Heartbeat - The story behind the series

A stunning new 132-page book on the history and facts surrounding this massive TV series, produced in conjunction with the series makers and stars, and written by the author of the original ‘Constable’ books, Nicholas Rhea, which inspired the Heartbeat series.

His first hand knowledge of the subject, and exclsuive images form the ITV - makes this a unique publication that all fans of the series will want to own.

A digital copy is available for £3.99 - CLICK HERE

The Heartbeat book is produced in association with ITV.

To order the Heartbeat book (digital copy only available) >>

Foreword

Heartbeat, Britain’s best-loved television drama series, is produced by ITV Yorkshire for the ITV network. Set in rural North Yorkshire during the 1960s and accompanied by music of the era, it chronicles the life of a village policeman as he goes about his varied duties in a small moorland community. The series includes a strong medical strand and some gentle humour as it focuses on the lives and problems of the local population, although it is inevitable that some serious crimes and detection methods are featured.

First screened on Friday 10 April 1992 and now boasting more than 350 hour-long episodes, Heartbeat became highly popular due to its powerful storylines plus the humour it contains and the countryside in which it is set. Known as a drama series (not a drama serial or soap such as Coronation Street, Eastenders or Emmerdale), it features a different story in each episode and highlights strong and loveable central characters in realistic situations.

In its first year, Heartbeat averaged 14.5 million viewers and was regularly in the top five TV programmes on all British channels. It has even scored higher figures than Coronation Street and in its ninth season was the best performing peak-time drama, with ratings higher than both Coronation Street and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. It is extremely popular overseas too, especially in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Norway, Finland and Denmark. It is also screened in China, Japan, Lichenstein, Iran and Saudi Arabia along with dozens of other countries as diverse as Slovenia and Bophuthatswana.

Heartbeat is the most successful television drama series of all time and its title is now a household name. This is how it all started.

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