By Jasmine Allday
Vera fans have been devastated to learn the ITV drama is ending after the upcoming series.
ITV has confirmed that Brenda Blethyn will hang up her hat after filming one last series of the drama, which will begin filming in just a matter of days before being aired likely in the New Year.
Speaking about the show ending, she said: "Working on Vera has been a joy from beginning to end and I’m sad to be saying Cheerio. But I am so proud of our achievements over the last fourteen years.
"I’ll be forever grateful to the wonderful Ann Cleeves who created Vera, and to Elaine Collins who saw fit to cast me in the role. The Producers, dream cast and crew have been fabulous and I’m going to miss them, but I won’t forget their huge talent, the camaraderie, laughter or kindness we shared nor the friendship of the people of the north east and our fans worldwide."
Here's all the clues you missed that showed Brenda would be hanging up her Vera hat:
Series change
The last few series of the ITV drama have seen some big changes. In series 11, there were six episodes of the show whilst for series 12, this dropped to four episodes and a Christmas special, which has never been done on this show before.
Speaking about having a Christmas special, she explained: "I’ve always wanted to have a Vera Christmas special. This adaptation of Ann Cleeves’ book The Rising Tide is set against the backdrop to the run up to Christmas. There are quite a lot of Christmas trees in this film and it was nice to film scenes with all of the festive decorations in the background. There’s always a jolly feeling at Christmas with people in good spirits. But sometimes they had to take a tree out of the background because there was too much going on!"
For the thirteenth series, there was just three episodes whilst it has been confirmed there will just be two episodes for the fourteenth series, as fans get a final chance to bid farewell to the iconic character.
Sad admission
Brenda has admitted in the past it is really tough to film the ITV show. She explained that the cast have to be away for five weeks per episode, before having a week off, as she explained that she finds it hard to "switch off".
"Each episode takes five weeks to film and then we have a week off. But two of those days off are taken up in going home and coming back again. My husband used to say my body comes home a month before my head. It’s quite hard to switch off. Also, in that time off I’m working on the script for the next episode. So I’m really still working but just at home," she said.
Cast exit
When DS Aiden Healy - played by Kenny Doughty - decided to head to Australia to continue his policing journey, there was a lot of speculation who might be his replacement. DS - now DI - Joe Ashworth (played by David Leon) made a surprise return to work alongside Vera once more. In an interview, Brenda explained she would have quit if David didn't return.
Speaking at the start of series 13, she shared: "After we filmed The Rising Tide at the end of 2022 I didn’t want to do anymore without Kenny Doughty, who had decided to leave. But I said, ‘I’ll think about it if you can see if David Leon is available to return as Joe Ashworth.’ And so they did and here I am. I was broken-hearted when David left after Series Four and equally overjoyed when I heard he was coming back as the relationship between Vera and Joe worked so well.
"They have all of that early history together. I wouldn’t have continued if David had not agreed to come back. I just didn’t want to start another board game with somebody else when I know I’m not going to do many more. And who would want to do it anyway?”
Nod to first episode
In the most recent series, Brenda opened up about a special nod to the first ever episode of the ITV drama, which could have been a hint that there were thoughts about the show being wrapped up.
"There are echoes in the first new film of the very first Vera episode which keen fans may spot. Including a scene at the North Shields fish quay where her father Hector’s ashes were scattered," she said.
"The week after we had finished filming for series 13 I went back there to unveil a sculpture - ‘The Herring Girl’ - to honour the herring girls. They had a very hard life following the herring fishing fleet in all weathers from the north of Scotland and down the east coast of England. In the days before refrigeration they were a team of women whose job was to gut, salt and pack the fish into barrels using sharp knives so that it could be sold back on land. A heroic job to do."
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