The WORST episodes of Heartbeat
Every episode of Heartbeat ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Heartbeat!
Heartbeat is based on the Constable books by Nicholas Rhea, set in the fictional 1960s Yorkshire town of Aidensfield. The first seasons focus on the lives of London policeman Nick Rowan, who moves to the village with his doctor wife Kate. Nick's police colleagues feature in the series, under the leadership of the crusty but kindhearted Sergeant Blaketon. Blaketon's nemesis is Claude Jeremiah Greengrass, poacher and occasional small-time fence. Greengrass is a regular patron of the Aidensfield Arms hotel, run by George Ward and his pretty niece Gina. It's here at the pub that we see much of the day-to-day social interaction in the series.
#1 - From Ancient Grudge
Season 11 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/27/2002
A family feud over land escalates with a fight in the pub, partly provoked by Tom. Unknown to the two families involved, 2 of them from opposing sides used to go out with each other. Thankfully, Alf calms both parties down, and talks some sense into them.
#2 - Little Angel
Season 13 - Episode 25 - Aired 6/6/2004
When a little girl goes missing, Blaketon joins the frantic search. Meanwhile Steve and Bellamy are confronted by a precarious situation. The Aidensfield Arms is hit by a rat infestation but Vernon proposes a fool-proof rodent removal plan.
#3 - Waifs and Strays
Season 13 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/26/2003
Three farm children are left orphaned, leaving Steve to help the oldest child fight a custody battle. Vernon opens a campsite, but it is David who is left to entertain the campers.
#4 - A Many Splendoured Thing
Season 12 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/8/2002
It is Christmas in Aidensfield and Lord Ashfordly decides to throw a ball to celebrate his marriage, but his elegant young bride is not what the locals expect. Vernon jeopardises Bernie's funeral business by finding a more festive use for the hearse. Tricia also gets the wrong end of the stick at the Christmas party. She thinks that Mike is proposing when he gives her a jewelry box, however it only contains a locket but she manages not to let him see her disappointment.
#5 - Charity Begins at Home
Season 6 - Episode 17 - Aired 12/29/1996
Aidensfield is hit by a snow storm and a plane makes a crash landing. A couple were on board but the pilot runs from the scene just as his wife goes into labour.. Nick eventually has to deliver the baby himself. He and Jo then take mother and baby back to the cottage, but there are problems because the baby is premature.. The escape pilot turns out to be a wanted man, and its Claude who helps Nick catch him! Phil and Alf get stuck in a snow drift when Alf was meant to be playing Santa, meanwhile Claude is brought in as a replacement - but Alf is rescued in time so two Santas turn up at the nativity play! In the final scene Nick proposes to Jo.
#6 - A Bird in the Hand
Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/13/1994
The owners of Abbots Farm are in trouble when an outbreak of tuberculosis hits. Alf has trouble with the car again, only this time he gets it stuck in a river! Nick helps him rescue the car and Claude jokes about some spooky noises in the area. The police uncover some illegal exotic birds.
#7 - Assault and Battery
Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/27/1994
There are a series of vandal attacks on a battery hen farm, which turns out to have involved a potential girlfriend of Phil's! Nick and Kate are decorating the nursery and Blaketon is impressed when he sees it - he even gives them a teddy bear for the baby, which he suggests they call ‘Oscar'!! Claude tries a scheme to sell ‘free range' eggs - the only trouble is he's had a bit of help from the battery hens!!
#8 - Memoirs of a Fighting Man
Season 16 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/29/2006
An intruder is shot by a decorated war hero, but the case is clouded by secrets from the past. Rosie is concerned that Bernie is concealing financial troubles at the garage, but Peggy might have the answer to their problems when she meets a salesman. Carol Cassidy deals with a pregnant teenager.
#9 - Fair Game
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/23/1994
Susanna Temple Richards (Played by Jenny Agutter) is having an affair with a local man. Her husband is often seen drinking, so Susanna puts sleeping pills in his whisky to prevent him joining her on the hunt the next day. But he turns up anyway and takes a fall whilst riding, hits his head and dies. There is an enquiry and high levels of sleeping pills are found in his blood stream. Susanna is arrested. (‘The Laid Plans' in series 6 carries on from this) Archie Cutter has died and Claude asks Nick if he can look after his poultry and he agrees. But later Blaketon tells Nick, Archie was a notorious cock fighter.
#10 - Fall Out
Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/13/1998
A radioactive isotope contained in copper is in a car that is stolen when parked at The Aidensfeld Arms. At the same time Greengrass tells two school boys that in another episode 'found' golf balls to him that he could use some copper. Greengrass' little brother makes him have a racing dog in custody.
#11 - Trouble in Mind
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/16/1994
Mr Parker comes to Aidensfield unable to recall the last 7 years of his life. It is suggested that when he left the village back then, he left his family and disappeared after collecting his employers payroll. Kate contacts his wife Helen who agrees to see him. Complications occur when another woman turns up claiming to be his wife. Claude goes to see 'strangers on a train' at the cinema, he then receives a strange proposal from a man who took the plot of the film a bit too seriously. It involved strangers carrying out each others crimes. Greengrass isn't interested in getting involved in such a scheme but the stranger keeps pestering him. Claude still refuses but soon finds out his barn had been burnt down shortly after he admitted the insurance was worth more than the barn itself. The stranger kidnaps Alfred, Nick and Greengrass go to investigate, and Alfred is found much to Claude's relief.
#12 - She's Leaving Home
Season 11 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/4/2001
The boy who caused damage to the police property runs off with his 16 year old girlfriend. The girlfriend falls ill after drinking contaminated water. Vernon eventually persuades Oscar to try a slot machine in the pub. He says he will pay for the winnings himself. Vernon doesnt realise the machine has been fixed by a friend of Bernie's, meaning Oscar enjoys a busy night of trade, eventually the man who fixes the machines foots the bill.
#13 - Wild Thing
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/4/1994
Insp. Crossley has an interesting idea as to what has been responsible for a series of attacks on sheep - he thinks a puma did it - much to the Ashfordly Police's amusement!!!!!!!! He keeps to his theory until Alfred is put in the frame for the crime. Claude is ordered to have Alfred destroyed, Claude violently objects and even steels Alfred back. But Nick doesn't believe Alfred is to blame and catches the real culprits in time. They were sheep rustlers, and Blaketon has great fun in informing Insp. Crossley of this fact!
#14 - Hollywood or Bust
Season 9 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/28/1999
Nathaniel Clegghorne brawls with David and Greengrass over two maran hens and with Lord Ashfordly who trains a dog close to Clegghorne's ground. A film producer seeks locations and Lord Ashfordly is very cooperative.
#15 - Dog Collar
Season 10 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/5/2000
As Edith Benton has to leave for a family visit Greengrass and David get the job to lead her poodle through the Ashfordly Championship Dog Show. A couple of valuable candlesticks are stolen from the church and The Reverend's daughter is in love with a young man that her mother is hostile to.
#16 - Gin a Body, Meet a Body
Season 10 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/25/2001
Gareth North is the son of used car dealer Harry North and relies on his father's wealth to get him out of trouble. And trouble is something he gets into a lot of together with his girlfriend Gail and friend Vince. They attempt an armed robbery, but when PC Bellamy nearly catches them Gareth reports his car, which they used to get away, as stolen. The three of them even go as far as accusing Bellamy of beating up Gareth. Vernon Scripps wins a car in a poker game and decides to open a taxi service. But they do not get any customers, because they share a party line with Edith Fairley, who is always at the phone. She is hiding from her ex-husband Jack Fairley, who has just been released from prison. Bernie Scripps gets an unusual request. Minnie Bateson wants to make funeral arrangements for her husband Sydney. The unusual bit about it is that Sydney Bateson is still alive.
#17 - Over the Hill
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/16/1993
A black soldier called Ken Marston who is on exercises in the area has been getting bullied by his racist Sergeant - Sgt Nicholls. Nicholls follows Marston during the exercise and intends to shoot Ken as he's reported Nicholls to his superiors. However on top of a cliff face Nicholls and Kenget in a confrontation and Nicholls falls. Ken then goes on the run thinking he's killed him. Meanwhile Nick investigates a break in at a farm and suspects Claude is responsible. and is on the run after he thinks he has killed him. He starts to search for a childhood friend who lives in the area. He finds his friends wife and son, only to discover his friend is dead. Meanwhile Kate is treating his window whose son is seriously disturbed by his fathers death, may have to be taken into care. The widow blames Kate for this, believing that she contacted the authorities, when in fact it was Ferrenby. The situation is sorted out eventually, with the help of Alex and Kate and the boy is able to stay with h
#18 - Friendly Fire
Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/19/1997
Nick is suspicious when a lay preacher is injured in a shooting accident but eventually uncovers the truth behind the incident. Claude is doing his utmost to make money out of the famous Aidensfield bun for which he has been given what he thinks is the secret recipe to look after! Gina's relationship with Steve is developing but she also receives the bad news that George will never be well enough to come back to the pub.
#19 - Old Friends
Season 6 - Episode 16 - Aired 12/22/1996
An old flame of Eileen's turns up. He is a French man named Antonin, who urges Eileen to marry him. She declines because of her commitment to Katie. Nick goes undercover as a harbour worker to catch an escapee prisoner. Phil goes missing during the operation and is found trapped on one of the boats. Claude is buying fish under false means, Nick notices what's going on and advises him to stay away from Whitby - which is where the investigation is taking place.
#20 - A Talent for Deception
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/30/1993
Nick and Kate fall out when an old boyfriend of hers turns up. Soon after his arrival he becomes the prime suspect in a hit-and-run incident and Nick is forced to tell him not to leave the area while it's investigated. Meanwhile a local bank informs the police of a woman acting suspiciously around the bank. Nick and Phil go to investigate, only to discover the woman is in fact the famous crime writer, Amanda Young doing research for her next novel. Meanwhile Phil, on behalf of his football team organizes a talent contest where Greengrass is running a book on who will win. The hit-and-run incident is then revealed to be down to one of Phil's rivals on the football field. And Claude sells some moor land to the MoD and treats himself to a big and flashy pink Chrysler Imperial car!
#21 - Double Trouble
Season 13 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/30/2004
A large sum of money is reported stolen and the subsequent investigation leads to surprising revelations. Meanwhile, Ventress and Blaketon team up to locate a pair of twins, and Jenny becomes increasingly frustrated at the amount of time Dennis spends at work.
#22 - Outsiders
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 5/29/1992
A caravan of circus-folk, the Laszlos arrives in Aidensfield and camps on the village green. The locals are angry about it and demand that these unwelcome visitors leave. The vicar's daughter, Anna meanwhile falls for one of campers, the young and handsome Milos Laszlo. This angers her wealthy fiancée, Jamie Hunter. Nick then receives allegations of theft against the Lazslos and Nick goes to the caravan to investigate. Nick hears that there is a sick man in the caravan and later discovers the man has cancer and has 'returned' home to his birthplace to die. The church's safe is then broken into and Milos then becomes the prime suspect after his scarf is found at the scene. Greengrass, an old friend of the Lazslos then informs Nick that he saw Jamie Hunter pick the scarf up and Nick realizes Hunter must have been responsible for the break in. The Lazslos then leave, with Anna after realizing they are not welcome anymore.
#23 - Bad Blood
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/20/1994
Kate arranges with James to do only 2 surgeries a week in Whitby as originally planned and James would help out in Aidensfield when necessary. A feud amongst a local family turns nasty and the police soon learn there's a lot more raw emotion and conflict behind the trouble as they find out more about the families recent past. Billy an of friend of Gina's turns up, who has just been released from prison. He buys Gina a stolen record player from Claude - of which Blaketon is of course suspicious! Nick and Kate are looking forward to the birth of their new baby, Nick even buys a set of toy soldiers! Kate is craving banana and marmite sandwiches or is it chips and ice cream!!
#24 - Thief in the Night
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/17/1995
Kate comes out of hospital with baby Sarah. The atmosphere is extremely sullen and Nick neglects his work, which doesn't go down well with Blaketon. Nick receives reports of prowlers hanging around at night, but he doesn't do anything about it. The next day Mr Copeland complains to Blaketon about Nick's inefficiency and about a tank of petrol he has had stolen. Blaketon is on the warpath and unaware of Kate's condition, goes round to the police house and tears a strip off Nick. Kate realises she can't keep it a secret any longer so Nick finally tells Phil the bad news. Blaketon feels awful for what he said and goes back to apologise. Kate is finding it difficult to cope and asks Nick to take her for a picnic in the hills. But this has disastrous repercussions when she goes down with pneumonia, which immediately worsens her condition. Emotions are running high, and by the time Kate dies everything comes to a head. After the funeral, Nick sees David Stockwell with a petrol can, realising
#25 - Lost and Found
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/6/1994
A man comes to Aidensfield who has mislaid his suitcase on a train.. The suitcase contained his wife's ashes. His purpose for his visit was to try and make peace with his mother in law after a fierce misunderstanding years ago.. There is a village fete with everyone involved, whilst the police uncover some weapons from a hot dog stand. Alfred is supposed to enter the Lurcher Challenge Cup race but unfortunately George lets him loose on the ale.