Brenda Blethyn to say goodbye to detective Vera with double-feature finale

Actress Brenda Blethyn is set to hang up her hat as Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope as long-running ITV crime drama Vera draws to an end.

The hit show will conclude with two feature-length episodes, titled Inside and The Dark Wives, which will air on ITV1 and STV at 8pm on January 1 and 2.

Unorthodox trench coat-wearing Vera will not be fading out quietly as the show’s 14th and final series will “intertwine gripping murder mysteries with the heartfelt narrative of Vera’s personal journey”, ITV said.

Returning alongside Blethyn for the swansong is David Leon as DI Joe Ashworth, Jon Morrison as DC Kenny Lockhart, Riley Jones as DC Mark Edwards, Sarah Kameela Impey as pathologist Dr Paula Bennett and Rhiannon Clements as DC Steph Duncan.

Filmed and set in the North East, the penultimate episode will see Vera called to the banks of the Tyne where the body of a young man has been discovered by some anglers.

A tangled web of a broken relationship, secret love, grudges, regret and fraud will then begin to emerge.

The final episode will bring the DCI back to a familiar place when a body is found at the foot of the local stones, named The Dark Wives.

She must work to uncover the mystery of why a bright young student would be violently attacked while processing memories of childhood in the background.

Blethyn said filming one of the scenes involving Vera and DC Kenny Lockhart “broke my heart when I read the script”, and was “emotional” to film.

After first appearing in the role in 2011, Blethyn has decided to say goodbye to the character to spend more time with her family.

Reflecting on her decision to leave the show, the 78-year-old said: “It was a lovely summer back in 2023. And I came to realise I hadn’t had a summer with my husband for 14 years.

“Naturally I missed my family. And my dog Jack, although he was with me in the North East, but I didn’t see him much because I was working all day.

“I love my Vera family but I love my other family too. And when you consider I was already thinking about packing work in when I was offered the job back in 2010, 14 series of working on Vera is pretty good going.”

She revealed she had not initially planned to come back after series 13 but agreed to film a few more episodes to draw the story to a close.

Blethyn won the performance of the year Royal Television Society gong for her portrayal of Vera in 2017, and she was granted the Rose d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.

Both episodes have been written by series regular Phil Mulryne with the final episode adapted from Ann Cleeves’ latest novel, The Dark Wives, published earlier this year.

The whole drama has been based on the Vera Stanhope novels written by Cleeves, whose works have also been adapted into the TV shows Shetland and The Long Call.

– Vera airs on ITV1/STV at 8pm on January 1 and 2, followed by the companion documentary Vera Farewell Pet, on January 3 at 9pm.