Heartbeat fans back petition to save show (From The Northern Echo)

Heartbeat fans back petition to save show

10:10am Wednesday 4th February 2009

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ALMOST 1,000 fans of longrunning television drama Heartbeat have backed a campaign by villagers to save the show.

Residents of Goathland, where the Sixties police drama is filmed, fear it will be dropped by maker ITV after a halt in production of episodes was announced last week.

Brian Taylor, postmaster in the North York Moors village, has started a petition to save the show. In only four days, he has collected almost 1,000 signatures.

Residents fear that if the programme is cut, there will be a huge impact on the local economy through lost tourism.

Mr Taylor, said: “We always hear little rumours about this time of year that they are going to stop filming and feel they might finish in May.

“We have still not had clarification about it. If it goes, it will have a big impact on Goathland and the surrounding area.

“It is huge and it brings lots of people in. The TV crew is here on and off for about six months of the year.

“In the summer, we get tourists, but in the winter it’s great to have the crew here as they use the bed and breakfasts and local shops and they bring tourists in.

“I set up the petition at heartbeatgifts.co.uk and the response has been unbelievable.

I have had people getting in contact from around the world.”

The petition will be handed into ITV bosses in the hope of saving the show.

Heartbeat began broadcasting in 1992 with former East- Enders actor Nick Berry playing Londoner PC Nick Rowan, who transferred to Yorkshire.

In its heyday, the show pulled in 15 million viewers a week, but now the drama, which has Joe McFadden in the lead role, has nearer 5.5 million a week.

Peter Walker, who wrote the Constable books on which Heartbeat is based, said: “All good things come to an end.

“I think it has done an enormous amount of good for the people of Goathland and the area and it has created jobs. They have got a backlog of episodes already filmed and they will be shown towards the end of the year and next year.”

An ITV spokesman said: “Heartbeat is an important part of the ITV schedule and it is currently in production.

“The decision has been taken to rest the production of the show as we have a great number of episodes stockpiled.

It has not been axed altogether.”

■ Five people injured in an onset accident last month have all been released from hospital.

The accident happened when a tractor rolled down an embankment, injuring the crew members. It is thought actor Zig Byfield, guest-starring on the show, was among the injured.

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