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.
