Bloke at the back
Dishy detective The Vera actor chats to us about family trees, love at first sight and the perils of cat-sitting
Kenny Doughty
He plays Vera’s right-hand man DS aiden Healy in the ITV drama and, when the cameras stop rolling, Kenny Doughty and his co-star Brenda Blethyn are just as close. away from our screens, Kenny, 41, is a huge football fan, is married to actress and writer Caroline Carver and lives in London.
Brenda and I get on brilliantly and I class her as a close friend. Because we spend so many hours together, we’re very silly between scenes. We have a lot of giggles. She’s also teaching me how to do cryptic crosswords – she can whizz through them, whereas it takes me about five weeks!
my wife and I met when we were actors at the same agency. There was a postal strike, so we had to go into the office to pick up scripts. I saw her and ended up waiting around so we could chat. Somehow, I convinced her to hang out with me – and here we are today.
In 2010, a friend in La asked us to look after his apartment and cat for three months. It was a crazy cat called Friday and the first thing it did was bite my wife! We ended up loving the place and moved there for four years, on and off. We were set to be there for a long time, but then I got jobs in the UK.
I support manchester United and Caroline’s a manchester City fan, so on match days we don’t talk! It was better when Man United were winning as I could gloat, but now when we lose I have to try to stop being a little child.
I started researching my family tree a couple of years ago. My great-grandad was awarded a medal in the First World War and I’ve found a picture of my great-great-grandad from 1890 – he’d just won a big rugby match. My wife said he looks just like me!
✱ Vera, ITV, Sunday at 8pm