I don’t think I’m the only one who likes to guess who the killer is when watching a cop show and for the first two instalments of Vera I managed to guess whodunit before she did, however on this week’s episode I think I thought too far outside of the box.

This week’s episode features an opener that takes place during an army’s tour of Helmand Province in Afghanistan, with one of their number being killed before taking us six months into the future to a dinner which honours the fallen that didn’t make it back to England. In fact it does take a while for Vera to enter her programme this week but after one of the returning soldiers is found dead, initially thought to be a suicide, DCI Stanhope is called into investigate. As always Vera is her blunt self she clashes with the Lt Colonel at the Otterfed Barracks, after pathologist Billy informs her that the sergeant known as Dev couldn’t have committed the murder himself but despite this evidence he fails to believe her. Although Vera is assigned a captain from the military police it is she who takes over the investigation informing Joe that they do the marching and saluting while they do the real investigating.

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Last week one reader noted that a lot of Vera is filmed in County Durham and not as I said in Northumberland, where the show is set, however I’m sure that Northumberland is still used for the scenes where characters are deep in contemplation staring across at large bodies of water. The Northumberland scenery plays a larger part in this week’s episode, as a wild swimming enthusiast is strangled and drowned while trying to enjoy an early morning dip in a reservoir. Though this is a tragic murder it doesn’t stop Vera and pathologist Billy Cartwright noting that it was a lovely spot, so the main message of Vera seems to be that Northumberland has lovely sceneries if you can overlook all the murders. While the woman, later identified as social worker Jenny Lister, is being drowned Vera is trying to navigate her way around the pool at a local health spa, as she fails to dodge the aqua aerobics class that is going on at the same time. Seeing the shabby Vera trying to negotiate her way round the spa, in which the doors can only be opened by swiping a membership card, lets Blethyn demonstrate a brief moment of comedy in an otherwise dark episode.

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At the moment ITV1 seems to be having the most success with its crime dramas, whether it be the brilliant Scott & Bailey or the long-running Lewis and tonight it also welcomes back Vera for a second series.

For those who missed it the first time around, the programme stars Brenda Blethyn as DCI Vera Stanhope who works for the Northumberland police force and is a cantankerous yet brilliant detective who often rubs up her colleagues the wrong way. At the start of series two Vera is seen outside of her GP’s office after having been given bad news, however she tells her sergeant Joe Ashworth that she’s been given a clean bill of health and later reveals to him that she has angina. This is a bit of a blow to a woman who in the first episode was a heavy smoker, drunk like a fish and had a penchant for running after criminals despite her advancing years. She also has to solve a crime that is fairly close to home, as it involves her first sergeant Stuart Macken whose house is petrol-bombed leaving his eighteen year old daughter Stella in a coma, while he receives some fairly severe burns after rescuing her from the house. At the hospital Stuart tells Vera that all he ever tried to do was protect her, before he jumps from the fourth floor of the building and takes his own life.
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Welcome once again as we plunge into the best that TV has to offer us over the next week.

The Bridge (BBC4, Sat, 9pm)

It’s fair to say that BBC4 has had major success with Scandinavian imports, most notably The Killing and Borgen. They are hoping to repeat that success with their latest acquisition The Bridge, which is a co-production between Sweden and Denmark focusing, as it does, on the Oresund Bridge that connects the two countries. When a body is found of the bridge, half on the Swedish side of the bridge and half on the Danish side, both countries sent one of their detectives to hunt down the killer before he strikes again. The Danish sent the podgy, much-divorced and scruffy Martin Rohde, who throughout the series is in constant pain thanks to a vasectomy he recently had. Meanwhile from Sweden we have another in a long line of strong Scandinavian female characters in Saga Noren, a socially awkward individual who is sort of a cross between Lisbeth Salander and Sarah Lund, however swapping the latter’s taste in jumpers for a pair of leather trousers.

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As fans of hit ITV drama Vera will doubtless know, the police drama returns to our screens on Sunday night, and Brenda Blethyn, who of course plays the pragmatic title character, has revealed that she’s pleased she doesn’t know a great deal about Vera’s past.

Speaking to the PA, Brenda said, “The more you know about a character, the less surprising they are. I like her enigmatic side.”

However, she did also reveal that viewers will get a few glimpses of Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope’s past in the forthcoming new series.

Brenda explained, “There’s a case of arson and attempted murder, which involves one of her old colleagues… Read more & comment »

New episodes of ITV’s crime thriller VERA starring Brenda Blethyn OBE have gone into production in the North East. Guest stars Julie Graham (Survivors, William & Mary), Ron Cook (Little Dorrit, The Diary of Anne Frank), Steven Hartley (Doctors, The Bill) and Nina Sosanya (Silk, Five Days) join Brenda in The Ghost Position, the first of four self contained films.

DCI Vera Stanhope (Brenda Blethyn) is reunited, under tragic circumstances, with her first ever Sergeant, Stuart Macken (Steven Hartley). When his house is petrol bombed, Stuart is left badly burned and his 18 year old daughter, Stella (Jessica Barden), is fighting for her life in intensive care. Vera is shocked to see that Stuart is a shadow of the man she knew twenty years before.

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ITV Drama has today announced that after securing 8 of the 10 most watched new dramas of 2011, they have decided to recommission four of those new series’ for the year ahead. The titles making the top eight include Scott & Bailey; The Suspicions of Mr Whicher; Marchlands; Vera; Case Sensitive; Kidnap & Ransom; Injustice and Monroe.

The new dramas to be recommissioned are:

Vera

International award winning actress Brenda Blethyn, OBE, makes a welcome return to ITV1 as Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope. Vera averaged 6.6m (25% share) with a peak episode of 6.8m (25% share) during the first series.

Set once again in contemporary Northumberland and Newcastle, ITV Studios have commenced filming four new stand-alone episodes of the hit crime thriller.

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Brenda Blethyn has admitted that she was slightly offended when she was offered a part in ‘Vera’ because the character was described to her as a “bag lady”.

The BAFTA-winning actress – who plays Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope in the ITV1 drama – admitted while she was initially baffled as to why she had been offered the role, she has now come to love the character.

She told BANG Showbiz: “When I eventually got to the character in the book the description of her says she’s a huge woman and looks like a bag lady and is so scruffy. I was like, ‘Why did they choose me?’

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Hidden Depths:

International award winning actress Brenda Blethyn OBE stars in VERA, a new murder mystery drama series produced by ITV Studios.

The star of such prestigious productions as Secrets and Lies, Pride and Prejudice and Atonement will play Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope, in four stand alone films. The central character is Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope who is obsessive about her work and driven by her own demons. If she’s lonely she doesn’t show it and faces the world with caustic wit, guile and courage. Her trusted and long suffering colleague is Sergeant Joe Ashworth (David Leon); her right hand man and surrogate son. Together they approach every new case with unparalleled gusto and professionalism.

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Brenda Blethyn has admitted that she perfected her Geordie accent for new thriller ‘Vera’ by studying Cheryl Cole on The X Factor.

The BAFTA-winning actress – who plays Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope in the upcoming ITV1 drama – admitted she grasped hold of the perfect dialect for her workaholic alter-ago by watching the 27-year-old beauty on ‘The X Factor’, and is even hoping to emulate Cheryl’s style in the next series of the show.

She told BANG Showbiz: “I listened to Cheryl Cole quite a lot and watched ‘The X Factor’. Now I have a lovely little voice, pet. I want to get a pair of those trousers with the slits up the side for the next series.

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