More than 30 years have passed since since period drama Heartbeat first appeared on ITV.
Heartbeat, set in the 1960s North Yorkshire, followed the lives of police officers, medical staff and other residents of Ashfordly and Aidensfield.
The popular show was a huge hit with audiences and spanned a whopping 18 series from 1992 until 2010. It is one of ITV’s top-rated and much-loved dramas and even though no new episodes have been made for over a decade, fans can still watch repeats on ITV3.
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The show was responsible for launching the careers of many actors, with stars of the show going on to other popular soaps, films and theatre productions, reports the LiverpoolEcho.
One of those stars was Kirkby-born actress Tricia Penrose, who played fiesty pub landlady Gina Ward. Gina was sent to live with her uncle, George Ward, in Aidensfield after being convicted of receiving stolen goods.
After helping her uncle run the Aidensfield Arms, she later became the licensee following his death. Gina’s relationships played a big part of her storylines, and many viewers will remember her on-off relationship with PC Phil Bellamy. The couple had a failed engagement in series 10, before Gina fell pregnant to him in series 13.
Heartbreaking scenes followed as the couple’s son, Daniel, was born prematurely and died within two days. The death put a huge strain on the couple who later broke off their engagement again.
The couple later reunited in series 16 and were finally married. But then things took another heartbreaking turn when Phil was suddenly shot dead in series 17.
In total, Tricia Penrose appeared as Gina Ward on Heartbeat for more than 300 episodes from 1993 until 2007. And she appeared as Gina in the Heartbeat spin-off, The Royal, for two episodes in 2003.
The 54-year-old actress has also starred in soaps Coronation Street as a receptionist at the hotel in the Cotswolds where Ken Barlow and Alma Sedgewick booked in for New Year’s Eve, 1991 and Emmerdale where she played Elsa Feldmann’s friend, Louise, in June, July and December 1991.
The actress has also been on many reality TV shows including Celebrity MasterChef and the 2013 series of Celebrity Big Brother. Away from television, Tricia has had her own show on Radio Wirral and for BBC Radio 4 since 2021. She has also released an album dedicated to her mum called Songs From My Heart.
Tricia recently posted on X, formerly Twitter, that she had reunited with one of her former Heartbeat cast mates. In a post shared on X, Tricia shared a photograph alongside Jason Durr, who played PC Mike Bradley. The post read: “Was so lovely to see @jasedurr yesterday we had a great catchup x.”
Heartbeat fans can stream the show on ITVX or watch it daily on ITV3.
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