Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2006/January 2007 | Page 36

FEATURE

A day at
work with
Vernon
Scripps
Editor Martin Potter was delighted to receive an
invitation from IW-based actor Geoffrey Hughes
to visit him at work - on the set of ITV’s popular
1960s police series Heartbeat, in which he plays
the lovable rogue Vernon Scripps. Here, Martin
describes the day he travelled to Yorkshire and
walked into the real-life village that leads a
double life as the fictional Aidensfield.
Until
16
years
ago,
Goathland was just any
other sleepy village on the
Yorkshire Moors, catering
mainly for visitors who liked
to walk the surrounding
North Yorkshire Moors, or
perhaps take a ride on the
famous steam train that
runs through the village.
At least that was until Yorkshire
TV rolled up to film a new
programme called Heartbeat, a new
drama based on Nicholas Rhea’s
books. Originally planned just as
two episodes, Heartbeat has since
become a cult TV drama – and has
made the village an unexpected star.
Situated in the North Yorkshire
Moors north of Pickering, and
not far from the seaside resort of
Whitby, Goathland is surrounded
by beautiful scenery, and has its
own station on the North Yorkshire
Moors steam railway line.
Despite all that, it wouldn’t
normally be singled out as a
particularly pretty village - and
would definitely not justify the

36

large throngs of tourists that visit
throughout the summer months,
were it not famous as Aidensfield,
the setting for the popular ITV
police series Heartbeat. I must admit
to being a fan of the series myself,
as it entertains without gratuitous
violence, and episodes usually end
on a happy note.
Fans of the show are rarely
disappointed by a visit to the
fictional Aidensfield, as many of the
series landmarks are recognisable,
including the stores, the garage/
funeral directors, the public house
and of course the railway station.
Some other regular settings in
the series are located outside of
the village. The police house can
be found about 70 miles away in
the small village of Askwith near
Ilkley and the police station can be
found in the town of Otley, where
it was a real police station in former
years. However I discovered that
most interior shots are filmed in
reconstructed studios.
The Steam Railway is run by a
private trust and carries upwards of

A 1960’s Anglia police car which is now
a permanent fixture on the green.

200,000 passengers a year, linking
Grosmount with Pickering. It
follows the route of the 19th century
line that originally connected to the
seaside resort of Whitby.
Overnight, Heartbeat changed
Goathland, injecting a certain
buzz into what was previously a
sleepy rural village. As we all know,
Heartbeat went on to become a huge
success not only in the UK but all
over the world including Canada and
Australia, and it’s even a favourite
with the police force of the Pacific
island of Vanuata.
My plan was to travel up from the
Isle of Wight that morning and catch
the 6am FastCat from Ryde and
travel by train to York where I had
arranged to meet Geoffrey Hughes
at 11.30am. He arrived in his new
Toyota 4 x 4 to pick me up and I had
to confess that it was the first time
I had been this far North, so I halfexpected to see whippets and flat
caps everywhere. However I was
very surprised to see a real buzzing,
metropolitan city. As we drove out
of the city, Geoff was like a talking
encyclopedia of the area - after all,

he spent the best part of four years
of his life up there in his early days
of Heartbeat.
The drive from York to Goathland
was worth the trip on its own. From
vibrant city one minute, it seemed
as if the set had been changed and
within minutes we were in the
Downs for as far as the eye could
see.
On arriving in Goathland – where
fans flock in every day in the hope
of catching a glimpse of one of the
cast - Geoff stopped off to see an old
friend who owned one of the shops
on the green. As we walked into the
shop you could see people staring
in disbelief … surely that can’t be
Vernon Scripps!
The following morning I had a
couple of hours before we were due
on location, so I strolled down to the
village at 8.30am which, believe it or
not, was packed with tourists even
at this time of day.
I managed to track down Bob
Wood, who has been the proprietor
of the village garage that appears
in Heartbeat. Bob has owned the

Island Life - www.isleofwight.net