Fearing that the village would end up being ruined, he appealed to his neighbours to oppose the request, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Most of the residents relished the prospect of the village becoming a tourist honeypot and welcomed the television company with open arms. The newcomer promptly sold up and left but most of his neighbours stayed on and have benefited from Heartbeat, the series that put Goathland firmly on the day-trippers' road map. The village has become a shrine to the show, every other shop a treasury of gifts selling Heartbeat jigsaw puzzles, mugs and Matchbox toys, and badges demanding: "Send Us More Tourush he can use as an integral part of his "Son of Star Wars" missile defence scheme.
The jury is out over whether the high-power pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the truncated pyramid poses a risk to human health. Although some scientists believe it could, during a visit to the area last month, the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, claimed that there was "no risk to the health of local people or livestock".
But motorists are already feeling the effects. There have been reports in recent months of visitors to the moorland beauty spot finding themselves stranded because the beams of radar pulsing from Fylingdales have triggered their car alarms and immobilisers, which operate on the same frequency. Drivers of some makes of car and many motorcyclists have been left trapped in the village and had to be towed out of range of the base by rescue services before they could restart their vehicles.
Some locals believe that the situation has got worse following the recent upgrading of the base in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Frank Doyle, who owns Bazaar, a shop in Skinner Street, Whitby, and makes regular deliveries to the Goathland area in his Mercedes Vito van, says: "It's getting beyond a joke. I've got stuck there three times in less than two weeks and have to keep calling breakdown services to get out of the place.
"I'm fed up with it. It's not just the inconvenience - it messes up my social life as well. Now when I'm on deliveries I keep the engine running, and I won't risk visiting friends who live near Fylingdales. It's not worth the hassle.''
Jackie Fearnley, a Goathland resident and member of the Fylingdales Action Network, a protest group opposing the upgrading of Fylingdales for a "Son of Star Wars" role, says: "I know that car alarms are sensitive and that some go off spontaneously, but this is getting ridiculous. It is a nuisance to all the villagers. Someone has got to sort it out."
Goathland's North York Moors National Park car park attendant Bill Peirson is one of the first to know when motorists fall victim to the Bermuda Triangle-type effect created by the Fylingdales radar. He says that BMWs, Jeep Cherokees and Mercedes cars and vans are badly affected.
"As soon as the alarms go off, I explain to owners that it's probably Fylingdales that's caused it," he says.
"Motorbikes are the worst. There's one almost every weekend. There was a bike alarm screaming all afternoon recently and the rider didn't have breakdown cover. I asked a friend to tow him away, and when they got out of Fylingdales' range, the alarm stopped."
Motorists visiting Goathland are not alone in being scuppered by the military. Joanne Berry, a veterinary receptionist who lives at Tholthorpe, near Easingwold, North Yorkshire, was driven to despair by her 1998 Toyota Avensis when its remote-controlled locking system was triggered seven times by aeroplane communication systems at RAF Linton - on each occasion forcing her to make a 28-mile round trip to her dealer to get the system reset.
"It was very frustrating and incredibly inconvenient," she says. "I've had to leave the car unlocked or use the key manually - which sets off the alarm for up to a minute. If I had known that aeroplanes would be a problem, I'd never have bought the car."
Elvin Ravenscroft, senior technical liaison manager with the RAC, says the problem has come about because there are a several organisations operating legally on the same frequencies.
"The problem isn't isolated to military bases," he says. "It happens to cars on docksides because of ship-to-shore radios, in hospital car parks because of paging systems, and in the vicinity of security and communication systems anywhere at all.
"The wavebands are licensed by the Radio Communications Agency and, because of EU `harmonisation', they are used by radio hams, radio-controlled model car enthusiasts and even by the remote control units which sit on top of people's TVs so they can watch videos in bed, as well as car manufacturers and the MoD. We've had people immobilised on their driveway because of things like this."
Mr Ravenscroft says that people who think they've been immobilised should use their key manually. "In most cases, if you wait a few minutes you can restart your car," he says. "Although your alarm might sound, it's possible to disarm the control box for the alarm or immobiliser by moving the key fob as close as possible to the unit. The closer you are to the alarm unit, the stronger the signal. It also helps if you have a good battery in your key fob."
While the Radio Communications Agency says it is hoping that legislation will be amended so that car and motorcycle manufacturers will eventually be able to use a different frequency, manufacturers are adamant that the situation is beyond their control.
Tom Johnston, a spokesman for Jeep, says: "It's not our fault. There's nothing we can do about it. The problem is that, in accordance with European law, the Government gives manufacturers such a narrow band to operate in. The radio frequency we use for our key fobs is severely restricted, and it happens to be the same as the one which is given to military bases. It's hardly surprising that this is happening in Goathland. The emissions from Fylingdales must be so powerful they are wiping everything else out."
A spokesman for RAF Fylingdales said the base was aware of the problem, but added: "There's nothing we can do about it. We've had the frequencies we use for a long time. They are allocated to commercial, military and government users, and the allocation is tightly controlled. As far as we are concerned, our radars are working on frequencies which are well known, and most car manufacturers take that into account."
