Where the Heart Is (British TV series)


Where the Heart Is is a British drama television series set in the fictional Yorkshire town of Skelthwaite, created by Ashley Pharoah and Vicky Featherstone. The series first aired on ITV in the United Kingdom on 6 April 1997. The show focuses on the lives of a group of district nurses and their families who reside in the town. On 12 October 2006, ITV announced that the tenth series was the last as they decided to focus on creating other shows. The final episode was broadcast on 10 September 2006.

Plot overview

Where the Heart Is focuses on the personal lives of two district nurses in the small Yorkshire town of Skelthwaite. The official ITV website described the series as "an engaging story of life, love, family and people’s ever-changing fortunes in rural England. Set against the rugged landscape of Yorkshire, it follows the busy professional and family lives of District Nurses, as they bring nursing and emotional care to young and old alike." Initially, it mainly concentrated on the lives of two of the district health nurses, Peggy Snow and Ruth Goddard.

Production

Where The Heart Is was created by Ashley Pharoah and Vicky Featherstone. The show is a drama series and was made for ITV's "prime time" television slot.
The series was filmed in the Colne valley of West Yorkshire, mainly in the villages Marsden, Slaithwaite and the town Meltham. The production team would also use Huddersfield Town Hall as an occasional filming location.
On 12 October 2006, it was announced that ITV had decided to not renew the show for an additional series. The show was dropped despite high ratings, averaging at more than six million viewers per episode. A publicist from the channel stated "Where The Heart Is has been a very successful series for ITV1. But the decision has been taken in order to create some flexibility for new programme ideas in that 8pm Sunday slot." The show's producer, Ian Hopkins said he was "sorry" the show had been cancelled and added "I would like to thank you for all your support for the programme over the last 10 years."
The show's theme song, which is also titled "Where the Heart Is" was performed by the band Prefab Sprout.
The first episode was watched by more than ten million viewers during its first broadcast in the United Kingdom.

Cast

Home media

A tie in book based on the characters of Peggy and Ruth, which was written by Kate Lock was released on 7 May 1998. A television companion book was released on 28 October 1999. Series one to four of Where the Heart Is were released on DVD in the United Kingdom via Network. These are listed in the table below.
DVD SeasonEp #Original airedRegion 2
Series 166 April – 11 May 199727 March 2006
Series 21019 April – 5 July 199821 May 2012
Series 31418 April – 25 July 19996 May 2013
Series 41630 April – 3 September 200010 March 2014