HEARTBEAT star Bill Maynard says he intends to return to Britain's top drama series in October.

Eight weeks after being rushed in hospital with a series stroke he says: "My doctor told me I could now return any time."

Bill collapsed during filming in Yorkshire Television studios in June. He became paralysed down the left side and spent five weeks in the stroke unit at Leicester General Hospital, near his home in the village of Sapcote.

Bill, 72, in October says: "I'm ready to go back, but I'm enjoying my long break and good weather. So, I intend to start work in six to eight weeks, fit and fully rested."

He plans to spend some time at his home in France, near Riberac, swimming in the pool and dieting to shed a few of his 20 stone.

Meanwhile he is selling his four-bed semi in Sapcote where he has lived for almost 40 years. The contents, everything including his joke books, Rolls Royce and Mercedes will go to auction in Nottingham at the end of next month.

Bill admits the house became a shrine to his first wife, Muriel who died of cancer in 1983. He says: "She was the love of my life. My inspiration. When the taxman pounced on me in the early 1960s everything we owned had to be sold, a beautiful house, lavishly furnished and four cars. We bought this house with the £300 deposit and we had no carpets, curtains or furniture - just joke books. The taxman said they were the tools of my trade and I could keep them."

"Now it's time to forget the past, and everything associated with it, and start afresh. The stroke made me realise I needed change."

The tenth series of Heartbeat, now sold to 40 countries, is underway and there is talk of another two series, each with 24 one hour stories.