Figure 1.--In this very English scene from "Hearbeat," a school boy polishes his cricket bat. The series is set in the 1960s. Notice the plain cap and the lack of a tie. This appears to be primary schoolwear-bit not a required uniform.

Heartbeat in 2001 was the UK’s number one drama series. The creator and main writer is Johnny Byrne. The series is set in the 1960s. HBC has at this time only limited information on the series. The series tries to recreate a tranquil lifestyle and method of policing, in contarast to the more action oriented series that are more common in current television. However even the 1960s had its quotient of crime and in the following episode a visiting pair of robbers were intent on a wages snatch. The woman was as much an equal partner in the crime partnership as her male counterpart. In one series Nick meets the school teacher. A lot of the stories deal with the era when English school boys mostly wore short trousers. Series 7, episode 3, "Small Beer" had some wonderfully evocative shots in school uniform. The main storyline involved a boy who ran away from school after his "mother" (actually his Grandmother) died, for fear of ending up in a childrens' home. It was a most moving episode, and showed both Den and his classmates in school and out playing football in their uniform, and then the dramatic shots of Den running away. Welsh singing phenomenon Charlotte Church has appeared on the series.

Created: October 7, 2001
Last updated: October 7, 2001