ITV's Heartbeat new series (series 17)
ITV's Heartbeat television drama is back, continuing with series 17 from Easter Sunday - a welcome return for our regular dose of sixties' nostalgia.
Episode 13 - Out of the Long Dark Night
Heartbeat finally returns after a long and unexplained absence. I wonder if ITV are putting it on if there isn't anything better.
This episode is a good one. A serious subject, that of Nazi war criminals is tackled well. You have to remember that in 1969 the War was only 24 years ago.
A young woman, Miss Barnes, has tracked down the person she believes was responsible for her parents death in a concentration camp. She identified Eva Knight as the concentration camp nurse who condemned her parents to death. However, all is not as it seems. Eva stole the papers of the real concentration camp nurse in order to escape from the Russians. She is innocent.
Elsewhere fun is provided by Bernie's attempt to revive an old traction engine which runs away with David and ends up in the lake.
Heartbeat - returning Easter Sunday
- Episode 11 - A brush with the law
- Episode 12 - The heart of a man
Episode 10 - Changing roles
After a break, Heartbeat is back with a cracking new episode. Changing roles is a story of a poacher turned gamekeeper, and crook giving evidence against his gangland boss.
The crook is Alec Fletcher. He has turned against his boss, Jimmy Fay, after Fay murdered a newsagent in cold blood and asked Fletcher to clean up the mess. Sergeant Dawson has Fletcher hidden away in a quiet street in Aidensfield.
CID have decided not to inform the local plod at Aidensfield. Jimmy Fay is well connected, and is keen to silence his former associate. The crooks plan is to lift Fletcher, by impersonating the Police. There is a break in at the Aidensfield Police Station. Nothing apparently is missing. To make matters worse, Jeff Younger's police Ford Anglia is stolen. All the gangsters need now is a police uniform and the location of Fletcher's hide away.
An old girlfriend of Joe Mason, Doreen Crosby, turns up at the village. She seems keen to start a new relationship with Joe. A nosy neighbour has already complained of strange goings on at the house where Fletcher is hiding. Mason rings Sergeant Dawson to ask her what is going on. Unfortunately, Doreen is in earshot when he Sergeant Dawson tells him it is a hush hush operation. Joe and Doreen go back to the police house after a few drinks at the Aidensfield Arms. Doreen leaves early with Joe's uniform.
Meanwhile Peggy Armstrong has taken a new job as Lord Ashfordly's game keeper. She is a reformed character and has taken to the new role with missionary zeal. She has half of the local poachers locked up on her first night. The following day she pursues a poacher, Wally. She trips and falls and accidentally shoots him in the backside.
On the day Fletcher is about to give evidence he disappears in the stolen police car. Luckily Mason remembers Doreen asking Oscar for directions to a remote farm. The Police decide to pursue this, their only lead. They arrive in time to save Fletcher from being buried alive with concrete, under a cattle grid.
Elsewhere, Lord Ashfordly decides to let Peggy go, after Wally threatens to sue. He is worried about bad publicity. It looks like Peggy will be back to poaching next week.
Episode 9 - The devil rides out
This week's episode of ITV's television drama, Heartbeat, takes us into the world of Satanism and mixes in some LSD for good measure. This episode promises much; it draws on some strong themes from late sixties' culture, but in the end it does not quite deliver.
There are some mysterious goings on at a local church. A pentagram, or five-pointed star, is sprayed in red paint on the church door. The vicar is convinced it is Satanists planning to take over his failing church. Miller suspects a gang of local Mods, or "scooter boys", as he calls them.
On the same night, Lord Ashfordly's Godson, Chas Enderly, runs over a black dog; it is sitting in the road, very strange.
Meanwhile Bernie is off to the Association of Funeral Directors' Annual Conference, in Skegness. David is left in charge of the garage. He starts a car wash business, a bob a time, and ends up with more custom than he can handle. Peggy recruits some local school kids to help.
Gina is still grieving for Phil. To make matters worse, she discovers that she is pregnant and she is unsure whether to keep the baby or not. She meets a psychiatrist, Dr Paul Hammond andh e suggest she tries LSD to ease her grief. [Although LSD was used as a therapeutic drug in psychiatry in the 50s, it was illegal in the UK from 1966.]
Meanwhile Chas turns up half naked and covered in blood in the Church. He has taken an overdose of LSD and had a bad trip. Was it self administered?
Later he drives off from Ashfordly Hall in a hurry. He is drinking a bottle of whisky and his TR5 goes off the road and nearly hits a bus. PC Mason finds Chas' brakes have been tampered with.
Two bikers, with leather jackets, long hair, and bikes easy rider style, are after Chas. The are from the rock group 'The Hounds of Satan'. Chas was their manager, but he ripped them off and spent the money on his drugs' habit. They are about to inject him with heroin ('H') when Mason turns up. The inevitable motor bike chase ends up with 'The Hounds of Satan' in police custody. It turns out they were responsible for the satanic goings on. The Vicar was in on it, taking money from the band to repair his roof.
At the end of the episode Gina decides to keep the baby. She announces that her and Phil are expecting a baby to all those gathered in the Aidensfield Arms.
Episode 8 - Only make believe
Episode 8 of Heartbeat is a real treat. Leslie Ashton, an attractive blonde arrives in Aidensfield looking for PC Don Wetherby; she is trouble. Also, Oscar Blaketon is asked to investigate a country house robbery following Mr Spurling's stay at the East Links Hotel. Mr Spurling suspects someone at the Hotel is responsible.
Oscar and Alf Ventress put together a plan to flush out the thieves. Oscar dons a chauffeur's uniform and Alf impersonates Sir James Atherly. They borrow Sir James' Rolls Royce and book into the East Links, making a big show of depositing 'Sir James' house keys at reception. Alf relishes his new role, tucking into the a la carte and having Oscar carry his bags.
To add to the confusion Bernie turns up at the Hotel. He has borrowed an MGB to take out the recently widowed Iris. It is only six weeks since the funeral and Bernie is worried about his reputation. Neither pair is too happy to see the other. Oscar puts Bernie in the picture and swears him to secrecy.
The robbery takes place as expected, only it is Iris' house that is burgled, not Sir James'. When Alf realises this, Bernie races him to Iris' house in the MGB.
Alf steals the keys to the robbers' transit and the police arrive just in time.
Elsewhere, Leslie has accused Don Wetherby of trying to run her over in his Standard Ten, actually she threw herself at the car. She takes a knife from Gina Bellamy's kitchen at the Aidensfield Armsand goes to the police house. Luckily PC Joe Mason arrives before any harm is done. Leslie needs help, but Don Wetherby has gone down further in Sergeant Miller's estimation.
Episode 7 - Burying the past
This is the episode featuring Phil Bellamy's funeral. He is buried with full police honours and Oscar gives a moving speech. Gina finds it difficult and Peggy disappears. Gina hints that she may be leaving Aidensfield soon; there are just too many memories.
Elsewhere, teacher Neil Foreman is found dead in his cottage. A revolver is found beside him and it looks like suicide. PC Joe Mason (Joe McFadden), however, is not convinced.
Foreman took a school trip out onto the moors ten years ago and a boy died after he fell into a swollen river. He was cleared of any blame, but the boy's father still held a grudge. However, he had an alibi for the night of the suspected murder.
Sergeant Rachel Dawson (Clare Wille) is about to close the case, but Miller sends Mason to find out the address of Foreman's next of kin by searching for an address book at his cottage. Mason uncovers a dossier, kept by Foreman, on the school's headmaster. It turns out that the head, Anthony Barlow, had no formal teaching qualifications and had learnt his trade in prison.
Barlow is the next suspect, but he also has an alibi. However, his wife, Shirley, borrowed his car that night. She committed the murder to protect her "weak" husband and admits to it with no remorse in the police station.
Elsewhere a new doctor has arrived, Dr Chris Oakley, played by Leon Ockenden. District Nurse Carol Cassidy (Lisa Kay) seems smitten, much to PC Mason's annoyance.
Episode 6 - Touch and go
RIP Phil Bellamy
This week's episode of Heartbeat ends in tragedy. PC Phil Bellamy (Mark Jordan) attempts to disarm Max Philpot who is threatening his ex-wife and son with a shotgun. Max decides he has nothing to lose and kills Phil outright.
PC Phil Bellamy played by Mark Jordan, was everyone's favourite copper. He was a cheerful, down to earth policeman, who was a Heartbeat regular from day one. After being unlucky in love several times, he finally married Gina Ward (Trisha Penrose) who runs the pub, the Aidensfield Arms.
For a review of Phil Bellamy's 16 years in Heartbeat watch:
Farewell - Phil Monday 24 December 2007 8:00pm - 8:30pm on ITV1
Also in this episode, Oscar impersonates Hughie Green for the Aidensfield version of Double Your Money. Oscar slips into a loud, checked sports jacket and the Huey Green's famous catch phrase "and I mean that most sincerely, folks". In real life Hughie Green never said "I mean that most sincerely": it was an invention of impressionist, Mike Yarwood.
Bernie gets the prize for answering questions on the 'The Life and Films of Judy Garland'. Peggy has to do a forfeit - the washing up.
For more on Double your Money see - www.ukgameshows.com
Episode 5 - Another sleepy, dusty, delta day
The title of Episode 5 of Heartbeat is the first line of the song, An Ode To Billy Joe, written by Bobby Gentry. Another line from this song is "And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
The episode begins with Billy Hudson appearing to jump from a viaduct, or was he pushed? Billy Hudson had previously left the village with his girlfriend, Nancy Beale and their little boy Peter after a baby girl, Julia, went missing. Billy and Nancy came under suspicion, but nothing was ever proved.
Their return re-opened old wounds for Edgar Summers and his wife, the parents of the missing baby girl.
It turns out that Billy did take their child. His own son had died in what sounded like a cot death and he did the swap, thinking he could bring the Summers' daughter up as Peter for at least a few years. He was going to confess and give the child back to her parents on her third birthday. A meeting was arranged on the viaduct to hand "Peter" back to his/her real parents, however, Nancy is not prepared to give up 'Peter'. Edgar fights with Billy, taking out his years' of frustration and throws him off the viaduct.
This is a sad story. Light relief, as ever, is provided by Bernie, Peggy and David. Bernie is left an old Rolls Royce, which David hopes to restore. However, Bernie gets an offer for the car from Smudger Smith, an associate of the Rolls' former owner, Oswald 'Ossie' Floyd, that he cannot refuse: £100, far more than its value. It turns out that £500 is hidden in the car's toolkit, which Bernie, by luck, removed before Smudger drove off. To add to the confusion of this week's episode, Peggy Armstrong's double, a German woman, is seen distributing material about setting up a nudist camp in the village.
Episode 4 - Love Story
Heartbeat continues its Jekyll and Hyde character with this week's episode, Love Story. A group of Aussies are in Aidensfield for the sheep shearing at a local farm. The episode begins when their battered VW Camper dings Sergeant Miller's car. Some realism is lost in the choice of this vehicle, which was only five years old at the time, but looked like it had clocked up more than twenty years on the road.
A gold watch goes missing at the farm and the Aussies are blamed. One is banged up in a cell and the other two stage a sit in at the police station.
It turns out the the watch was taken by the farmer's daughter, Cissy. She was bullied by her brother into doing it. He has been beating her over some time. In the end she decides to leave home and embark on a career as a nurse. She is helped in her escape by Nurse Cassidy and PC Mason.
This episode tackles a difficult issue that was mostly behind closed doors in the sixties. Cissy takes a brave step into the world on her own.
Rosie also makes a difficult decision not to go to India with a former boyfriend, and opts for six weeks sheep shearing with the Aussies instead. Peggy and David go into the laundry business. Everyone ends up wearing pink pants as a result of David's mixing of colours.
By the way, didn't they have red driving licences in the sixties?
Episode 3 - Night Mail
Heartbeat has its very own version of the Great Train Robbery. A mail train is stopped and robbers make off with loads of cash. The driver is hit with the butt of one of the robber's guns. PC Mason is first on the scene.
The train driver dies from his injuries, but not before urging Mason to pursue the robbers.
The investigation is headed by DI Ludlow, a former boss of PC Mason; the two do not see eye to eye. Ludlow thinks the gang has made off to London. Mason has another theory, which bears an uncanny similarity to the real Great Train Robbery. He thinks the gang are holed up somewhere in a deserted farmhouse, sorting out the loot.
Meanwhile Ludlow is off to London to interview suspects. There seems more than a passing similarity between Ludlow's method of policing and that of DCI Gene Hunt from Life on Mars. There is even a mention of Garibaldi biscuits. (Gene Hunt asked WPC Annie Cartwright to detect him a nice packet of Garibaldis).
Mason locates the farmhouse, but by the time CID get there the robbers have left. Mason suspects the robbers have been tipped off. He is right; Ludlow is the mole.
This was a fairly exciting episode. It ends with Mason chasing the robbers' van towards a police road block manned by PC Phil Belamy and Sergeant Rachel Dawson.
There are a few historical inaccuracies in this episode. The Great Train Robbers stopped a diesel train, which is much more likely to be pulling an important mail train rather than an aging steam locomotive; by 1969, there were no steam trains on British Rail services in any case. I would have also expected to see CID driving more powerful cars. A Morris Oxford and an Austin Cambridge would hardly have set the road alight, even in the sixties. I would have expected a Mk 2 Jag, or a least a Ford Zephyr.
Episode 2 - Heirs Apparent
Heartbeat Episode 2 tells an age old story of an aristocrat getting a house maid pregnant and covering it up. A young girl arrives in the village looking for her real father, whom she thinks is Lord Ashfordly. She gets a job at Ashfordly Hall. His Lordship is less than happy about the thought of an illegitimate daughter. She accuses him of pushing her down the stairs.
This gives PC Mason the chance to arrest Lord Ashfordly, as he would any other criminal. The truth comes out. The girl's father is the recently deceased former gamekeeper on the estate and she fell down the stairs. The Lord is less than pleased, but Mason maintains he acted correctly.
Meanwhile David goes all "paranormal", when he thinks his friends are out to kill him after he writes a will.
Episode 1 - Stop Gap
ITV are promising us a new bobby for Aidensfield to replace Rob Walker. For the villagers he can't come too soon, as there has been a spate of vandalism and only Oscar Blaketon can defend the local community.
The new bobby will be PC Joe Mason, played by Joe McFadden. Joe is used to playing in sixties dramas. He starred as Dallas McCabe in Sex, Chips and Rock'n'Roll set in Manchester and London in the sixties. Joe McFadden's character was a pop star.
Joe has been on our screens since 1980, when he appeared, then aged 5, as Gary McDonald in "Take the High Road". He went on to appear in the acclaimed TV drama "Sparkhouse", which was loosely based on Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights". He also appeared with the late John Thaw in the drama series "The Glass" .
Review
Stop Gap was a great start to the new series of Heartbeat. Joe Mason is quite a character. He's a maverick who is not prepared to tug his forelock to Lord Ashfordly. He is also prepared to take chances and upset Sergeant Miller as well.
The filming has a new style too. The fight scene at the end, when Mason took on three armed robbers, was filmed in a new dramatic style to the Rolling Stones' classic "You really got me going". Let's hope more of the same is on its way for the rest of the series.