Take the High Road

This article is about the Scottish soap opera. For the Elemeno P song, see Take the High Road (song).

Take the High Road
Opening titles
Format	Soap opera
Created by	Don Houghton
Country of origin	Scotland
No. of episodes	1,517 (+ 3 specials)[1]
Production
Producer(s)	Clarke Tait (1980-1981) Brian Mahoney (1981-1990) Frank Cox (1991-1993) John G. Temple (1994-1998) Liz Lake (1998-1999) Mark Grindle (1999-2003)
Running time	30 minutes (1 x 45 min Hogmanay special; 2 x 60 min Millennium special)
Production company(s)	STV Productions (Scottish Television)
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV, Scottish/Grampian
Picture format	576i (4:3 SDTV)
Original run	19 February 1980 – 27 April 2003

Take the High Road was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, and set in the fictional village of Glendarroch (exteriors were filmed in the real-life village of Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond), and claims to have about 2 million fans, including the Queen Mother. It started in February 1980 as an ITV daytime soap opera, and was dropped by the network in 1993, although various members of the ITV Network (notably Border Television and Central Television) continued to screen the programme, while others (such as Yorkshire Television and Carlton Television) had no interest in doing so.

History

Location crew on Loch Lomond at Millarochy Bay, Balmaha. This was the first of two locations for the 'Boathouse'; because of access difficulties, the scenes were eventually switched to the west side of the Loch at Rossdhu House (1984)

Origins

During 1979, ITV wished to have a Scottish soap for its daytime line up. Unfortunately, at the time the only soap made by STV was Garnock Way, which English ITV companies had no interest in, as they wished to have a soap, in their words, “with Scotch Lochs, Hills and purple heather” more tartan feel to the show. In mid 1979, (partly because of an ITV strike at the time) Garnock Way was axed and production started on a new soap. ^{[2] [3]}

The original name for the fictitious estate and village was Glendhu; this resulted in some debate over the name of the series:

• The Glendhu Factor - was dropped as some English viewers may have found it difficult, resulting in the fictitious village's being renamed to Glendarroch
• High Road - Low Road - also dropped, as it sounded like a take-away shop

After much debate it was decided that the series would be called Take the High Road.

Links to Garnock Way

Take the High Road was introduced as a replacement for Garnock Way, which contained very similar characters and actors to the original characters of Take the High Road. Some viewers were rather displeased about Garnock Way being axed; to help defuse some of the angry, Todd the garage mechanic, played by the late Bill Henderson, would suffer a nervous breakdown, and would move north to set up business on his own to help resolve his alcohol problems.

Unfortunately, because of shortage of time and the wish to keep most of the existing actors, it did not follow this plan. The appointed producer Clarke Tait decided to have a scenario where Bill Henderson’s character, Todd, had his named changed to Ken Calder who happened to be a garage mechanic with a drink problem.^[4]

Production and Changes

Many of the early scripts were written by Michael Elder, who also made guest appearances in the show. Books by the same name as the show were also produced by him. In the early days of the scripting, the show was fairly credible, but as time went on poor storylines were to follow.

During the course of its existence, Take the High Road went through a few major changes and face lifts. Perhaps the most noticeable was the renovation of Blair's store: everything was kept behind the cashier's desk as was once common practice; and shortly after Brian Blair was released from prison it was transformed into a walk-around store. There were a few themes in Take the High Road, in line with Scottish culture, namely the idea of Elizabeth Cunningham the rich lady laird who owned the village and neighbouring farms, and the theme of Protestant religion which was always present. It also entertained the feeling that outsiders were simply not welcome into the small close-knit community, something which may exist in any small village. Modernity was coming, and the way of thinking of the first lairds was completely different from that of the final ones.

Around 1990, the series was revamped in a bid to attract a younger audience, which resulted in some outcry about the changes and a belief that new sets had taken away the authenticity of a Scottish village.^[5] But within six months the changes were hailed as a success and enabled stronger story lines, and the introduction of five new male characters. ^[6] Toward the end of the show's life, it tackled many social issues, such as lesbianism, suicide and drug abuse, which were new to Scottish Television, although not new to the ITV network.

During its run, Take the High Road was always one of the highest-rated television programmes in Scotland, and had an extremely loyal following throughout the rest of the UK. Indeed, when the series was cancelled by the ITV Network, so many protests were received from viewers in England that some ITV regions re-instated the programme.

Starting from August 5 1994, the series' name was changed to just High Road, and from then on it continued to be produced by Scottish Television, for a Scottish audience, until it was cancelled in April 2003.

Outcome

Take the High Road helped STV to produce the only soap for the ITV network which was not made by the big 5 companies. This helped the company to give Scotland a place on the Network and also provide sufficient revenue to help Scottish television to produce more programmes for ITV and CH4.

Cast and Characters

Main article: Take the High Road characters

Broadcast

Regional Scheduling

Take the High Road was broadcast by all ITV companies when it started in 1980. Nearly all regions broadcast Take the High Road during the daytime, expect for Scottish Television who broadcast the soap in the early evenings around 6.30pm. From 1984/85 Border Television and Grampian Television moved the series to peak time slot.

Dropped by the ITV network

During 1993 the new ITV network centre, was reviewing all "long standing series" made by ITV companies, the issues of the series being dropped even more apparent as the regions south of the Border were months behind in their transmissions in Scotland^[7]. On 2 June 1993, Marcus Plantin, ITV's network director, announced the termination of Take The High Road From September 1993, as "ITV's statisticians believed English audiences have had enough" ^[8] This resulted in public protest as many believed that without ITV companies south of the border the series had no chance. ^[9] The issue was raised in parliament under early day motions, and the Daily Record held a protest as-well. ^[10]

By the end of June Scottish Television decided to continual producing the series mainly for the Scottish market, ^[11] but within a month of the series being dropped nearly all the ITV companies reinstated the series after viewers complained about the show being dropped in the first place.^[12] Only two companies refused to reinstate the series: Tyne Tees Television and Yorkshire Television; both finally brought the series back in 1996.

By 1998 most of the ITV companies had stopped broadcasting the series, but a few did continue:

• Central Television until 2001
• Border Television until 2002
• UTV Completed the series in 2004.

International

Take the High Road was broadcast in a number of countries around the world.

• In Australia, it was broadcast on ABC1
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Repeats

Take the High Road was repeated on Sky Soap; the episodes shown in early 1997 were from the beginning, and 1989 episodes were being shown when the channel ended in April 1999. Early "High Road" episodes from about 1994/95 were shown on Sky Scottish in 1997/98.

Take the High Road was repeated briefly on Life One from 14 February 2008. The channel started showing from episode 1000 from 1992. The channel ceased broadcasting 6 weeks later, after showing only 4 episodes.

In the autumn of 2010, nearly every episode was added to YouTube by Scottish Television, making the series accessible to viewers across the world.^[1] Not all episodes are available on the YouTube site as some - currently 23 - are missing from the STV archive.

Sponsorship

Take the High Road was sponsored by Brooke Bond Scottish Blend tea from the beginning of 1992 until 1995 or 1996. Mothers Pride also sponsored the popular Scottish TV Soap, from August 1999 to September 2001 on Scottish and Grampian TV. The sponsorship credits revealed the adventures of one man and his dog, Doug, as they searched for the village of Glendarroch. In their search, Doug and his master got up to all sorts of adventures in a bid to capture the hearts of viewers across Scotland.

Books

These books were all written by Michael Elder except from Summers Gloaming which was written by Don Houghton.

• Summers Gloaming (November 1982)
• Danger in the Glen (January 1984)
• Mist on the Moorland (1985)
• The Man From France (1986)
• The Last of the Lairds (May 1987)
• 10 Years of Take the High Road (1990)

Theme tune

There were 4 versions of the theme tune over the 23 year run. The first version was performed by Silly Wizard and was used until 1982. This version was quite "Scottish folk band" in style and pretty lively.Instruments featured included the accordion, banjo, drum kit, and synthesiser. The music for the closing credits featured a drum roll introduction.

The "Silly Wizard" theme tune was replaced by an orchestral version in 1982. This orchestral version was used from 1982 until episode 336 in 1986. Instruments featured included the oboe, clarinet, violin, and drum kit. While this version was in use, the music for the break strings tended to vary from episode to episode. Like the Silly Wizard version, the music for the closing credits also featured a drum roll introduction.

The third version was a different orchestral arrangement and was used from episode 337 in 1986 until episode 727 at the beginning of 1990. This new orchestral version was more violin led than the former, which had made more use of wind instruments, and featured no percussion.

From episode 728 in 1990, the fourth, rock-style, version made its debut and continued to be used until the end of the series. This version was electric guitar led (played by session guitarist Duncan Finlay) and featured percussion during the "middle" section. From 1994 when the programme name was shortened to High Road, the length of the closing credits was cut, so the closing theme was faded in just before the mid point. The theme tune was written by composer Arthur Blake, who was STV's Musical Director at the time.

Another version was released on record in 1980 and was also performed by Silly Wizard.

DVD release

In 2011, the first six episodes were released on DVD by Alba Home Vision.^[13]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} [1]
2. ^ http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/tvheroes/haldaneduncan/glendhu1.php
3. ^ The Glasgow Herald - Dec 24, 1987 P11
4. ^ http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/tvheroes/haldaneduncan/glendhu1.php
5. ^ http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/high-road-revamp-a-risk-1.587798
6. ^ http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/ten-years-on-the-high-road-is-on-a-high-1.552654
7. ^ http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/high-road-s-future-rests-on-network-decision-1.761240
8. ^ http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/itv-network-cuts-off-the-scottish-high-road-1.756950
9. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/fans-of-doomed-soap-take-high-road-to-protest-rally-viewers-are-fighting-to-save-a-scottish-television-series-james-cusick-reports-1491992.html
10. ^ http://www.edms.org.uk/1992-93/2107.htm
11. ^ http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/scots-will-still-take-the-high-road-1.754979
12. ^ http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/taking-the-high-road-all-over-britain-1.739283
13. ^ http://entertainment.stv.tv/tv/256407-scottish-delight-take-the-high-road-released-on-dvd/

External links

• Take the High Road - Episode 1 on STV Player
• Take the High Road show on YouTube (STV Player)
• Take the High Road at the Internet Movie Database