The village losing its Heartbeat
IT'S the tiny Yorkshire community put on the map by the top-rating Sixties nostalgia series, which is now fighting to save the show - and it's future...
For almost two decades it has been a staple of Sunday night family viewing, a nostalgic retreat into community life in the Sixties, set against a backdrop of spectacular views and rolling countryside.
Ever since the ITV1 series Heartbeat first aired in April 1992 – when Nick Berry arrived as the new, motorcycle-riding village bobby – the programme’s gentle charms and its soundtrack of the music from that golden era have won over millions of viewers.
It has also brought a stream of tourists to the picturesque North York Moors village of Goathland where the programme is filmed.
This tiny village, where cream-coloured cottages nestle amid the striking landscape, doubles up as the show’s fictional village of Aidensfield. So when ITV announced late last month that it was suspending filming on Heartbeat, the 400-strong community was aghast.
Rather than see the show wiped from the schedules, Goathland residents have begun a battle to keep the programme which fuels their economy and in two weeks they have managed to gather 10,000 signatures on a petition calling for ITV to reconsider its decision.
The project has the backing of at least one MEP and the resident who has masterminded the campaign is considering whether to go to the television company or to take the plea to the House of Commons.
“We were devastated when we heard they were going to suspend making Heartbeat. We couldn’t believe it,” says Brian Taylor, who has been running Goathland Post Office with his wife Susan for eight years.
We were all devastated when we heard
“Now we are going to get as many signatures as we can and see if ITV will change its minds. It’s not just this village that will be affected, it’s the whole of the area on the North York Moors. So many people here benefit from the tourism that Heartbeat brings.
"I’ve had so many e-mails from people saying, ‘We’ve fallen in love with the place because of Heartbeat and now we come every year.’ The number of jobs that have been created because of it must be in the thousands. If Heartbeat is no longer on television it will affect everything: hotels, B&Bs, shops and coach companies.”
Many stores in Goathland sell souvenirs linked to the programme, which stars Joe McFadden as PC Joe Mason. A Heartbeat tour bus brings visitors from Whitby nine miles away so that day trippers can enjoy the scenery made familiar by the show.
Nearby attractions include the North York Moors Railway station, where trains still steam in to delight tourists, and landmarks such as the Goathland Hotel, which will be more familiar to viewers of the programme as the Aidensfield Arms pub.
During the years since Heartbeat has been on air the number of visitors to Goathland has soared to 1.2 million a year.
ITV is saying the programme has not been axed altogether but that “the decision has been taken to rest the production of the show as we have a great number of episodes stockpiled”.
However, Brian Taylor argues: “If production is ‘suspended’ it will inevitably mean the end of the show because all the actors will have moved on.”
Heartbeat, based on the Constable novels by Nicholas Rhea, has proved hugely popular since it was first broadcast, averaging 14.5million viewers in its first year and consistently pulling in an audience of more than 10million. But 18 series of the comforting police drama series later figures have fallen to between four and five million.
Rhea is philosophical about the show’s potential demise, claiming that “all good things come to an end” but Goathland
residents are adamant there are many years of Heartbeat ahead. Taylor believes falling ratings are a result of erratic scheduling by ITV which made viewers unsure when to tune in.
“I know how popular the programme still is,” he says. “I have had e-mails of support from all over the world. It’s incredible. The most surprising was from Estonia.
"I didn’t even realise they watched Heartbeat there. One e-mail said they watched it in the morning, then it’s repeated at night so they watch it again.
"People come here from Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, America. It’s unbelievable. They all know Heartbeat. The response has been amazing. It’s difficult to keep up with it all.”
And if this huge groundswell of support was not enough, Timothy Kirkhope, who represents Yorkshire and the Humber in the European Parliament, met Brian Taylor at the weekend and has signed the petition and vowed to take up the campaign to save the show.
“I understand ITV plc has problems and they’re trying to cut back but if Heartbeat is axed the effect on the local community really will be very, very savage,” says Kirkhope.
“I’ve written to ITV’s executive chairman Michael Grade to say can you please be aware of the knock-on effect of cuts in ITV, not only in terms of a local community in Goathland but of a whole tourist industry in Yorkshire. It is a big
financial issue.
"If he doesn’t respond positively – or if he reacts as if it’s an irritation – then I think it’s a matter I would want to take further with Ofcom. I know we’re under pressure economically but this is not the time to take away some of the more popular, reassuring programmes which help boost the morale of the country.”
Taylor says: “Ultimately there could be a bigger issue here than just losing Heartbeat. They’re also talking about
axing The Royal (Heartbeat’s spin-off series set in a Yorkshire hospital in the Sixties) and a lot of people are terrified that all we will be left with is reality television.”
Buoyed by the success of Taylor’s petition, a spin-off petition has been started at the Grapevine Cafe And Restaurant in Whitby which boasts more than 300 signatures. Owners Mark and Tracy Witherington have a Heartbeat wall dedicated to the show and play Sixties music.
The programme holds a special place in their hearts as they used to run the Plough Inn at Scalby where the cast, including Bill Maynard, who played lovable rogue Claude Jeremiah Greengrass in the early series, were regulars.
“Their petition will then be joined with ours,” saysTaylor, who believes that the village will suffer most during the winter months if Heartbeat is axed. This is when few tourists visit the areas and the local community relies on the cast and crew to bring in business.
“We won’t fall off a cliff just because Heartbeat stops. It’ll be a gradual decline but it will be particularly obvious in the winter when there can be 80 cast and crew staying in the village.
"They were here the week before last. If they hadn’t been here our takings would have been desperate. One of the reasons we’ve still got a post office is because of Heartbeat.”
Supportive e-mails from viewers have focused on the nostalgic quality of the series which, they suggest, will leave in a hole in television schedules.
“I’m sure others will also miss the capers of Alf Ventress, Bernie Scripps and company if the programme is taken off the air for good,” reads one.
“I don’t know how myself and other such Heartbeat lovers will cope with such a tragedy.”
“It is one of the few inoffensive programmes left on TV, without violence and swearing,” says Keith Richardson, from the Goathland Hotel, aka The Aidensfield Arms.
“But unfortunately people paid a lot more than me make the decisions on these things. It is bound to affect the tourism here. I’ve been running the hotel for 24 years and the programme helped tourism when it started and it’ll affect it adversely when it ends”.
Richardson is sceptical that the petition will have an effect on cash-strapped ITV bosses but Brian Taylor has vowed to continue collecting signatures and is aiming for the 50,000 mark. With the backing of an MEP he might just succeed. After all, ITV brought back the drama Foyle’s War due to popular demand.
“It’s not just for our own financial reasons, it’s the fact that so many people enjoy Heartbeat,” he says. “We’re not doing this to upset ITV but to show them how important Heartbeat is to people”.
