Always There / Howard's Way

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The series combined standard melodramatic storylines involving family drama, romance and extramarital affairs (Tom and Avril, Jan and Ken) with business-related plots of corporate intrigue and scheming for power, climaxing with an end-of-series cliffhanger. Simon wrote "Peggy's Theme" for Barbara Windsor's exit episode from EastEnders screened on 10 September 2010. The single was released on iTunes on 4 September.

Central to the plot were three yachts - The Flying Fish, a Laser 28; Barracuda of Tarrant, the prototype of the Sadler Barracuda 45, and Spring of Tarrant, the prototype of the MG Spring 25. Both the Barracuda and Spring were designed by Tony Castro.May’s EastEnders’ tune has been heard more than 11,000 times since he composed it, and an alternative version, Julia’s Theme, has since been created in tribute to the late creator. In 1994, New Vintage: The Best of Simon May, a compilation of some of May's work was released to coincide with his "A Night Away From The TV" UK tour. The tour was not a commercial success and some dates had to be cancelled. [4] A Pebble Mill special documentary was produced by the BBC around this time discussing his career and the tour. Quite a few fans felt let down when it was axed just as a lot of the initial problems were sorted out.

Other major characters introduced during the first series are Kate Harvey ( Dulcie Gray), Jan's sensible and supportive mother, the millionaire businessman Charles Frere ( Tony Anholt) and the wealthy but unhappy Urquhart family. Gerald ( Ivor Danvers) is the right-hand man of Charles Frere. Polly ( Patricia Shakesby), a friend of Jan, is a bored corporate wife preoccupied with preserving her social status, and their daughter Abby ( Cindy Shelley) is a socially awkward young woman who has returned to Tarrant after completing her education at a Swiss finishing school and who establishes a friendship with Leo Howard. Unlike the comparatively close and secure Howard family, the Urquharts have secrets to hide. Gerald and Polly's marriage is a sham—an arrangement to cover the fact that Gerald is bisexual, to give him respectability in the business world and give a name to Abby, Polly's illegitimate daughter after an affair at university. Abby herself is pregnant, after a brief relationship in Switzerland. May himself performed "The Summer of My Life", which reached number seven in the UK Singles Chart in October 1976. [9] The song originally appeared in Crossroads, in a scene between Meg and Hugh. It was one of the best selling singles of the year, and was one of few songs to spend three weeks in a row at number seven in the UK Singles Chart. [3] His follow-up single, " We'll Gather Lilacs - All My Loving (Medley)", flopped, reaching number 49 in May 1977. [4] [9] In 1986, he released an album called Simon's Way, which included his themes to EastEnders and Howards' Way, which peaked at number 59 in the UK Albums Chart. [9] In the same year, his 'Holiday Suite' theme was used for the BBC Programme 'Holiday', and was released as a single. The theme has also been used by Video 125 for three of its railway drivers-eye-view productions. Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 March 2020 . Retrieved 6 February 2011. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title ( link) May is visiting professor at the Faculty of Media, Arts and Society, Southampton Solent University who in 2015 conferred on him the degree of Honorary Doctor of Music. He is also Patron of the Devizes Junior Eisteddfod, Vice President of the British Federation of Festivals and Patron of the Swindon 105.5 Community Radio Station. Following their collaboration on EastEnders, Julia Smith and Tony Holland commissioned May to write the theme tune for the new Eurosoap Eldorado. May reworked a song called "When You Go Away" which he had written for his ill-fated musical Mefisto, based on Goethe's Faust, adding Spanish guitars to make it more relevant to the Eldorado project. An instrumental version of the theme was used for the opening and closing credits. However, the vocal version of the song was recorded by Johnny Griggs, and was used over the closing credits of the final episode. [12]

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Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19thed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p.145. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

While working at ATV, he was asked to compose some music for Crossroads. Stephanie de Sykes got to number 2 in the UK Singles Chart in 1974 with the subsequent "Born With a Smile on My Face", [5] which was used within a storyline on the show. [3] Kate Robbins performed another of May's songs for Crossroads: "More Than in Love," which was co-written by Barry Leng and got to number 2 in the UK in 1981. [3] [6] Rain (17) Featuring Stephanie De-Sykes - Rain Featuring Stephanie De-Sykes". Discogs. 3 September 1974 . Retrieved 21 May 2019.Simon May (born 15 August 1944 [1]) is a British composer. He has composed many British television theme tunes, including EastEnders and Howards' Way, and the music for the 1988 film The Dawning. May, Simon (2015). Doof Doof: My Life in Music. Austin Macauley Publishers. pp.81–85. ISBN 978-1785546372. All interiors were filmed in Studio A at the now-demolished BBC Pebble Mill studios in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Extensive two-storey sets were constructed inside the studio (the Howards and the Urquhart homes were both functioning two-floor sets). The smaller Studio B (used for regional news) was also occasionally used as an on-screen fashion photography studio. Other areas of the large 1970s TV and radio complex (opened in 1971) were used for the many board room scenes in the series, with long corridors and lifts sometimes doubling as a busy hospital and meeting rooms became lavish corporate hospitality suites. In August 2015 Simon May released his autobiography 'Doof Doof: My Life in Music' through Austin Macauley Publishers. [13] Two versions were released; one, a book-only version [14] and also a CD-set, with a shorter printed autobiography. This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( January 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)