Lynne’s safe, but is far from well.  Jan and Tom rush to the hospital to find her dazed and confused – she’s suffering from complete amnesia.  We learn that she was fished out of the water after about ten minutes (although it’s not explained who rescued her).  It’s also not clear why it took so long for Lynne’s next of kin to be contacted.

Jan Harvey is the one who’s given the lines when they encounter her for the first time (as well a nice two-shot of Jan and an oxygen-masked Lynne) but Maurice Colbourne almost manages to steal the scene with a cutaway shot of Tom wearily closing his eyes.  Sometimes, less is more.

There’s another example of Tarrant’s bizarre eco-system, where it always seems to be sunny indoors (studio) and gloomy outside (film).  We switch from the inside of the Urquhart’s house, with Polly and Gerald discussing the imminent arrival of Orrin (Michael Ryan), to outside Charles’ abode, where he’s surprised to be set upon by Shellet (who’s been lurking in the shrubbery).

This is a great little scene.  Shellet’s now a desperate man (“I’m broke, I’ve got no money”) although Charles responds in exactly the way you’d expect him to.  “You’re trespassing, get off my property or I’ll set the dogs on you.”  The way that Charles looks him up and down with a sense of revulsion is another nice touch.

The party at Abby’s flat provides ample evidence that Leo and rhythm don’t really go together (however, Davy does cut some impressive moves).  The scene’s more of interest due to the way it highlights the current status of the Abby/Leo relationship – they’re more at ease with each other than ever before (she kisses him briefly on the lips and then tells him that “I’ve never been as close to anyone as I am to you”) but with the spectre of Orrin on the horizon, things will change.

Tom sets out with Henderson (Andrew Hilton) for another testing run in the Barracuda.  Henderson’s the possessor of a certain oily charm – when he learns that Avril isn’t joining them he decides that it’s “probably just as well. We don’t want too many distractions, do we?”  Avril wisely makes no response.

Last time, we saw how Avril was upset at the way Tom bailed on the yard’s business in order to search for Lynne.  Positions are reversed here, as Henderson forces him to stay out a lot longer than he’d expected – meaning that he’s unable to meet Jan as planned (the pair had arranged to travel up to the hospital together).

Tom could have told Henderson that his daughter was ill in hospital and there’s every possibility he would have been sympathetic, but instead he grimly carries on with the testing.  But on the plus side, it gives us a charged encounter between Jan and Avril, after Jan rushes to the yard, looking for Tom.

From the moment Jan enters the office you can sense the chill.  Avril is polite, but it doesn’t take too long before some home truths are spelled out.  She tells Jan that “when there was doubt about Lynne’s safety, Tom abandoned this yard when its future hung in the balance, knowing he was jeopardising his business’s survival and ours.  I criticised him, but I now realise his feelings for his family gave him no option.  Today out there he’s trying to make up for it and knowing Tom, I bet he’s sweating blood he’s not here to meet you.  Don’t you understand your husband at all?”  If looks could kill, then Jan’s stare would have finished Avril off once and for all …

The initial meeting between Orrin and Polly is an exercise in awkwardness.  Although given the fact that Abby and her parents are currently estranged, I’m not sure why Orrin came to Polly first – why didn’t he simply go direct to Abby’s lodgings?  The upshot is that Abby agrees to return home, where Orrin will also be, whilst Leo (lurking in the background) looks a little discomforted.

There’s another lovely example of Polly’s monumental lack of tact, after she decides that it would be nice for her, Abby and Orrin to go out for tea.  After all, Leo’s on hand to look after the baby.  It doesn’t occur to her that it might be courteous to ask Leo if he’d mind (something which he rather pointedly mentions) although the fact that he then tells him it’s no trouble is a characteristic Leo moment.

Jack dispenses some more of his words of wisdom after he and Tom visit the production line where the Barracuda is now being mass produced.  “Wood is a living material. A boat is a living thing.  I’m not being sentimental.  By that, I mean she’s the sum total of all the men who worked on her, sawed and steamed her planks and shaved her timbers. When she’s running before the wind, that’s what you feel beneath your feet.”

Later, Jack heads off to the races with Kate, where Aztec Boy (the horse she owns 25% of) is running.  The production team clearly went on a real race day, as the hundreds of race-goers demonstrate, it’s just a pity that they couldn’t afford to shoot footage of an actual race  This means we switch from footage of Jack and Kate (on film) to the horses (on videotape) and back to Jack and Kate (on film) which is a little distracting.  But there’s a nice comic compensation – as the race goes into its final stages, Jack is closely following it through his binoculars, which Kate then snatches off him (nearly strangling him in the process!).

This week’s cliffhanger – Jan learns that Claude has married a key figure in the French fashion world – falls a little flat.  Jan’s concerned that his marriage will impact the boutique, which isn’t something I confess to being too concerned about.  Although Ken’s on hand to soften the blow.  “Not jealous are you? Lucky for you, you’ve got good old reliable Ken. Here in every emergency.”  God bless Ken, he never disappoints.

For the first time we see Polly shaken out of her usual amused self-control.  The sight of Abby being carted off in an ambulance is more than enough to finally bring her long-repressed maternal feelings to the surface.

They aren’t reciprocated though, as Abby screams when her mother attempts to join her in the ambulance.  And Leo offers no comfort either – looking blankly at Polly when she insists that Abby’s tumble down the stairs was an accident.  Since it clearly was (there’s not even a hint that she was pushed) why does Leo seems incapable of offering even a crumb of comfort?

The baby – a boy – is born, although Abby still refuses to have anything to do with her mother.  This results in a tear-streaked Polly leaving her daughter’s bedside, convinced that Leo’s the one who’s turned her daughter against her.  “I hold you responsible for this, Leo Howard. And you’ll regret it, I promise you. I’m going to make you pay.”

After a brief moment of self-insight last time, Jack’s back to his normal, bluff persona.  Telling Avril that, in the words of Aristotle, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” and plonking his shoes into the filing cabinet are two early signs of that.

He later refuses to be kowtowed when David Lloyd and the others visit the yard to inspect the prototype.  Jack’s at his best here, refusing to stand on ceremony and inordinately proud of the craftsmanship of the Mermaid.  The fact that the prototype is made out of wood is something that’s mollified him – it makes him content that although the Barracuda will be mass-produced, at least the original was hand-crafted in wood.

Jan asks Tom for a divorce (which rather oddly happens off screen).  Ken’s delighted to hear this of course, although he has to ratchet down his joy when he realises that Jan’s more than a little traumatised.  Bless Ken, his social skills tend to be somewhat limited.

Sir John invites Ken to lunch at the golf club.  Once again there’s some lovely class-based comedy – Ken orders a gin and tonic (no doubt seeing it as the perfect drink for such an exclusive environment) whilst Sir John asks for a pint.  Once again, this a small moment which illustrates the difference between them – since Ken is anxious to fit in, he attempts to modify his behaviour accordingly whilst Sir John is secure with his place in the world and sees no need to change.

Kate aptly sums Ken up later as “a wolf in wolf’s clothing” and is baffled why her daughter should prefer him over Tom.  Minutes later they meet – briefly – for the first time.  Kate flashes him an incredibly filthy look and refuses his outstretched hand, so they’re plainly not going to be friends anytime soon!

Relationship traumas in the Howard household continue with Lynne.  She’s still besotted with Charles, even though he’s proving to be somewhat elusive (breaking their appointments).   Poor Lynne spends her time moping by the phone and staring into the distance, waiting for him to call.  Charles doesn’t seem at all bothered though.

There’s another example that Charles is a winner – we see him bouncing around the tennis court, playing a range of athletic shots, which eventually ends up with him emerging victorious.

Claude pops up again, much to Ken’s disgust.  Ken does a nice impression of Claude’s accent though!  Claude wants to purchase a fashion house.  Jan’s keen, Ken’s not.

Howards’ Way, like The Brothers, always understood the importance of carrying forward certain plotlines to the next series as well as closing each run of episodes with a strong cliffhanger.  The disputed ownership of the Mermaid Yard is something that’ll be settled early in series two (we see Jack enter the hearing, but aren’t told what happened).

As for the cliffhanger, an increasingly irate Lynne make her way to Charles’ yacht, only to find him in bed with another woman.  He introduces her as “Honey Gardner, my wife” which rather takes the wind out of Lynne’s sails.  She exits, sobbing, and in her haste to get away loses her balance on the jetty and falls into the water.

It might not be the best stunt ever mounted – rather than a simple stumble and fall, the stuntwoman falls to the ground and then seems to deliberately roll over into the water – but no matter, it’s still a strong way to conclude the first series.

Shellet comes calling on the Urqhuarts.  Polly doesn’t exactly take to him, telling Gerald that “there’s a sort of person” to see him.  Shellet needs money for expenses and he also seems deprived in other areas (mentioning to Polly that it gets very lonely when he’s all alone in his hotel room).  Polly might have an eye for just about anything in trousers, but I’ve a feeling that Shellet is a bridge too far, even for her.

Lynne’s glammed up for her evening meal with Charles whilst Ken calls on Jan.  He plainly feels threatened by Claude (or “that froggy dressmaker” as he calls him) and seems to be fretting about the business trip to Cannes that Jan and Claude will shortly be taking.  Far away from home, he no doubt envisages that Claude will take advantage of her in just the sort of way he’s not been able to do so far!

It’s a sunny day in Tarrant, something of a rarity.  This makes Charles and Lynne’s champagne and caviar seem even more intoxicating.  He learns that Lynne’s father is conducting an affair with Avril (uh oh) and then outlines his philosophy of living, which revolves around power and freedom.  “Power to act and freedom to choose.” They’ve hardly finished the meal when he casually mentions that he’d like to sleep with her – which is as good an example of power and freedom as you can get.

Abby decides she wants to keep the baby.  This seems to have cheered her up – for pretty much the first time ever she seems almost happy.

And then we go to Cannes, well sort of.  In later years the budget would actually stretch to foreign filming, but that wasn’t the case here.  So we have a brief montage of stock footage (people lounging on the beach, etc) before cutting to a pool obviously somewhere in England.  But they made a bit of an effort to suggest exotic climes by having two topless women walk past Claude and Jan’s table in a casual manner.  That was a tad unexpected I have to say, especially considering that the episode originally went out just before 8.00 pm on a Sunday evening.

Ken might be right to be wary of Claude, but at present it’s her business acumen he wants (Claude’s attempting to woo her away from Ken – suggesting instead that they set up business together).  I’m afraid his silly French accent is beginning to get on my nerves ….

And then Ken pops up in Cannes, casually offering to take Jan out to dinner.  And of course being Ken he appears at her hotel door with a rose in his teeth and a bottle of champagne in his hand.  After a decent meal (off-screen, which saved a bit more money) they return to Jan’s hotel room and you can probably guess what happened next.

When they meet up for breakfast the next morning, Ken demonstrates that he’s an unreconstructed Englishman abroad since he’s not willing to try any funny food (bacon and eggs is what he wants).  The arrival of Claude sets Ken’s antenna twitching, but he acts casually in only the way that Ken Masters can.

The highly recognisable Hubert Rees pops up as racehorse trainer Stephen Bettins.  Kate’s part of a racehorse syndicate (each owning a leg) but it seems clear that she’s going to struggle to pay her share.  It might have been these scenes which inspired Glaister to later develop Trainer, which unfortunately wasn’t the same sort of success that both The Brothers and Howards’ Way had been.

Polly’s made it quite plain to Abby (before she ran away from home of course) that she viewed her daughter as an extreme disappointment.  But not any more.  After opening her mail(!), Polly’s delighted to read a letter from an American student called Orin Hudson.  He and Abby were obviously close for a while (as Polly so charmingly puts it – “God knows what this boy sees in Abby but it all sounds very lovey-dovey”).  And since he’s a member of an incredibly wealthy American family, Polly sees it as her duty to reunite the two lovebirds.  This is mercenary Polly at her best.

Jack’s solicitor lays on the line exactly how serious things are.  If Shellet’s claim is successful then not only will Jack lose the yard, he’ll also forfeit his house.  Tom will lose everything too, as all the yard’s assets (including the new boat) will be Shellet’s.  That’s a suitably dramatic way to bring the episode to an end.