Where the Heart Is

The first episode raises high hopes that we are going to get interesting stories based around the work of district nurses responding to medical situations and their moral and social consequences. At last, I thought, I can enjoy the delicious Sarah Lancashire in something that is not truly awful ( such as Last Tango in Halifax or the indescribably horrendous Happy Valley ) and with the lovely Pam Ferris involved it might actually be positively good.

But no: what we get is a soap and we pay for our modest pleasures with banal cliché-ridden scripts ( the highest count of "we are always here for you" in any drama I can recall ); dreary, moronic teenagers dominating the screen with their tedious sex-lives; endless homilies about how great it is up north; and rapidly decreasing plausibility with nurses going everywhere in pairs and only dealing with one patient per day.

And those were the good times.

Series 1 is just about watchable due to Lancashire, Ferris, and the rugby sub-plot.

Series 2 takes a dive with the arrival of the ghastly Jacqui but is kept afloat by, again, rugby, Lancashire and Ferris

By series 3 we are heading down the slope at pace with characters being ludicrously transformed into effectively different people unsupported by any dramatic logic; Jacqui, sadly, not being transformed; key plots turning on aspects of business life about whose rudiments the writers are plainly totally ignorant ( as they are about everything: "I was fly-half at Cambridge - I was in the Blues" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ); and a complete absence of any humour to balance the awfulness.

I bailed out half-way through series 4 for reasons that will become obvious to anyone else who gets that far.

I could say more about why this programme was such a missed opportunity to make something decent out of a reasonable idea and some good resources but, unlike some other reviewers here who have no grasp of the basics of common courtesy, I refuse to engage in massive and ruining spoilers.

I thought this show had promise until Jackie came along. That was start of a fast decline into moronic teenage sex and babies without real parents all over the place. Worthy of soap opera status but not much else. Once Peggy dies it gets even worse. Actually by season 4 it was so awful I was skipping through it at a fast pace. Vic was the best of a cast of characters. Everyone else is pretty boring and messed up. I particularly did not like characters just disappearing with no heads up. What happened to Chris? And good grief. All the main characters who can are flaming alcoholics. I believe it's a tie between Jess and Jackie for the worst characters.

There's a plain and simple fact here: This is a good show!! It is a soap opera, and it is good. Yes, I never thought I would say this about a soap but this real. It is a real show about real people with real lives and it's normal!! That's the difference with British soap actors and American ones: The British ones are actors, the American ones are stars! ACTOR-STAR they are not the same thing. While American soaps(shows,movies etc.) focus on how perfect someone looks and how much money the show makes, British shows care about quality, both dramatic and visual. "Where The Heart Is", is a wonderful example and I highly recommend searching your local listings for it. Another great UK show is "Ballykissangel"......A-C-T-I-N-G!!!!!!!!!!

Loved this show and what's been forever is missing season 10. Like a good book it really stinks when someone's ripped out the last chapter. Very cruel to viewers that enjoyed the show. I've exhausted all resources looking for the famous season 10. Maybe someone can post where I might find it???

I finished series 8 and there is a graphic for series 9 which indicates No Content?🤷 I looked on filmrise but no luck there 🤦 I found U tube had clip and episodes. Now there is a Series 10 I have partially watched. Ok Acorn Fans and mystery lovers, Can we please find Series 9?💁🆘