Heartbeat

Hopefully the rumors that a reunion is in the works are true. Perhaps a twenty episodes mini-series that can clearify what happened to the town and it's habitants.

"Heartbeat" is a brilliant nostalgic feel-good drama set in the 1960's. It mixes gentle story lines, beautiful scenery and hit music from the period to create a madly watchable program. Sure it is not ground breaking and certainly would not win any awards for creativity but it provides the perfect form of entertainment for a Sunday night. The light and easy to digest stories are just what anyone would want the night before an early morning start for work. What makes "Heartbeat" so good is the likeable characters and combination of humour and action. It doesn't take itself too seriously and never fails to have at least one scene were you couldn't fail to laugh or raise a smile. Even though it is on 24 times a year it hasn't deteriorated into just another soap like "The Bill" or "Where the heart is" with episodes made up of mainly stand-alone parts. It is deservedly the #1 drama on UK TV with 10 million viewers and even had a spin-off made in 2003 called "The Royle".

I have enjoyed Heartbeat since it was first screened 13 years ago, and it is still set in the 60's !! Most of the outdoor scenes are filmed in the small village of Goatland which is renamed Aidensfield. I Have been in the pub, the shops, the garage and on the train on a day trip!! The main police station is set in the nearest small town, the name of which slips my mind at the moment. Some scenes are set in the real seaside town of Whitby. Almost all of the cast have changed. I used to like Greengrass but is successors have been a bit too pushy for my liking. One strange thing is that when Alf Ventress was in uniform , he had no medals on his jackets even though one episode was all about his war service in the marines.

Heartbeat began with former EastEnders star (and wooden as my front door) Nick Berry as a London police constable who relocated to the North Yorkshire Moors in the 1960s. Based on Nicholas Rhea's real experiences of police life during that era, it was a worthy and authentic series that set out to address some of the pertinent issues of the time. Nick Berry's severe limitations when it came to expressing anything were compensated by the fantastic character performances of Derek Fowlds as tyrannical Sergeant Blaketon, William Simons as lazy, ageing Constable Ventress and Bill Maynard as local rogue Greengrass.

Unfortunately, the show progressively suffered from a series of departures. The excellent Niamh Cusack, who played Berry's wife, left to be succeeded by a less capable actress as his love interest. After about five years in the series, Nick Berry left. Berry's replacement, Jason Durr, was a better actor, but the writing was deteriorating and the series appeared to have run out of ideas. Two of the best characters were also replaced with very over the top and irritating substitutes; Bill Maynard left, to be replaced by Geoffrey Hughes and Derek Fowlds was replaced as Sergeant by Philip Franks. Four long years later, Franks was gone. Somehow, Ventress remained a serving officer, when he clearly looked too old by this time. Jason Durr left in 2003, to be replaced by young actor James Carlton, who has only lasted in the show for a year. These frequent changes in the cast have not helped the series. And Ventress is still there! How old does he have to get before they pension him off?

Heartbeat was once a fine and relevant drama, but it is now just decorative fluff. I am told it still gets good viewing figures, but I can only assume that is due to the attractive countryside, smart police uniforms and classic cars. It can't be the scripts.

This TV series manages to combine all the elements that make for a pleasant and at times absorbing hour in front of the TV - good varied characters, a range of occupations, although of course the policemen dominate, creative and simultaneously plausible story lines - usually one serious criminal occurrence and one lighthearted theme per episode - and all of it set in rural English village landscape (Yorkshire) which looks very nice and a contrast from urban Britain which I find mostly quite dreary and depressing. The 1960s seem a long time ago now, before Britain joined the EEC, when it still used non-decimal currency and imperial measurements, when it was still largely "monocultural", and when there were still steam trains. There are also those dinky British 60s cars, motorbikes and trucks that everyone gets around in, miniskirts and pop hits of the time on the soundtrack. What more could you ask for? Another commentator says it screens in the UK on Sunday nights - here it has always screened early on Saturday afternoons which isn't exactly prime time, a pity.