Heartbeat's onscreen barmaid makes character's life reality

In a village pub in the North York Moors, Tricia Penrose pulls a pint but this time, it is not as her beloved Heartbeat character Gina Ward.

The 56-year-old played the ITV drama's onscreen barmaid for more than 17 years and has now become co-owner of the very same pub she filmed in.

Excited punters filled the Goathland Hotel, known in the series as the Aidensfield Arms, to see Penrose in action on her first week behind the bar.

"I keep pinching myself, it really is weird," Penrose said.

"It's like 33 years ago, when Gina pulled up outside of the pub in her bubble car.

"So, to be here and doing it for real, I wonder what Gina would think?"

Customers visited from as far away as Germany and Australia to experience the nostalgia of Heartbeat.

"You'd think it was still on prime time because I got mobbed when I walked up, they were queuing to get in the pub," the new publican laughed.

Roswitha Muhlenberg, who is a big fan of the series, made sure she made a trip to the pub to meet Penrose.

"I watch Heartbeat all the time in Germany and we were here on Saturday and I thought, I've come for a reason," she explained.

"This pub was nothing before, I didn't see any customers in it at all.

"Then all of a sudden, it was just full. I thought, blimey, I've never known this before."

Nigel, from Kent, had been camping in Goathland for a few days when he heard Penrose had taken over the pub with a couple of others.

"It's nice to see someone that was on the TV come back to take over and help the community visit Yorkshire," the 65-year-old said.

"I think she's doing some good for the community here in Goathland."

Heartbeat was set in a fictional Yorkshire village during the 1960s, and was based on the books of Peter Walker, who wrote under the pen name Nicholas Rhea.

"There's loads of memories, certainly a lot of scenes outside the pub," Penrose remembered.

"There's scenes where Gina's stood in this very position and she's waved goodbye to that many fellas! All the rogues in the programme.

"There was a lot of drama, a lot of carrying on, kicking off. The programme is so popular, it's still on like three times a day."

The actor has promised fans to regularly be behind the bar, singing and putting on quiz nights.

"I might even end up living here. That's how much I love it," she said.

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.