I had the misfortune to sit and watch a whole episode of Heartbeat recently, only because I was watching TV with someone who had control of the remote. It was probably the longest hour of my life. I remember finding it enjoyable to watch when it was launched all those years ago; it seemed that the 60's music which was played every so often captivated my interest and I failed to notice the crap acting. I can't exactly remember when but I soon stopped watching it, I probably got frustrated when they would not play whole songs; I find it really frustrating when someone only plays half a song because it finishes just as you are getting into it.

Any way, I was watching the recent episode out of politeness for my host, and I realised why I don't like Heartbeat; Firstly I actually found the snippets of 60's music highly irritating, they seem to be using exactly the same formula as when it first came out and sounds very dated; Secondly some of the characters are just plain silly and unbelievable; thirdly the thin plot, unimaginative direction conspire to make the whole thing plod on like a snail; you could probably condense the whole hour into ten minutes if there was any get up and go about it; fourthly the acting is quite wooden. with good actors you almost forget that they are acting, but in Heartbeat it is always obvious that they are acting. Well it is to me anyway. I think at my age I might be becoming a grumpy old man, and will get a slot on that television series of the same name.