Heartbeat: Goathland as Aidensfield

Heartbeat is a police drama set in the 1960s, built around the fictional village of Aidensfield. The exterior scenes are filmed in Goathland, a village in North Yorkshire, and many landmarks from the series are recognisable there, including the shop, the garage and funeral directors, the pub and the railway station. The series first aired on 10 April 1992. Walk the village and you are in Aidensfield.

Location precision: Aidensfield is the whole village of Goathland; the pin marks the village centre.

Visitor guidance: Goathland is a working village; look at the shop, garage, pub and station from public streets and be considerate of residents.

In real life the pub is the Goathland Hotel, but on screen it is The Aidensfield Arms. Interior shots were filmed inside the hotel for some years, until a replica of it was built in the Leeds studio of the series' makers. It is one of the village landmarks the series made recognisable, alongside the shop, the garage and the station.

Location precision: The pin is a single map lookup that lands just beside the Goathland Hotel, not on the building.

Visitor guidance: The Goathland Hotel is a working pub in the village centre.

The village station appears on screen as Aidensfield station, and occasionally in the story. It is restored to look like a country station of about 1922, which suits the period feel of the show. It is also known as the Hogwarts Express station at Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter films. A newly refurbished tea room sits inside the goods warehouse.

Visitor guidance: Steam trains of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway stop here; check the timetable before you visit.

Aidensfield and Ashfordly are made up, but the real town of Whitby appears now and then in the stories, and it is one of the show's prominent filming locations. The plot frequently takes place there across the seasons. From Goathland you can ride the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to Whitby, where on many operating days the line ends.

Location precision: The pin marks the centre of Whitby; the sources do not name the exact streets used in the series.

Visitor guidance: Whitby is the northern end of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway on many operating days.

Far from the moors, in the town of Otley, the Courthouse stands in for the old police station in Heartbeat. Otley is one of the series' prominent filming locations, alongside Whitby and Scarborough. The show is set in the North Riding of Yorkshire in the 1960s, and its plots centre on the fictional places of Aidensfield and Ashfordly.

Visitor guidance: Otley Courthouse is in the town centre and can be seen from the street.