In the earlier episodes, when George Ward (Stuart Golland) was in charge of the Aidensfield Arms, it was mentioned on several occasions that the fire in the bar had never been allowed to go out since the pub first opened. This was based on the real-life tradition at The Legendary Saltersgate Inn on the Whitby-Pickering road near the Hole of Horcum, a few miles from Goathland, where the Aidensfield village scenes were filmed. It was said that the fire at the Saltersgate stayed lit for over two hundred years, reputedly because an early publican had killed a customs officer and buried his body beneath the fireplace, and then lit a fire to avoid the hiding place being detected.
Derek Fowlds and William Simons were the only main cast members who remained with the show over its entire run.
Set during an unspecific point of the 1960s, the series actually ran for eight years longer than the decade it was set in.
The title "Heartbeat" was created using the two original main characters' occupations: a doctor (heart) and a police officer (beat).
The reason none of Nicholas Rhea's original stories were adapted for this series, was because some of the real Greengrass' activities were rather bizarre, and because one of his reminiscences was a near duplication of a James Herriot story (the one about the dog who was put to sleep because he was thought to have been attacking sheep, only to be proven innocent after the fact, when the real culprit was shot to death somewhat later, after he had died).