''Hearts of Gold'' was a BBC television programme devised and presented by

Esther Rantzen Dame Esther Louise Rantzen (born 22 June 1940) is an English journalist and television presenter, who presented the BBC television series ''That's Life!'' for 21 years, from 1973 until 1994. She works with various charitable causes, and fou ...

, with Michael Groth and

Carol Smillie Carol Patricia Smillie (born 23 December 1961) is a Scottish television presenter, actress and former model. Smillie became famous as a presenter on British TV during the 1990s and early 2000s. She was best known for assisting Nicky Campbell on ...

as co-presenters. Running for six years in the 1980s and 1990s, the programme commended members of the public for their good deeds. Rantzen devised the show in 1988. The premise of the show was to commend those who had done good deeds to others. They would usually be tricked into appearing on the show using a practical joke, a device which some critics (such as ''The Independent''s

Geraldine Bedell Geraldine Bedell is a British novelist and writer for ''The Observer''. She drew wide public attention when she claimed she had been disinvited from a planned appearance at the first International Festival of Literature in Dubai, because her no ...

) compared to ''

Beadle's About ''Beadle's About'' is a British television programme hosted by Jeremy Beadle, where members of the public became victims of practical jokes behind hidden cameras. It was produced by LWT for ITV, and ran on Saturday nights from 22 November 1986 ...

''. Journalist Bedell explains that participants "are inviegled into the studio under false pretences and presented with gold hearts on blue ribbons while they wonder where to put themselves. (There is also a sub-Beadle segment in which Esther and chums dress up as folk in distress and wait for passers-by to come to their aid)." For some of its life, the show was filmed at

The Fountain Studios Fountain Studios was an independently owned television studio in Wembley Park, northwest London. The company was last part of the Avesco Group plc. Several companies owned the site before it was bought by Fountain in 1993. Originally a film st ...

in Wembley.

Transmission details

* Series 1: 29 October - 17 December 1988: 7 Episodes. * Series 2: 28 October - 24 December 1989: 9 Episodes. * Series 3: 14 October - 23 December 1990: 6 Episodes. (five normal episodes plus a Christmas special) * Series 4: 6–20 December 1991: 3 Episodes * Series 5: 4–18 December 1992: 3 Episodes * Series 6: 5 October - 9 November 1993: 6 Episodes * Series 7: 8 March - 26 April 1995 : 8 Episodes * Series 8: 27 March - 1 May 1996 : 6 Episodes

Theme song

The 1988 theme song was written by Lynsey de Paul and released as a single by Gold on the CBS record label in 1988. The B-side of the single was the song "Sacks of Gold", also a De Paul composition.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0216481 BBC Television shows 1988 British television series debuts 1996 British television series endings