Vera is back at month-end
GET COSY: RETURN OF THIS NOT-TO-BE-MISSED SHOW
Brenda Blethyn dons her overcoat for a new series.
Multi-award-winning British actress Brenda Blethyn returns as the unorthodox but brilliant Vera Stanhope in the highly-anticipated seventh season of Vera, which starts on ITV Choice (DStv 123) on Wednesday, March 29, at 8pm.
The British criminal drama series is based on the novels and characters created by Ann Cleeves and has garnered critical acclaim since it first debuted in 2011.
Somewhat dishevelled, but a truly gifted detective, deemed by some a female counterpart of legendary Detective Columbo, Detective Chief Inspector Stanhope has her own skeletons in the closet.
Blethyn has said she never thought the series would be so popular when she first donned Vera’s outsized overcoat.
“I always thought the character of Vera was very interesting, different and worthy of a series but of course there are no guarantees. I have been thrilled each time it has been recommissioned.
“She’s a wonderfully conceived character. It’s not your usual, runof-the-mill detective and the fact she’s so ordinary in every respect – apart from her incredible intellect at solving crime. She’s someone anyone can relate to and she doesn’t look like she’s walked off a catwalk.”
Blethyn particularly enjoys the great Northumberland locations where the series is filmed.
“It’s the most beautiful part of the country. I think the landscape is very definitely another character, in a way, in the series,” she says.
In the first episode of the new season, Vera is drawn into a suspicious death of a ranger on Ternstone, a remote and inaccessible island off the coast of Northumberland, home only to numerous species of birds and the rangers who observe them.
As suspicions turn to the victim’s family and workmates, Vera starts to piece together an altogether different portrait of the popular and successful ranger, aided by DC Joe Ashworth, DS Healy, DC Hicham Cherradi and DC Kenny Doughty. – Citizen reporter
I always thought the character of Vera was very interesting, different and worthy of a series.
Brenda Blethyn