Heartbeat

- Season 13

(2003)

Aidensfield has been invaded by a gang of bikers from Ashfordly. Their leader Jason is jealous because his girlfriend Lisa is more attracted to Billy Fletcher. Furthermore he has given Billy some amphetamine pills to sell, but Billy's mother finds them and turns them over to Dr. Merrick, who reports the matter to the police, but refuses to give any names. Sergeant Merton gets the information anyway by tricking his fiancée Jenny to show him the list of patients. Vernon Scripps hires a new chauffeur and insists on calling him by his surname. At least until he learns ...

A fire breaks out at the warehouse of Pyke Textiles. It is arson and the owner Peter Pyke is not able to throw any light on the matter, but his ex-wife Beryl holds a grudge against him for giving evidence, when she was convicted of fraud against the company and she has recently been released from prison. On the other hand a witness, Rosie Compton, saw Pyke's car near the warehouse at the time of the fire Vernon Scripps has finally settled on a mansion for his future home and wants David as his butler and chauffeur, but David will much rather stay at the cottage. When ...

Linda Rollins has developed a serious drinking problem since her husband Mal went to Aberdeen to work. She also pops pills to help her cope. She has two sons Barry and Michael. Michael is the brighter of the two, but will much rather hang out with Barry and his friend Frankie. That brings him into trouble with the law. Pete has lost a lot of money in gambling and when his sister Christine cannot help him out he kidnaps David and holds him to ransom. Gina and Phil have returned from their romantic holiday in Scotland. They bring back a little more than they brought ...

The big day has arrived for Sergeant Merton and Jenny. The day of their wedding. But as it is almost a tradition for police weddings in Aidensfield something puts a spoke in their wheel. A masked robber has assaulted an armoured car and gotten away with thousands of pounds in old, used notes. The modus operandi suggests that the robber is Ronnie "The Dogman" Brown and Merton's old friend DS Kenny Parker is in charge of the investigation. Not surprisingly Brown has made himself scarce when the police come to pick him up. Meanwhile everybody else is occupied with the ...

Joyce Carswell does not get along very well with her mother-in-law. The old lady dies under mysterious circumstances and it seems that Joyce has killed her. But her husband makes it look like the old woman's death was caused by a man, who has robbed several old people in Aidensfield by posing to be from the water board. Oscar Blaketon is making inquiries in a very serious matter. The Aidensfield Darts Trophy resides in the White Lion pub, but it rightfully belongs to the Aidensfield Arms. To settle the matter he and Angus Fergussson, the owner of the White Lion, agree...

A nasty surprise awaits PC Ventress, who is acting sergeant while Sergeant Merton is on his honeymoon. One morning an inspector of constabulary called Craig walks in and finds the police station in a mess and Ventress enjoying the homely comfort of the sergeant's chair, a sandwich and a newspaper. To his own misfortune Merton has returned early because Jenny was not feeling well, and he arrives just in time to bear the brunt of Craig's wrath. Craig's car has been stolen and his dissatisfaction only grows when Merton and his people do not drop everything else to search...

Dr. Merrick responds to a call from Katie Barnwell saying that her father is not feeling well, but Katie's big sister Meg insists that everything is OK and that there is no cause for alarm. But Dr. Merrick discovers that everything is far from OK when she finds the father dead in his bed and Meg trying to cope for herself and her two younger siblings in an attempt to keep the family together. Now it is up to the child welfare and they want to separate the children. Oscar Blaketon's attempt to prevent this is hampered by Robert Barnwell who is caught stealing some food...

Oscar Blaketon has organized for PC Crane to take a group of troubled youths on a hike across the moors for one day. At the last moment they get an additional participant Carl Laxton, who is the cousin of Geoff, one of the other participants on the trip. But Laxton may have an ulterior motive to go on the trip. Of course Steve Crane's mother chooses that moment to pay her son another and more permanent visit by the looks of it. She has even got a job as assistant librarian under the supervision of Joyce Jowett. Needless to say they do not hit it off. Mr. Shahrishi is ...

Gina still has second thoughts about marrying Phil Bellamy, because it means she will have to give up the Aidensfield Arms due to an outdated police regulation, and she goes to back Liverpool to think things over. PC Crane is investigating a strange break-in at old William Barraclough's farm. Nothing was taken, but a statuette was left on a table, and a shop owner says he bought it himself. Barraclough also gets a shipment of cement he has not ordered. Is he getting senile or does somebody wish to make it appear so? Vernon Scripps has been summoned for jury service. ...

Miss Stanton complains about an obnoxious odour, which pervade her cottage. It comes from the neighbouring ground, where Mr. Manley is building a new home for himself and his family. Vernon Scripps has bought some of the top soil from the building site for his latest venture, potting compost. It is delivered on the forecourt of Bernie's garage. He is told to remove it, but both Bernie and David are occupied so he has to do it himself. It gives him a severe rash and makes him very ill. Moreover dead cows are found at the building site as well. Phil Bellamy is desperate...

PC Crane and PC Bellamy give chase to a couple of hooligans in a car. When they pass the bus stop in Aidensfield Paul Dibley is teased by a school friend and runs right smack into the side of Bellamy's passing police car. He suffers only a broken leg and some bruises, but his father Don wants PC Bellamy prosecuted. Paul's sister Tracey has just started as a maid at Ashfordly Hall when it is discovered that she is pregnant. Understandably she is afraid to tell her father especially since the father of the baby is her cousin Lenny. To make things worse Tracey gets a ...

Eva Parker wants her dearly departed husband to be buried in the family grave in Aidensfield. But her brother-in-law Eli Parker will not allow his late brother to be buried in the family grave because of an old dispute. Jethro Woods was believed to have caused the death of Charlie Walker following a robbery against Walker's factory, but his guilt was never proven. Now he turns up in Aidensfield to Oscar Blaketon's great dissatisfaction. Walker's son Harry is not too happy about it either, and when Woods is the victim of vandalism and later gets killed in a hit-and-run...

Lord Ashfordly has hired a new land agent Ben Norton, but not everybody is happy about the new man. Jake Clarke is convinced that Norton will tear down the tied cottages at the estate and fire all of the residents, and he organizes a protest against Norton. Norton is also opposed by Dr. Merrick, who is worried about the health of the workers. Lord Elsinby's estate including a popular fun park has to be sold to pay death duties. Vernon Scripps plans to buy some of it and sell it to Lord Ashfordly. But when he arrives only the miniature railway is left. Nat Wilmott is ...

Barbara Simner suspects that her husband Ken is trying to kill her because of several so-called mishaps. She refuses to call the police, but they get involved when she is run down by a runaway tractor. Oscar Blaketon wants the "Best Kept Village" award to go to Aidensfield. A hindrance to this goal is a number of molehills, but Vernon Scripps has an all-purpose pesticide powder which should do the trick. And a potent stuff it is. David passes out while using it and Dr. Merrick suspects it to be very poisonous. The smell of it is surely strong enough to scare everybody...

Gina gives birth to a beautiful baby boy. The baby is two months premature and there are complications. The nurse asks Gina and Phil to give their son a name just in case and they decide to call him Daniel. Before she goes to the hospital Gina breaks up a fight between two men at the pub. They are both thrown out and one of them knocks down the other one and drives off. Ben Norton identifies the assailant is as Ian Stamper, the new under gardener at Ashfordly Hall, but he manages to get away. His victim is Robert Flint and he is a known member of the Whitby drug scene.

The farmer Hugh Sanders discovers a crashed car in a ditch with the injured driver still inside. The car belongs to Martin Updike and it seems that he was robbed by his still missing passenger. Sanders' wife Kitty is involved in a savings and loans scheme. Jenny is one of her depositors. When she wants to take some money out, she is told that a George Harrow or Harlow has lent all the money. But no such person can be found. Vernon Scripps decides to enter a poetry competition, because it reminds him of all the times he beat Bernie in poetry competitions when they were...

There is a big clay pigeon shooting competition at Ashfordly Hall. One of the contestants is the very arrogant Toby Fisher, who is very dissatisfied that Bernie has closed his garage for the day when his snobbyness is short of petrol late one evening. To correct that "oversight" he breaks up the lock and steals the petrol he needs. The theft is discovered immediately and Fisher only avoids arrest when he promises to pay the next day. Local man Robert Emerson is Fisher's biggest rival to win the shooting competition, and Fisher hates to lose. That is why Fisher becomes...

Former formula 1 driver Jack Maclean returns from a drive and collapses in his own hallway. He is diabetic and has gone into a coma, but Dr. Merrick soon get him back on his feet again. A car like Maclean's very distinctive Aston Martin was involved in an accident, but Maclean does not remember anything about any accident. Or so he claims. The next day PC Crane finds him dead of a massive overdose of insulin. Vernon Scripps is approached by a businessman and entrepreneur like himself, Leonard Parks. Parks has a proposition for him that will earn him a lot of money ...

Dr. Merrick admits a mysterious man to the hospital. He has a few bruises and a nasty bump on his head. And he has lost his memory. To jog his memory PC Crane takes him to Aidensfield. Gina and Oscar remember that he has regularly visited the pub accompanied by an unknown woman. Dr. Merrick is also worried about one of her patients Mrs. Walker. She has some bruises, which she claims she got by falling over, but the beautiful doctor suspects they are due to domestic violence. When Dr. Merrick calls on her she finds her lying unconscious in a house smelling of gas. Her ...

Sidney Baxter was the biggest rug manufacturer in the county and after his death the family factory has been run by his widow Shirley and their son Richard. Shirley has taken a fancy to Oscar Blaketon, and he manages to get Alf Ventress a rug at a discount for his upcoming wedding anniversary. But business is tight for the Baxter factory and Ventress suspects that Richard Baxter uses stolen fleeces in the production without his mother's knowledge. The fleeces come from a couple of nightly sheep-shearings which are puzzling the police. This case is PC Ventress' swan ...

David sees how a man is thrown off a moving train after being assaulted and manages to get him to Dr. Merrick's surgery. When PC Crane stops the train a young man, Thomas Grant, tries to run away, but is apprehended. He claims his innocence saying he was on his way to see his girlfriend, but PC Crane finds out that he has escaped from prison. Vernon Scripps is followed by a donkey, and when he learns that this means luck according to gipsy tradition he decides to open a donkey sanctuary. Lord Ashfordly has decided to auction off some unused family heirlooms and Colin ...

Oscar Blaketon gets a visit from his old colleague Harry Hawkswell. Hawkswell is mistaken for the very prominent judge Yardley by a communist cell in Ashfordly, who has been ordered to kill him by their controllers in London. Unpleasantness's of another kind awaits Vernon Scripps. He is going to be inspected by the Inland Revenue because of the huge fortune he recently gained - and lost! But he still has some undeclared money and goes into the woods one night to bury it, when he is nearly killed by a puma. Or at least so he thinks.

The annual hill climb is to be held on the roads around Ashfordly and Aidensfield, and the police are not too happy at the prospect of having "dozens of lunatics" driving through countryside at top speed. A lot of villagers do not like it either and Nathaniel Clegghorn speaks publicly about getting the race banned. One is even so unhappy about it that he tries to sabotage the event. Especially one competitor seems to draw the attention of the saboteur, Geoffrey Smee. Vernon Scripps on the other hand is so happy about the race that he wants to enter a car of his own. ...

Mr. and Mrs. Elder had a break-in and nearly 3,000 £ were stolen together with some petty stuff. The petty stuff is promptly found. It was thrown from a moving car and landed on Dr. Merrick's lawn. Later Dr. Merrick also identifies the car as the one belonging to the Elders. This puts Mr. Elder in the hot seat as the prime suspect, because he does not have an alibi. The solicitor Helen Aves is looking for Winston and Reginald Parker, the relatives of a client. Sergeant Merton assigns the case to Alf Ventress, who is now working as a civilian at the police station, but...

Little Angel Jarvis disappears from her father's car, while he goes shopping for dinner. The police carry out a systematic search without finding the 6-year old girl, and Sergeant Merton fears the worst. The Jarvis' have been through a bitter divorce and Marie Jarvis accuses her ex-husband of being behind the child's disappearance himself. However a witness saw a girl matching Angel's description being let away by a woman she obviously knew. The discovery of Angel's shoes also points to Mrs. Jarvis' new boyfriend. Jenny asks the new super sleuths of Aidensfield, ...