Take the High Road
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Take the High Road was a soap opera produced by Scottish Television (STV) and set in the fictional village of Glendarroch (the real-life village of Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond). It started in 1980 as an ITV daytime soap opera and was dropped by the British TV network in 1992. It continued to be produced by STV for a Scottish audience until it was cancelled in 2003. In 1995, its name was changed to just High Road.
High road was introduced as a replacement for "Garnock Way" which contained more or less all of the original characters of High Road. It, too, had spun off from an STV soap called "High Living" which has not seen the light of day since its demise.
During the course of its existence, 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 Scottish culture in the old days. By 1990, however, it had transformed into a walk around store.
There were a few themes in High Road, in line with Scottish culture. Namely, the idea of the rich female Laird who owned the town and the theme of 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 up to a point exist in any small village. Modernity was coming, and the way of thinking of the first Laird to the final one was completely different.
Towards the end of the shows life, it had tackled many social issues such as lesbianism, suicide and drug abuse, which was new to STV although not new to the ITV network.
Perhaps one of the reasons it finally ended was the poor scripting in its final years, The lead character Mrs Mack, for example, had been transformed from a traditional Presbyterian stronghold to some kind of party animal who enjoyed going to football matches. Such a character change was simply not believable. In other bids to stop the show going under, Andy Cameron, a well known older Scottish comedian was introduced to the show. His introduction, however, did not attract younger viewers but firmly raised the average age of the viewer to at least 60. The departure of the main younger characters such as the Mackays did not help. Although young relationships and characters were always present and bizarrely enough not always Scottish.
High Road will be remembered for its changes and at times its very stereotype casting of a Scottish village, not necessarily for its fame as a soap. Its way of bringing together modernity with the old ways of the country really give it credit though.
During its run High Road was always one of the highest rated television programmes in Scotland and had an extremely loyal following in its afternoon slot throughout the rest of the UK. Indeed, when the series was cancelled by the ITV network, they received one of the biggest protests from viewers that has ever been known.Template:Tvseries-stub