ITV's Heartbeat series 16
ITV's Heartbeat TV show is back for a new series this Autumn. Heartbeat is set in the village of Aidensfield in the swinging sixties. It combines great television drama, with fantastic music and bags of nostalgia.
ITV Heartbeat Episode 10
Give Peace a Chance
Give Peace a Chance is first of a double bill of Heartbeat for New Year's Eve. Protestors, Vietnam and Love and Peace this episode promises to take us right back to the issues of the swinging sixties. A young couple in hippy clothes are driving a VW Beetle around the perimeter fence of an RAF base. They are singing Thunderclap Newman's 1969 hit "Something in the Air".
The base was mothballed after the War, but they have information that it may be used by the Americans to launch attacks on Vietnam. They plan to organise a protest for the weekend.
The police hear about their activities and go to the base the following day. Some protestors have already gathered. A van arrives; the driver needs to get into the base. There is a scuffle; truncheons are drawn and a girl is arrested. The press are already on the scene and a photographer with a Nikon is snapping away at what looks like police heavy handedness. A young man has blood streaming from his head; the pictures make the local paper.
Sergeant Miller is taken aback when he discovers the girl protester is his daughter, Jo. She and Miller disagreed over a young man and her political views and have not spoken for two years. Miller goes by the book and calls in Sergeant Dawson to deal with the case.
Rachel Dawson gives both Jo, and PC Walker, who is accused of hitting her, an equally hard time in the interview room, but does not get to the bottom of the story. Later Jo's partner Greg turns up at the station wanting to file a complaint. He looks a little worried when Rachel Dawson wants him to go into the interview room. Under pressure he admits that stunt was staged for the press, but will not say who put him up to it.
Sergeant Miller gets the reporter's name from the local paper. In a strange twist the reporter claims he is working for the MOD undercover to discredit the protestors. The whole idea of the MOD collaborating with protestors to discredit the police with the idea of setting up one of the protestors to take a fall sounds very far fetched. It could have easily backfired. Also I was quite surprised at Phil Bellamy's view on the Vietnam War. Would a copper really express disapproval so openly in front of colleagues?
Elsewhere a new vet arrives at Aidensfield. He is very keen on Rosie from the garage. PC Younger's hopes in that department look well and truly dashed. There is drama when the new vet lets a cobra escape. It is loose in the garage and no one seems to be able to catch it. Peggy claims to have great experience with all sorts of animals, but decides she has an urgent appointment when she discovers it is a cobra. Later she calls back in to the pub to see if it has been caught and quickly departs with David in the lorry when she finds out that snake is still at large. It is now in the lorry with her and David.
The snake bites David and Peggy has to drive him in the lorry to get help. The snake is still in the cab with Peggy. After David nearly dies, they find out it had its poison removed and is quite safe.
Later Miller makes peace with this daughter after a serious chat in the car. Then just as the episode ends PC Younger bangs on the window and asks for a lift home.
ITV Heartbeat Episode 9
Hearts and Flowers
There is drama in the Christmas Eve episode of Heartbeat, which is set in high summer. Oscar and old adversary, Joyce Jowett, are going hammer and tongs in the Aidensfield Arms over the local flower show. Oscar wants vegetables centre stage; Joyce wants to recreate Chelsea Flower show in Aidensfield. After the discussions end and the committee are leaving the pub, Joyce's sister, Sally Pringle, is shot dead in the car park.
Sgt Rachel Dawson heads the investigation. She suspects Sally Pringle was not the intended victim. The marksman might have been after Oscar Blaketon, Graham Simpson, the local headmaster, district nurse Carol Cassidy or Deirdre Brown, a gamekeeper's wife.
Rachel Dawson and Rob Walker interview Carol. She is less than pleased about Rob telling Rachel about the break up with her fiancé. He immediately comes under suspicion, but when Carol points out he has found someone else, he seems less likely to be the killer.
Next Oscar reads in the paper that villain, Wes Curtis, has been released from prison. Oscar helped put him away for armed robbery, but it turns out he is in hospital recovering from a stroke. Even Bernie thinks he might be the target. He laid out the wrong body for a funeral and the family were understandably upset.
Rachel finds out that Graham Simpson was dismissed from his job in London for starting a relationship with a 17 year old pupil. Her parents wanted him charged with rape and her father was a military man.
Elsewhere David Stockwell is struggling to start a business as an ice-cream man. , getting his supplies from a local farmer, who has some very primitive ice cream making equipment.
Joyce wants to go ahead with the flower show and Oscar suggests holding it in the village hall.
Deirdre Brown visits Graham Simpson whilst Rob Walker is guarding him. Rob spots a certain chemistry between Graham and Deirdre and he asks him how long the affair has been going on. The likely victim is still Graham, but Deirdre's husband Len is now the suspect.
The police have searched the village hall in preparation for the flower show, but Len Brown has already hidden himself in the roof and escapes notice. The show starts. Len makes his move, pointing the gun through the stage curtains. Rob sees him and sneaks up behind, but Len opens the curtains and openly threatens the crowd, aiming at Graham. Rob Walker grabs him from behind and Phil Bellamy takes his gun.
After Len Brown is taken away Rachel Dawson says "Thank you constable" to Rob Walker. Rachel has seen that Rob and Carol seem to be getting along. Rob still says that they are just good friends, although he does not sound too convincing.
A special guest in this week's episode is Lindsey Coulson (Deirdre Brown) who many will remember her as Carol Jackson from Eastenders. She also played Ann Peterson in BBC drama The Street.
Another guest, George Layton (Graham Simpson), is no stranger to 60s drama. He made appearances in The Likely Lads and Z Cars. His first big part was as Dr Paul Collier, in the classic ITV sitcom Doctor in the House. It was was first screened in 1969; the year Heartbeat is now set.
Guest appearances
- Graham Simpson - George Layton
- Sally Pringle - Elizabeth Mansfield
- Deirdre Brown - Lindsey Coulson
- Len Brown - Garry Cooper
ITV Heartbeat Episode 8
Little White Lies
The week's episode of the ITV television drama Heartbeat starts when a boy comes home unexpectedly to discover his mother and "Uncle" Nigel Parker in the bedroom. Nigel is getting dressed. The boy, Duncan, forms the opinion that his parents are about to separate and is unhappy about going away to boarding school.
He plans to sabotage Nigel's MGB GT. He asks Rosie how she adjusts steering on cars. Later the MG is involved in a crash and Duncan assumes he is responsible and disappears onto the Moors. His older brother, Guy, is in the Army and has passed some of his survival skills onto young Duncan.
Elsewhere, Peggy and David are skint and cannot afford to fill the lorry up with petrol. Peggy plans to sell some of her valuables at a local auction. David takes his priceless football boots, the former property of Stanley Matthews, to be valued. Aunt Peggy advises against it. She gave the boots to David when he was a small boy and knows that they did not really belong to the great man, but doesn't have the heart to tell him.
David finds out the truth and is upset. Bernie persuades him to see sense. Aunt Peggy queued up for hours to get Stanley Matthews' autograph, but did not get to see him. She gave David the boots as compensation.
Also in this episode Constable Jeff Younger gets assigned lollypop man duty. He lets a boy try on his helmet and in so doing manages to spread nits to the rest of the station.
Phil and Gina arrange a blind date for Rob, as they feel it is time he got out a bit more, following the death of his wife Helen. They arrange a foursome with Gina's hairdresser, Paula Wyatt. The evening goes awkwardly, as Rob still misses Helen. Paula gives him some advice that it is alright to still miss Helen, but to live with the loss.
Later Duncan falls down a pothole and gets stuck. Luckily the police manage to find him. In the end Nigel Parker pulls through and Duncan's tampering with steering did no real damage to the car. It seems that Nigel must have had one too many on his way back from a party.
Guest appearances
- Gerald Hudson - Michael Jayston
- Duncan Hudson - Joel Cheetham
- Anita Hudson - Emma Amos
- Nigel Parker - John Gully
- Paula Wyatt - Sally Ann Matthews
Readers' comments:
Whilst watching episode 8 on the 17th December, whilst David was loading up the lorry, it was pleasant to note the Hummingbird Hawk Moth flying in the foreground.
Mike T
ITV Heartbeat Episode 7
Stumped
ITV's Heartbeat this week has an armed robbery and a grudge cricket match between Aidensfield and Scarsdale.
Scarsdale look odds on favourites to keep the Monkton Shield if they can beat Aidensfield for the third time. Oscar Blaketon is struggling to raise team as most of the village is down with a tummy bug. Rosie offers to play, but Oscar is having none of it; a woman's place is making the sandwiches.
Elsewhere, Ashfordly Police get a tip off about a wages' van raid. It looks like classic Sweeney stuff: the police lie in wait, PC Younger is undercover as a security guard at the factory, PC Walker is in the wages' van, PC Bellamy is keeping watch and Sergeant Miller is standing by in the car.
When the gang try to take the van there is a fight, but two of them get away with the money in a venerable old Austin Hereford, surely they could have nicked something better?
Later credulity is stretched to the limit, when a lady in a beret, bearing a remarkable resemble to Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde, flags down PC Walker's motorbike and asks for his assistance with the same Austin Hereford. Surely the all the Police in the County of Yorkshire are looking for this vehicle and wouldn't the robbers have dumped it straight after the job? The normally observant Rob Walker fails to notice the car from the wages heist. He pokes his head under the bonnet to figure out what was wrong and whilst he is checking the spark plugs, he is knocked on the head and taken hostage.
The robbers demand the release of their mate in exchange for Walker. They booby trap the basement where Walker is being held with a bomb, but the "Faye Dunaway look-alike" leaves him her knife. Rob has just enough time to free himself and defuse the bomb before Phil Bellamy and Sergeant Miller burst in.
The Aidensfield cricket team is struggling on without the help of the police contingent - Walker, Ventress, Younger and Bellamy, who are obviously busy elsewhere. Their star player is David Stockwell. He was taken on a pub crawl by the Scarsdale team and is still under the influence. Oscar Blaketon finally swallows his pride and lets Rosie bat whilst he goes to find David. In the end Rosie saves the day and David sobers up enough to play and scores the final 5 runs needed to win with a six. Did anyone spot former Yorkshire cricketers Ray Illingworth and Brian Close, watching and commentating on the match and Dickie Bird as the umpire?
ITV Heartbeat Episode 6
Pretty Woman
For this episode of ITV's Heartbeat TV series, it's beauty contest time at Ashfordly. By the early 70s, women's lib groups were on the increase and a protest or two was to be expected. Does anyone remember Carry on Girls (1973)?
This time Miss Ashfordly receives some worrying poison pen letters. There seems to be something more sinister at work. It turns out that the threats are from her mother. She has a murky past to hide. Her husband and the girl's father was hanged for murder 20 years ago and she wanted to keep it a secret from her two daughters.
Did any one spot Bernie Scripps with this Polaroid camera in the opening scene? These were getting popular in the late sixties.
Elsewhere, Peggy hatches a complicated plan to get a betting slip from a dead man's jacket pocket. The horse came in at 50-1. She persuades Bernie Scripps to swap his coat for a naval jacket, with a tale of him wanting to be buried in his uniform. It turned out that he backed the winner, but in last year's race when the horse failed to finish.
Finally, it looks like Phil and Gina are getting back together at last.
ITV Heartbeat Episode 5
Memoirs of a Fighting Man
This episode of ITV's Heartbeat TV drama tells the story of a War hero, Major Littlewood. He saved his Sergeant by carrying him 20 miles to safety from behind enemy lines. His courage is tested again when young burglar, Billy Travis, breaks into in his house. The Major takes the law into his own hands and shoots the young man dead. After giving himself up to the police, he is charged with murder.
Later it transpires that Major Littlewood is not quite the hero he seems. In his memoirs he tells the story of shooting a German soldier; in truth he fired a warning shot and let the German escape. The German raised the alarm and 30 of the Major's men died. When faced with Billy he acts the same way; he fires a warning shot, but he trips and fires the fatal shot by accident. His pride prevents him from admitting to this, although PC Rob Walker works it out.
The other main story this week is centred on Bernie's garage. Rosie thinks he is in trouble when a letter arrives from the Official Receiver. Peggy is persuaded by a travelling salesman to give the garage a new look. It turns out Bernie was owed some money and when he returns he is less than taken by the flashy red and yellow makeover.
Quote of the day: Petrol will never go above 5 shillings a gallon (Bernie Scripps)
Also in this episode is the story of a young girl, Vicky Cammish, who is worried about being pregnant by a young man. Her young man is Billy Travis. She is afraid to ask for help from her dad. In those days he might have thrown her out.
Later Billy Travis' younger brother, Chris, goes missing. He has taken petrol and the police think he is planning to fire bomb Major Littlewood's house, though his actual target is Vicky's house. He blames her for motivating Billy to do the burglary. In the end Vicky's father accepts what has happened and goes to see Billy's mother to explain. Chris is charged with arson and Major Littlewood looks likely to be found guilty of Billy's murder. He sees this as justice for failing to do his duty 30 years ago.
Readers' comments:
I was very disappointed at Sunday 26th November episode with the police being so up in arms at someone defending his own property from break in burglars. In the sixties, before all this stupid human rights business the police wouldn't have been so heavy handed. It seems that the programme tried to transfer today's brainwashing standards into the sixties. Of course he would have been questioned, perhaps charged, but he wouldn't have been so castigated for shooting a violent yobbo.
Reginald S
ITV Heartbeat Episode 4
Please, Please Me
In episode 4 of ITV's Heartbeat, Peggy Armstrong's Austin 16 is stolen, along with David's dog, Deefer, in the boot. David is, of course, very upset at the loss of his beloved companion.
A couple of lads doing window cleaning jobs have developed a lucrative sideline in stealing old cars to sell on to a dealer. They also steal a Rover 75 and a split screen Morris Minor. All valuable classics today, but in the late sixties they would have ended up in the scrap yard or as banger racers.
Also in this episode, Rosie is being followed by a young man, Peter Seton, who won't take no for an answer. Today, we would call this stalking. In the sixties, the best the police can do is threaten him with an ancient statute and the prospect of being bound over to keep the peace.
Later Peter Seton beats up David Stockwell, whom he mistakenly believes is Rosie's boyfriend after he sees Rosie comforting David because Deefer is still missing. He ends up in police custody and looking at a stretch in jail for actual bodily harm.
The police eventually catch the gang responsible for the thefts, but not before the gang discover that the 50s cars they have stolen are worthless. Deefer in the meantime has returned home, followed by a lovestruck gang of dogs, as she is on heat.
The Gina/Phil, will they, won't they saga takes another twist this week, as Gina confesses to Phil that she is tired of looking further a field for a boyfriend, when the person she really cares about is on her doorstep, ie Phil Bellamy. Phil, however, is mortified at her suggestion that they should give their relationship another try, as he feels he has suffered enought hurt in his life (the loss of his and Gina's son, Daniel and the discovery that his "wife" Debbie, was still married to her first husband, whom he had been lead to believe by Debbie, was dead). Our hearts go out to Gina as she realises that she may have lost Phil for good, although he does give a slight smile as he leaves the Aidensfield Arms with Rob Walker. May be all is not lost yet Gina!
ITV Heartbeat Episode 3
Intelligence Matters
This week's episode of ITV's Heartbeat has a Cold War theme. A Russian trawler man, Andrei Beschastnyck, has strayed ashore near Fylingdales. He breaks into an elderly resident's, (Alice Tupper) shed and gives her a fright. When district nurse Carol makes a routine visit she calls the police. The Russian runs off after Carol finds him hiding in the shed.
Elsewhere Peggy Armstrong discovers what appears to be plans for a murder in the effects of deceased resident, Sadie Copley. She plans to unmask the killer.
After a chase across the moors, Andrei Beschastnyck is picked up by PCs Phil Bellamy and Rob Walker. On their way back to the station, a black Austin Cambridge blocks the Police's Ford Anglia's progress. In the car are a Home Office representative and DS Rachel Dawson. They demand that Bellamy and Walker hand the Russian over to them. After a call to the station and confirmation from Sergeant Miller, they refuse and take him back to Ashfordly.
It seems that the Russian is suspected of being a spy. Miller, though, plays it by the book and releases him after Mrs Tupper decides against pressing charges. It seems suspicions are right when Andrei Beschastnyck does not get the bus back to Whitby to board his ship. His motives though are noble. He fixes the broken window at Mrs Tupper's house and Carol gives him a lift to the railway station.
MI5 officers have other ideas and lift him from the station at gun point. It seems that more sinister forces are at work and he is to be handed over to the CIA for interrogation, whether he is a spy or not.
Sergeant Miller's sense of fair play saves the Russian from his fate. After one MI5 man crashes his Land Rover and is taken to the local surgery, Miller threatens him with charges of kidnap. The Home Office representative is persuaded to swap Andrei Beschastnyck for his colleague in police custody.
Meanwhile, Peggy's investigation is getting nowhere. Alf Ventris takes a look at the murder plans; they turn out to be a short story written for a creative writing class.
ITV Heartbeat Episode 2
Old Scores
Episode 2 of ITV's Heartbeat centres around Martin Beldon, an ex-con who has just returned to his farm in Aidensfield. Hid did time for the rape of a young girl, Judy Wharton, who committed suicide shortly after. Her family want him out of Aidensfield. After a number of incidents - trapping a sheep; killing a dog and setting his caravan alight, they are warned off by the police. Later, Linda, the sister of Judy Wharton persuades a friend to claim Beldon raped her. He is proved innocent of that, but agrees to leave Aidensfield after being threatened at gun point by Linda Wharton.
Elsewhere, Peggy Armstrong nearly runs over an old tramp. He had had too much to drink and was listening to his transistor radio and did not see her car. He turns out to be an old flame, Sid Vickers, from Peggy's murky past. He used to be an entertainer, but lost his nerve. Peggy uncharacteristically put him up and persuades him to do a turn for no payment at the Aidensfield Arms. He does a great Elvis Presley tribute and the regulars are impressed.
Another old friend turns up. This time a former colleague of Rob Walker, DS Rachel Dawson, who is staking out a suspect believed to be returning to the area. Will she be a rival to Nurse Carol Cassidy for his affections?
ITV Heartbeat Episode 1
C'est La Vie
The first episode of the new series of ITV's Heartbeat TV programme has a distinctly French flavour. Aidensfield is going to be twinned with a town in France. Oscar Blaketon has invited Yvette Lenoir in advance of the main party for the celebration. Peggy Armstrong shows Yvette some local activities including poaching. Yvette gets to meet the local police on less than ideal terms. After a night in the cells she is free to go without charge.
The festivities do not go entirely to plan when the train carrying the main party steams straight through the village.
Elsewhere Aidensfield has a new district nurse Carol Cassidy. Is there a romantic interest developing between her and the recently widowed Rob Walker?