The great Bill Maynard always smiling and in great form he was the Heartbeat of Heartbeat great lines Derek foulds and Bill had terrific lines in Heartbeat
He was great, pity Heartbeat was never the same after he left, but I suppose Bill had no choice but to leave after his stroke. Hated Heartbeat after he left because it went silly. I have two more interviews with Bill on GMTV, one in probably late 94 when he did his country version of the Heartbeat song and he mentions Niamh Cusack having her baby, and the other in Nov 2000 just after he left the show. I will upload them once I've got round to converting them from the tape to my computer. I only found out the other day that Bill once appeared on This is Your Life as the main guest, which was in 1974, pity there's no recording of this on youtube. And also Derek Fowlds also guested on This is Your Life in 1993 when Aspel surprises him during the filming of Heartbeat. Strange I don't remember seeing that, and were glued to HB back then.
@@Embracing01 I believe the reason that Bill wasn't able to return to the show because the insurance company wouldn't ensure him because of his stroke and his age. Heartbeat was mostly shot on location that's why he was able to appear in the Royal because it was all shot in studio so he was able to be insured.
I don't remember the Gaffer, kinda before my time. I think to most people Bill Maynard will be remembered for Greengrass, desite a long career prior to Heartbeat. I do find it abit odd that he appeared on This is Your Life in about 1974 even though at that point he would've been a fairly unknown actor (I think he'd appeared in the odd Carry On film during the 60s and early 70s) before his Selwyn Friggit days. Would've been better if they had waited until the late 80s when he had established himself as an household name to most people in the UK.
@@Embracing01 Yes I kind of agree there. Bill Maynard on TIYL in 1994 seems odd. The thing that always struck me about Bill Maynard was how well spoken he was in real life.
@@keithf_ I think you mean 1974. Odd as I said that he was given the Big Red Book from, I presume, Eamonn Andrews in 1974 so early on his careet when he would've been probably barely known as an actor, as I said I think he popped up in a few Carry On films up until that point. I'm glad you mentioned his posh spoken accent off-screen, often thought the same. He did a convincing job of his accent in Heartbeat, hardly a posh word came out, unlike Derek Fowlds as Blaketon who also talked posh in real life but his posh accent occasionally slipped out with certain words, I do wonder though his Bill's well spoken voice was abit "put on" for interviews, or maybe he picked it up over the years. I was also surprised at how different William Simons who played Ventress spoke in real life, again quite posh and almost unrecognisable from his character Ventress.
