'Take The High Road', remembered today as a bland Scottish soap opera, sailed onto STV in 1980, following the cancellation of the now forgotten 'Garnock Way' and was set in the fictional Scottish village of Glendarroch ( of which the location shooting took place in Luss ). It seems more or less to have fallen off the face of the earth. Even some of its stars have less than happy memories of appearing in it. What seems to be overlooked is how massive the show was in its time, being a hugely successful show for ratings. Allegedly, even the Queen Mother was a fan.Now, whilst it is certainly not a wonderful show, far from it, it made for light, easy viewing, rather like ATV's 'Crossroads', minus the wobbly sets. In 1993, 'Take The High Road' went down the 'Emmerdale Farm' route and shortened its title simply to 'High Road'.In the cast for a long time were future 'River City' star Eileen McCallum as shopkeeper Isabel Blair and Derek Lord as Colin Sneddon, Bill Henderson as car mechanic Ken Calder, however later episodes introduced other characters such as busybody Mary Mack ( Gwyneth Guthrie ), Peter Odell ( the late Ross Davidson, who had earlier appeared as Andy O'Brien in the early episodes of 'Eastenders' ), who had an affair with Sarah McDonald ( the gorgeous Shonagh Price ) and murdered her husband Gary ( Joseph McFadden ). The show had a large and loyal following until its cancellation in 2003.'Take The High Road', like I said, may not have been great but at least unlike modern soaps didn't resort to breaking cultural taboos in order to catch the viewers attention. Future 'Rab C. Nesbitt' star Gregor Fisher appeared in two episodes.

I really like the show and think that the actors really play their parts so well, it is as if everything is really true. I was a little disappointed that baby Mary died, it made me feel so sad as that had happened to me a long time ago. But I watch the show every day and tape it if I am not going to be home. Even though I am not Scottish I can still understand the words but my husband can't understand them. I have been watching the show now for about 12 months and just hope that Australia keep on showing the series, it had been on here for a while before I got to know about it. I am glad that my friend (who is Scottish) told me to watch it. Best show on TV she said & I am inclined to agree with her.

This soap opera is both bleak and dull, in fact, too bleak to even call proper entertainment. How people could even sit and watch it, I shall never know. No wonder it's been axed, it is one of the worst soap opera's in the history of television.It's the equivalent of spending a two week holiday inside a Nazi concentration camp. It's absolute torture to watch, full of potholes of plotholes,. ropey dialogue that could have come from one of those British movies of the late 1960's, and there are too mant stereotypes against the Scottish folk, so therefore, it's a little racist in it's own way.

High Road has be on Tv for over 20 years and what sets it a side from todays other soaps is that the format has not changed and the storyline carries on at its own gentle pace. Characters like Mrs Mack and Isabel Blair have been on the show since its launch in 1980. The storyline takes place around the village of Glendarroch in Scotland and much of the action takes place at the Glendarroch estate or Blair's Store. A gem in the afternoon Tv Schedules long may High Road continue.