DUBBED "Dallas on Sea", Howards' Way was the BBC's answer to the American super-soaps of the 1980s.

The "gin and Jag" set of the south coast were seen as providing perfect material for a Sunday night drama - epitomising the wealth, aspirations and glamour of the Thatcher years.

Incredibly this year marks 30 years since the series started, and BBC Radio Solent are celebrating with a special documentary, Howards’ Way – A South Coast Saga, presented by actress Tracey Childs on Monday August 31 from 9am to 10am.

Tracey (Howards' Way, Broadchurch) looks back at her time playing Lynne Howard and tells the story of the hugely popular TV drama, which brought the stunning south coast to millions of viewers every Sunday night for five years from September 1985(1 Sept 1985 – 25 Nov 1990).

The show followed the fortunes of Tom Howard (played by Maurice Colbourne), who sinks his redundancy money into fulfilling his dream of designing yachts.

He invests in the Mermaid Boatyard, run by the heavy-drinking and cigar-smoking Jack Rolfe (Glyn Owen) and his daughter Avril (Susan Gilmore).

Tom's wife Jan (played by Jan Harvey) eventually enters the world of high fashion with brash power-boating entrepreneur Ken Masters.

The Howards' marriage falls apart, but their children Leo and Lynne (played by Edward Highmore and Tracey Childs) become the series' male and female heartthrobs of the series.

Add to that a web of countless entangled affairs, romantic liaisons and cut-throat business skulduggery – all courtesy of property tycoon Charles Frere (Tony Anholt) and his father Sir Edward (Nigel Davenport) – and the emotional traumas of the Urquhart family, and it was soon clear that the producers had a hit on their hands. And it was all played out with the backdrop of the beautiful River Hamble, the Solent and Hampshire coastline.

The petrol station, the Howards' house, Leisure Cruise, The Jolly Sailor pub, Ken Masters' Chandlery were all requisitioned as locations around Bursledon, Hamble and Warsash. Scenes were also shot in Southampton – the art deco Civic Centre was a court, a Swiss bank and a Rome fashion show venue.

It is difficult to over-estimate just how big a phenomena Howards' Way was at its height.

It was one of the great BBC series that was real appointment-to-view television - the only drama to have more than 10 million viewers for each of its series.

In the documentary we also hear from directors Michael E Briant and Robert Reed. Sailor Michael, who lived in Bournemouth and sailed the waters of The Hamble, recalls coming up with the idea for the nautical drama with producer and creator Gerard Glaister, while – Michael lived in Bournemouth and often sailed around the waters of The Hamble. Robert revisits the locations used in the series around Bursledon, Hamble and Warsash, for the first time since he directed the final episode.