</p> Iknow it's really well-loved and all that soI recently watched the whole first series andI don't get it. Apart from the clothes, the cars and the music I think it's rubbish.</p>
I thought it was a great programme, as I was a kid growing up in the seventies, but you have to forget any sense of realism with it and just enjoy the escapism. I don't know if you get the gist of it all, but in a nutshell : The accident Sam Tyler has had has knocked him unconscious and in a coma in hospital in the present. Everything you see is happening in his subconsciousness. He hates the policing style and methods of the seventies because he's a good modern copper. Gene Hunt is the stereotype of everything Sam Tyler hates, and the rest of the team are wary of Sam and his ways. The voices and telephone calls he is getting are the people he can hear in the operating theatre back in the present time. He desperately wants to get back but he can't, because he's stuck in his coma. His girlfriend who's in the hospital can't take it any more and leaves him while he's in his coma, giving him nothing to go back to. Then the love interest with Annie starts to grow over the series. The second series follows it all through to a conclusion. Sam then has to decide where his heart lies, and becomes in charge of his own destiny. Do you want me to tell you what happens, or after this couldn't you give a toss? (wicked)
I think it was good and the acting was generally good/funny. The actual story line however is a very simple/well used one and some of the plots within the story line were oh so predictable. I reckon it's popularity is partly due to nostalga and partly a reflection that the vast majority of programmes on TV are utter dross these days so it stood out more.
Nostalgia is always a winner - make sure some music from the time is mixed in with scenes depicting the era and you have a sure fire winner as everyone can use music to associate themselves with an era in their lives. Hence the reason why Heartbeat has been on the telly for nearly 20 years.
Spot on. I thought the casting in it made the programme ten times better than it could have been. I thought it made you believe in the characters being real. Gene Hunt was the hub of the show, not Sam Tyler. Whether that was the intention from the outset, I'm not sure. Phil Glenister made him iconic.
RE: Have you seen the US version? I personally haven't, but it'd be interesting to see if it had the same effect in their version. I just wonder if the English cultural nostalgia would be lost in the American format. Mind, The Office was a big success over there, so you never know.
Yes US version has Harvey Keitel as Gene Hunt but he is not as good as you think he would be. They have a bigger budget so the soundtrack and locations are pretty good. They used a lot of the English storylines first but have now branched out. I still like the UK one better
