Heartbeat (TV series)
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| Heartbeat | |
|---|---|
 Heartbeat (book cover) |
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| Format | Period Drama |
| Run time | 60 minutes |
| Creator(s) | Keith Richardson, Gerry Mill |
| Starring | Nick Berry Niamh Cusack Derek Fowlds William Simons Mark Jordon (the original cast) and many others... |
| Channel | ITV1 |
| Production company | ITV Productions |
| Related shows | The Royal |
| Air dates | 1992 – Present |
| No. of series | 16 |
| No. of episodes | Over 300 |
Heartbeat is a long-running British TV police drama series set in 1960s Yorkshire. It is made by Yorkshire Television for broadcast on ITV, now rebranded ITV1. Heartbeat first aired in 1992, and by autumn 2006 it had reached its 16th season, clocking up over 300 episodes – a feat that few series achieve.
Heartbeat has proved perennially popular with viewers. The early series consistently drew over 10 million viewers [1]. In 2001 the show came sixth in the UK TV ratings list with a peak audience of 13.82 million [2], and it was sixth again in 2003, with 12.8 million viewers [3].
There are currently unconfirmed rumours that ITV1 have axed Heartbeat after 16 series to make room for new shows.
Contents |
[edit] Background to the series
The show is set in the 1960s and revolves around the work of a group of police officers in the fictional North Yorkshire town of Ashfordly, whose "patch" also includes the nearby village of Aidensfield, a fictionalised version of the real-life village of Goathland in the North York Moors, where the series is mostly filmed. Each episode is an hour long, including commercial breaks.
The series is loosely based on the Constable books written by Peter Walker under the pen-name Nicholas Rhea. The title Heartbeat was chosen to represent "the bobby’s beat and the medical connotations of the word 'heart'" [4]. The show was originally a starring vehicle for ex-EastEnders actor Nick Berry, cast as PC Nick Rowan, the Aidensfield policeman newly arrived from London. Berry also sings Heartbeat's theme song – the Buddy Holly song of the same name. (Berry's recording reached number 2 on the UK singles chart in 1992.)
Over time the show has evolved into an ensemble drama, and in the 2005 series no fewer than twelve regular actors had their names and faces included in the opening credits – an all-time record for any British series. However, the central character, as far as there is one, remains the Aidensfield village bobby, the role originally played by Berry.
The Yorkshire moors scenery is the backdrop to most episodes. In earlier series, Aidensfield's most distinctive local landmark – like that of its real-life counterpart – was the RAF Fylingdales Early Warning Station, the exterior of which appeared in numerous episodes. This is no longer featured, however. When the action moves further afield (for example, due to a criminal attempting a getaway by sea), the town of Whitby is normally used. (Scarborough is occasionally featured instead for variety.) Other real-life towns and cities — such as Leeds, York, Sheffield, Hull, Middlesbrough, Northallerton, Harrogate and Saltburn — are also sometimes mentioned.
Although the show is often criticised for seeing the 1960s through rose tinted spectacles, in reality it has tended to avoid the usual "swinging sixties" clichés. If there is a cultural revolution going on, then it's not going on in Aidensfield and Ashfordly. Some episodes do, however, make reference to swinging sixties culture, as well as to hippies and psychedelia, usually imposed on the community by outsiders. Sixties pop music is prominent, forming the soundtrack to the show, though sometimes the choice of music seems incongruous – such as an upbeat "swinging sixties" track accompanying a shot of a dour middle-aged rustic Yorkshireman.
The notion that people were friendlier and the world was safer in the 1960s is given short shrift too. The local people are often portrayed as insular and suspicious of strangers, and the area's high crime rate speaks for itself. Nevertheless, although its storylines regularly involve serious crimes and human tragedy, Heartbeat deals with these themes in a relatively cosy and comfortable manner compared to many modern TV police dramas.
[edit] Chronology
When the programme began, it was set in 1964. The setting then moved on, approximately in "real time", until it reached early 1969, where – apart from the Christmas episodes – it has now remained for several years. However the show's chronology has been seen to be quite flexible: the inhabitants of Ashfordly and Aidensfield have certainly celebrated more than four Christmases between 1965 and 1969. The 1998 episode Heartbeat: Changing Places which follows Sgt. Rowan as a Mountie opens with the caption 1968 which is sometimes said to be the only explicit time reference in the series, though one 2004 episode was specifically set on 6 February 1969, the date being deliberately displayed clearly in an extreme close-up of "today's newspaper". Whenever a car or motorcycle's tax disc is shown on screen, it is always valid until 31 December 1969.
[edit] Plot
[edit] First series
The first series dealt mainly with the experiences of a married couple, PC Nick Rowan and Doctor Kate Rowan, arriving in a small Yorkshire village after living in London. Both faced initial suspicion from the villagers, but over the course of the series came to be accepted as part of the community. The stories focused almost entirely on the experiences of the two main characters. The build-up to the wedding of Sandra and Alan, two youngsters from the village, provided a running thread through the first series. However, Sandra and Alan were never seen, or even mentioned, after the first series.
[edit] Subsequent series
Once the characters had settled in, subsequent series focused more on the criminal and medical storylines, with a greater role for the other policemen at the Ashfordly station, who had appeared in the first series but only as quite minor supporting characters. Various new characters were introduced along the way, such as Gina Ward, played by Tricia Penrose. After Kate Rowan's death from leukaemia, Nick Rowan gained a new love interest, teacher Jo Weston. The two married and emigrated to Canada, and the central role of local Aidensfield bobby has since changed hands several times – as has the role of Aidensfield doctor. These and numerous other changes to the cast that have taken place over fifteen series are detailed under "Characters and Cast" below.
As of 2006, three regular characters have survived from the first series: Oscar Blaketon (played by Derek Fowlds), Alf Ventress (William Simons) and Phil Bellamy (Mark Jordon). The recurring character of Lord Ashfordly, played by Rupert Vansittart, is also a survivor. Gina Ward (Tricia Penrose) was introduced early in the second series and is also still present.
As it reaches middle age, the show has become rather formulaic, with most episodes following a very similar structure. The main storylines are generally to do with criminal activity and related medical matters, and personal traumas. Typically one or more crimes take place, which are investigated by the Aidensfield bobby and the other policemen from the Ashfordly police station. The villains are almost always apprehended by the end of the episode, and usually appear for one episode only.
In parallel, the regular "lovable rogue" character of the day dreams up some scheme or other, often involving making money on the fringes of the law. This forms the sub-plot, which acts as light (and sometimes comic) relief. Sometimes these sub-plots are closely interwoven with the main storyline; other times they barely impinge and might be better termed "parallel plots". Other regular local characters get involved in the main plot or sub-plot in one way or another, with the Aidensfield Arms village pub and Aidensfield Garage featuring prominently.
Storylines are usually resolved within the episode, but the development of the main characters and their personal relationships – especially love interests – takes place over many episodes or even series. Because each episode is designed to be more-or-less self-contained, the show can sometimes appear to suffer from abrupt lurches in continuity. Extremely dramatic and traumatic events that afflict the central characters are often forgotten by the next episode, and characters who assume great importance in one episode, as, say, relatives or close friends are frequently never seen nor mentioned again.
[edit] Episode Listing
For a complete listing of Heartbeat episode titles, see List of Heartbeat episodes.
[edit] Characters and cast
For information about cast members and also about guest stars who appeared on the programme, see Heartbeat (characters and cast).
[edit] Video and DVD releases
For information about video and DVD releases of the programme, see Heartbeat (recordings).
[edit] The Royal
The ITV medical drama series The Royal was originally a spin-off from Heartbeat, with the twelfth-season Heartbeat episode "Out of the Blue" serving as an introductory pilot for the show. The series initially had close ties with Heartbeat, and several Heartbeat characters made an appearance. However, over time The Royal has gone on to develop its own separate identity. Currently [2006], seasons of Heartbeat and The Royal alternate (interspered with other unrelated series) to occupy the ITV1 Sunday evening 8 p.m. timeslot. On some occasions, the new season of Heartbeat has been split into two halves, with the first half showing before The Royal, and the remainder shown when The Royal has finished.
[edit] Trivia
- The Torrey Canyon oil spill provided an off-screen plot point in a series ostensibly set in 1969, despite having actually occurred two years earlier.
- Occasionally records from the 1970s appear, anachronistically, on the soundtrack. The most recent record so featured is believed to be The Hollies' 1974 hit, "The Air That I Breathe".
- On occasions when real-life maps have been shown on screen, Ashfordly has been indicated to be in the location of real-life Grosmont, some six miles southwest of Whitby (though Ashfordly is portrayed as a reasonable-sized market town, whereas real-life Grosmont is a small village). Aidensfield (although not explicitly pointed out), would then fit in neatly with the real-life location of Goathland (where the show is filmed), which lies about nine miles southwest of Whitby and about two and a half miles from Grosmont.
- A distance of two and a half miles between Ashfordly and Aidensfield fits with the impression given in the series that the two are very close (for example, the Ashfordly police seem to treat the Aidensfield village pub as their "local"). In one episode Vernon Scripps stated that Ashfordly is "a few miles" from Aidensfield. However, in another episode it was stated that racers in "hot rod" cars took about 17 minutes to make the journey. Even at a very conservative 35 m.p.h. along the country roads, this still equates to a distance of ten miles – rather further than expected. And in the series 16 episode "Memoirs of a Fighting Man" it was said, in reference to Aidensfield Garage, that "there isn't another garage around for twenty miles". It seems inconceivable that a 1960s town the size of Ashfordly would not have a garage, so by this evidence the distance is greater than twenty miles.
- In one of the very first episodes, Sergeant Blaketon states that the Ashfordly police force comprises 12 officers. However, only four (or at times five) of these ever feature in the show (these being the Ashfordly sergeant and Aidensfield village constable of the day, plus Bellamy, Ventress, and, from time to time, another rookie PC). Occasionally other anonyomous police officers are seen in the background (for example when the force is required to police a large demonstration or undertake a search of the moors), but they are never given names or any dialogue, and it is unclear whether or not they are Ashfordly police. Otherwise, the small contingent of regulars appears able to provide a continuous 24-hour service for the whole area, with someone always available to respond to any call-out at any time of the day or night.
- All episodes have been one hour long. The opening episode of Series 11 was planned to be the show's first two-hour episode, but it was eventually split into a two-part story, 'Sweet Sixteen' and 'She's Leaving Home'.
- In recent years, Heartbeat re-runs have appeared on ITV1 during the summer months (often billed on-screen as "Classic Heartbeat"), typically at 5 p.m. or, in 2006, at 4 p.m.. In 2006, episodes from the first few series were repeated again. These were originally designed to be screened with two commercial breaks, but were slightly edited for time to fit ITV1's newer policy of having three breaks. Most of the swearing ("bloody", "bastard", etc.) that was present in the early episodes was edited out for these daytime broadcasts.
- Series 1 – 6 have also been repeated on ITV3. For these broadcasts, the episodes were kept in their original two commercial break format. Most of the early swearing was edited out, but in some episodes was left in.
- Bill Maynard (Greengrass) reluctantly left the series due to poor health, with the producers unwilling to take the risk of insuring him to be on set. The producers offered to have a departing episode written for him, but he declined and so his exit was explained without his appearing. Maynard went on to reprise his popular role of Greengrass in the first series of The Royal (see above).
- It is somewhat of a tradition that all of the Aidensfield doctors have died in the series. To date, only one of the six serving doctors has exited the series without meeting his or her maker. Dr. Alex Ferrenby (Frank Middlemass) died by drowning; Dr. Kate Rowan (Niamh Cusack) died of Leukemia; Dr. Neil Bolton (David Michaels) died rescuing a baby from a house fire; Dr. Tricia Summerbee (Clare Calbraith) died in a horse riding accident; and Dr. Helen Walker (Sophie Ward) died in a bomb explosion that ruined the Police house. This leaves Dr. Liz Merrick (Aislín McGuckin) as the only character to date to serve as the doctor in Aidensfield and make it out alive!
- When Sergeant Blaketon (Derek Fowlds) was forced to retired from the force due to poor health, the writers originally gave him a new role working in the local Post Office. However, they found this hard to tie in to many of the stories, and so before they long they wrote him to take over co-running the Aidensfield Arms with Gina (Tricia Penrose), to bring him back to the fore of the stories more.
- Probationary PC Tom Nicholson (Ryan Early) was only originally intended to appear in a four episode story arc in Series 11. However, he proved so popular that his appearances were quickly extended to span most of the season. But when he was eventally killed off, it didn't stop an outcry from some of the national newspapers.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Niamh Cusack - TV.com website
- ^ 2001 TV ratings
- ^ 2003 TV ratings
- ^ Why the title of "Heartbeat" was chosen
[edit] External links
- Heartbeat at itv.com
- "Heartbeat" - Scriptwriter
- "Heartbeat" - the key characters of the TV series
- Heartbeat Online
- Out of Time A fanlisting with extras from the show.
- The Addicted A discussion board about the show.
- TV.com Heartbeat site
