Hearts of Gold

{{other uses|Heart of Gold (disambiguation){{!}}Heart of Gold}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}

{{Infobox television

| image =

| caption =

| genre =

| creator = Esther Rantzen

| director = Robin Bextor
Malcolm Smith
Phil Chilvers (1990 Christmas special){{cite journal |title=Sunday 23 December |journal=Radio Times|volume=267 |issue=3497 |publisher=BBC Magazines |page=76 |date=22 December 1990 – 4 January 1991 }}

| presenter = Esther Rantzen
Michael Groth (1988–1991){{cite book |first=Ian |last=Jones |title=Morning Glory: A History of British Breakfast Television |publisher=Kelly |year=2004 |isbn=190305320X |page=151}}
Mike Smith (1992–1993)
Carol Smillie (1995–1996)

| theme_music_composer = Lynsey de Paul

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| num_series = 8

| num_episodes = 49

| executive_producer =

| producer = Jane Elsdon-Dew
Nick Vaughan-Barratt{{cite book |first=Eddie |last=Dyja |publisher=British Film Institute |year=1998 |title=BFI film and television handbook |url=https://archive.org/details/bfifilmandtelevisio00dyja |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/bfifilmandtelevisio00dyja/page/373 373] |isbn=0851706371}}
Bryher Scudamore
Richard Woolfe

| editor =

| location =

| cinematography =

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| runtime = 30–60 minutes

| company =

| channel = BBC1

| first_aired = {{Start date|df=yes|1988|10|29}}{{cite news |title=The deadly peril of the big gusher |first=CRAIG |last=BROWN |newspaper=The Times |date=31 October 1988 |quote= in a fit of exasperation on Saturday night, I turned on the television ... In the first of a new series called Hearts of Gold...}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1996|05|01|df=y}}{{cite book |title=The international who's who, 1997-98

|year=1997 |edition=61 |page=1240 |publisher=Europa Publications |isbn=1857430220}}

}}

Hearts of Gold was a BBC television programme devised and presented by Esther Rantzen, with Michael Groth, Mike Smith and Carol Smillie as co-presenters. Running for six years in the 1980s and 1990s, the programme commended members of the public for their good deeds.{{cite news |title=Rantzen's years in the limelight

|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5087578.stm |work=BBC News |date=16 June 2006}}{{cite book |editor1=Karen Ross |editor2=Deniz Derman |title=Mapping the margins: identity, politics, and the media |year=2003 |publisher=Hampton Press |isbn=1572734213}}

Rantzen devised the show in 1988.{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Wynter Bee|title=People of the Day 2 |date=October 2007 |page=97 |publisher=People of the Day Limited |isbn=978-0954811013}} 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) compared to Beadle's About.{{cite news |first=Geraldine |last=Bedell |authorlink=Geraldine Bedell |title=The end of life as we know it; After 21 years, That's Life! is coming off the air. It made Esther Rantzen into the people's champion. It also made her a powerful woman within the BBC, where her image is not so sunny. Esther knows the people, but do the people know her? |date=29 August 1993 |newspaper=The Independent}} 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 in Wembley.{{cite web |title=Fountain: A Brief History |url=http://www.ftv.co.uk/about/history |publisher=Fountain Studios |accessdate=15 July 2012}}