Post by sarahh on Apr 8, 2005 11:45:44 GMT -5
Telly talk: Still in good heart
Ian Wylie
RETURN: Heartbeat
AIDENSFIELD is hit by a deadly outbreak of anthrax when TV favourite Heartbeat returns this weekend. TEXT
Vernon Scripps, played by ex-Coronation Street star Geoffrey Hughes, is infected after buying topsoil from a landfill site as series 13 of Heartbeat resumes (ITV1, Sunday, 8pm).
Geoffrey is leaving the regular cast, but not just yet. He's currently filming the 14th series, which will see Vernon depart, later returning for guest appearances.
More surprising is the departure of Bolton-born actor James Carlton as former Manchester Pc Steve Crane, who made his first screen appearance just under a year ago.
Only the third central cop character in 13 years, it's not yet known how he'll be written out. A one-time teenage guide at Granada Studio Tours, James will have filmed 30 hours of Heartbeat by the time he leaves and wants to move on to other roles.
Dramatic
Rather more predictable is the dramatic farewell planned early in 2005 for Sergeant Dennis Merton and pharmacist wife, Jenny, played by Duncan Bell and Sarah Tansey. That's viewed as part of the natural turnover of cast members, which has helped keep the show a hit.
First screened on a Friday night in April, 1992, Heartbeat still has the highest ratings of any ITV1 drama series. Last year, it was the sixth top-rated programme in Britain with 12.8m viewers.
Scarborough spin-off, The Royal, has also proved a big success. It was the 11th highest rated show in 2003, with 12m viewers, and has just finished another impressive run of episodes.
Both series are derided by the critics but loved by their audiences. The storylines may be relatively simplistic, but that doesn't detract from the skill displayed by all those involved in telling them, from writer to performer.
Cast members like William Simons (Pc Alf Ventress), Peter Benson (Bernie Scripps) and David Lonsdale, better known as accident-prone David Stockwell, rarely hit the headlines but delight viewers with top-class performances.
Another long-serving member of the Heartbeat team is Mark Jordon, who plays Pc Phil Bellamy. Almost beside himself trying to get hold of pregnant love Gina, Phil is reprimanded this week for not keeping his mind on his work.
Leave
Cheshire-based actress Tricia Penrose, who plays Gina, took maternity leave from the series after the birth of her first baby - son Jake - last September.
But she was soon back in front of the cameras to film the final months of Gina's own screen pregnancy and the unresolved story of her return to Aidensfield, and whether or not she will marry Phil.
The couple's on-off relationship has kept viewers guessing. Mark says: "When you go out shopping or are recognised on the street, that's the one thing people ask about - are they going to get married? We've had the time to grow our relationship, so people see it as real."
Heartbeat's production team go to great lengths to keep the drama fresh, while retaining the essence of its long-running success. Of course, the critics switched off a long time ago, preferring to lavish praise on the sort of prestige TV projects which always capture the eye when the awards are handed out.
Attractive
Yet if they cared to sit down with viewers in the real world they would recognise Heartbeat as an attractive, deftly-directed, quality drama which refuses to rest on past achievements - and doesn't pretend to be something it's not.
Some 18 months ago, television executive Dawn Airey, then favourite to land the post of ITV's director of programmes, said veteran programmes like Heartbeat were coming to the end of their lives. In the event, she didn't get the job - or the point about the show.
Executive producer Keith Richardson was among those insulted by her comments.
As he once wrote: "We tell good stories, we tell them well; people know what they're going to get. And I'm not ashamed of that."
Heartbeat, 8pm, Sunday, ITV1.
Ian Wylie
RETURN: Heartbeat
AIDENSFIELD is hit by a deadly outbreak of anthrax when TV favourite Heartbeat returns this weekend. TEXT
Vernon Scripps, played by ex-Coronation Street star Geoffrey Hughes, is infected after buying topsoil from a landfill site as series 13 of Heartbeat resumes (ITV1, Sunday, 8pm).
Geoffrey is leaving the regular cast, but not just yet. He's currently filming the 14th series, which will see Vernon depart, later returning for guest appearances.
More surprising is the departure of Bolton-born actor James Carlton as former Manchester Pc Steve Crane, who made his first screen appearance just under a year ago.
Only the third central cop character in 13 years, it's not yet known how he'll be written out. A one-time teenage guide at Granada Studio Tours, James will have filmed 30 hours of Heartbeat by the time he leaves and wants to move on to other roles.
Dramatic
Rather more predictable is the dramatic farewell planned early in 2005 for Sergeant Dennis Merton and pharmacist wife, Jenny, played by Duncan Bell and Sarah Tansey. That's viewed as part of the natural turnover of cast members, which has helped keep the show a hit.
First screened on a Friday night in April, 1992, Heartbeat still has the highest ratings of any ITV1 drama series. Last year, it was the sixth top-rated programme in Britain with 12.8m viewers.
Scarborough spin-off, The Royal, has also proved a big success. It was the 11th highest rated show in 2003, with 12m viewers, and has just finished another impressive run of episodes.
Both series are derided by the critics but loved by their audiences. The storylines may be relatively simplistic, but that doesn't detract from the skill displayed by all those involved in telling them, from writer to performer.
Cast members like William Simons (Pc Alf Ventress), Peter Benson (Bernie Scripps) and David Lonsdale, better known as accident-prone David Stockwell, rarely hit the headlines but delight viewers with top-class performances.
Another long-serving member of the Heartbeat team is Mark Jordon, who plays Pc Phil Bellamy. Almost beside himself trying to get hold of pregnant love Gina, Phil is reprimanded this week for not keeping his mind on his work.
Leave
Cheshire-based actress Tricia Penrose, who plays Gina, took maternity leave from the series after the birth of her first baby - son Jake - last September.
But she was soon back in front of the cameras to film the final months of Gina's own screen pregnancy and the unresolved story of her return to Aidensfield, and whether or not she will marry Phil.
The couple's on-off relationship has kept viewers guessing. Mark says: "When you go out shopping or are recognised on the street, that's the one thing people ask about - are they going to get married? We've had the time to grow our relationship, so people see it as real."
Heartbeat's production team go to great lengths to keep the drama fresh, while retaining the essence of its long-running success. Of course, the critics switched off a long time ago, preferring to lavish praise on the sort of prestige TV projects which always capture the eye when the awards are handed out.
Attractive
Yet if they cared to sit down with viewers in the real world they would recognise Heartbeat as an attractive, deftly-directed, quality drama which refuses to rest on past achievements - and doesn't pretend to be something it's not.
Some 18 months ago, television executive Dawn Airey, then favourite to land the post of ITV's director of programmes, said veteran programmes like Heartbeat were coming to the end of their lives. In the event, she didn't get the job - or the point about the show.
Executive producer Keith Richardson was among those insulted by her comments.
As he once wrote: "We tell good stories, we tell them well; people know what they're going to get. And I'm not ashamed of that."
Heartbeat, 8pm, Sunday, ITV1.