers and the Howards. All you've got to do is to bore the opposition silly by droning on about boats and things.
Jack: Oh, thank you very much.
Kate threatening to arrest Jack Rolfe when he intrudes into the boutique unwanted in order to see her.
Followed a few episodes later by the one thing that could be funnier than that: Jack actually is arrested... trying to get into his own boatyard drunk at night! (In his defence, Tom and Emma have just put up some new security measures.)
When he's supposed to have stopped drinking alcohol and very proudly claims to have become an orange juice addict. Upon Kate and Emma tasting his drink, they discover it's almost neat vodka. Nice try!
Hilarious in Hindsight: In series 3 episode 10, Amanda has promised Leo an early night at home, but he returns to several friends partying to an instrumental version of then brand-new hit Never Gonna Give You Up. Seems like Amanda invented a prototype of the Rickroll 20 years before its time!
Older Than They Think: Often Howards' Way is cited as an attempt to cash in on the success of Dallas and Dynasty and make a British version. The idea had been done by creator/producer Gerard Glaister nearly 15 years earlier, before Dallas was even created, as The Brothers, following a Sibling Team running a road haulage firm and employing several soapy aspects. Indeed, the possibility of using a boatyard as the business in that programme had been considered but was thought far beyond budget. There were also two other similarly styled shows by Glaister in the interim, Buccaneer and Oil Strike North, though these were much less successful.
Phil Norton, who tries to chat up Lynne in the pub in series 1, is played by a pre-fame Anthony Head.
Viscount Cunningham is played in an episode of series 2 by Richard Wilson, who would later become known for playing Victor Meldrew in One Foot in the Grave.
Seasonal Rot: Almost everyone agrees series 5 marks a distinct drop in quality, mostly owing to Maurice Colbourne's death forcing abrupt changes to the plot and the Serial Escalation going too far. Series 6 is regarded as somewhat of an improvement because it ties up all the plotlines, but still a long way off the first four series.
So Bad, It's Good: A large part of the modern-day fanbase views the programme this way, owing to the variable quality of acting, sometimes bizarre writing and distinctive characterisations.
To the 1970s series by the same producer The Brothers. Both are character-led dramas about people in self-led business ventures, with their professional and personal lives intertwining. They also explore several of the same themes, and a few characters echo ones from that series.
Producer Gerard Glaister then followed Howards' Way with Trainer, which used the same premise with horse racing.
