Jonathan Kerrigan is moving from Merseybeat to Heartbeat, despite declaring his days as a fictional copper were over. Steve Pratt reports on the latest arrival at Aidenfield as the series reaches episode 5.

The latest recruit to ITV's nostalgic police drama Heartbeat began by eating his own words.

The former Casualty actor is reminded that, after leaving Merseybeat, he said he wasn't interested in doing another long-running TV series or playing a policeman again.

Yet here he is arriving in Aidensfield as the series celebrates its 250th episode as Heartbeat's latest leading policeman, PC Rob Walker, following in the footsteps of Nick Berry, Jason Durr and James Carlton.

"I took a year out to do theatre and concentrate on music and stuff, and missed telly and camerawork," he explains. "With something like Heartbeat, which is so established, so well run and such a well-oiled machine, I wanted to embrace a show like that and get back into playing the policeman which I'd never played in Merseybeat.

"The character in that wasn't someone I liked playing, yet reading Heartbeat there's more room to play. There are comedy aspects and he's a nicer character. He's someone I quite like wearing. Whereas the character I was playing in Merseybeat was the last person I'd like to go for a drink with. It's not very nice waking up every morning and being that person," he says.

PC Rob Walker doesn't get the warmest of welcomes in Aidensfield, mainly because the older members of the police force remember that his father was a criminal who got off because his son provided him with an alibi. Some locals can't believe that Rob isn't a chip off the old crooked block.

Kerrigan had a happier arrival on the set as an actor. "The first day was so nerve-racking obviously joining something like Heartbeat. It's a testament to what goes out on screen that everyone is so welcoming, and that extends right the way to the crew as well," he says.

The only thing that took time to get used to was the uniform. "It felt very alien at first and my girlfriend told me I looked like a Nazi stripper-gram, which didn't help," he says. "I soon grew into it, however. Now, whenever they tell me I'm going on without my knee-length jackboots, I'm lost," he says.

He also had to pass his motorcycle test, although fitting in lessons with the demands of the filming schedule wasn't easy. "It took me a while. These things go really fast with the 650 engine. They had to technology to make it go fast in the Sixties but not to make it stop," he says.

He won't be getting a motorbike in real life, mainly because his contract doesn't allow it and besides, he reckons his girlfriend wouldn't let him have one. "I am 31, I've got out of my system boyhood feelings of wanting to go fast. Now I quite like being alive. I don't think I could get a bike for that reason," he says.

Joining Heartbeat has meant being separated from actress girlfriend Shelley Conn. While he's filming in North Yorkshire, she's down in Devon shooting the latest series of BBC1's Down To Earth. The couple met on Merseybeat but "we didn't get together until quite a little while after that" says Kerrigan, who used to date his Casualty co-star Claire Goose.

He and Conn would like to work together again. At present, they have to settle for weekends together. Last year, when they were doing stage work they were working in neighbouring theatres in London's West End and got to see each other quite a lot.

A wedding isn't on the cards as Kerrigan says "the marriage thing" is something he just doesn't get. Fortunately, Conn shares his opinion. He's fine with other people getting wed but not him. "I would feel a bit hypocritical standing in church and declaring my vows in front of God when I don't even know what my thoughts are on religion," he says.

"Even if it's a civil ceremony, it's a declaration to other people of your love, and that's not what's important for us. It should be a declaration to each other. We can't understand why we would necessarily want to go through that.

"But if it was something that Shelley really wanted then obviously I would oblige. That sounds romantic doesn't it? If you want to get married, I'll oblige. Cut to next year, when I'm married."

Kerrigan has yet to find romance in Heartbeat. Halfway through filming the 26 episodes in his debut series and PC Walker has yet to hook up with any of Aidensfield's females.

He accepts that he's likely to be tagged as a sex symbol because of his new role. "You have to get pre-fixed by something. My favourite one was affable. I think I'd rather be a sex symbol than affable," he says.

Away from acting, he runs a music company called Smirk with friends. They've produced soundtracks for documentaries and hope to do more, but he says it's not a viable economic option at the moment to just devote himself to music.

But making music does have advantages over acting. "You have complete creative control whereas as an actor you do what the director says. It's a good way to get my creative outlet," he says.

* Heartbeat returns to ITV1 on Sunday at 8pm.

Published: 02/09/2004