Vera (TV series)

Vera
Series title and an image of the lead character
Genre	Crime drama
Created by	Ann Cleeves
Starring	Brenda Blethyn David Leon Kenny Doughty Jon Morrison Cush Jumbo Kingsley Ben-Adir Wunmi Mosaku Paul Ritter Clare Calbraith Lisa Hammond Riley Jones Noof McEwan
Composer(s)	Ben Bartlett
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	7
No. of episodes	28 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Elaine Collins Kate Bartlett Kate Lewis Myar Craig Michael Dawson
Producer(s)	Elaine Collins
Running time	90 minutes
Production company(s)	ITV Studios
Release
Original network	ITV, STV, UTV
Picture format	16:9 1080i
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	1 May 2011 (2011-05-01) – present
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

Vera is a British crime drama series based on novels of the same name, written by crime writer Ann Cleeves. It was first broadcast on ITV on 1 May 2011, and to date, seven series have aired.

The series stars Brenda Blethyn as the principal character, DCI Vera Stanhope. Vera is an employee of the fictional Northumberland & City Police, who is obsessive about her work and driven by her own demons. She plods along in a constantly dishevelled state, but has a calculating mind, and despite her irascible personality, she cares deeply about her work and comrades. Vera forms a close relationship with both of her sergeants, Joe Ashworth (David Leon) and later, Aiden Healy (Kenny Doughty).

Premise

Hidden Depths, Telling Tales and The Crow Trap from the first series, and Silent Voices from the second series, are based on the novels of the same names by Ann Cleeves. The episode Sandancers from the second series was due to be broadcast on Sunday, 13 May. However, the episode was pulled from the schedule, with ITV citing: "We regret the late change to the schedule, and the non-appearance of Sunday’s episode of Vera. The storyline of this episode concerns the death of a soldier in Afghanistan. Following the news of the deaths of two servicemen in Helmand province, it was considered appropriate to delay the broadcast of this particular episode." In August 2012, Vera was renewed for a third series of four episodes, with both Brenda Blethyn and David Leon confirmed as returning for the new series. Filming on the third series finished in February 2013. The last three episodes of the series were broadcast in a later timeslot, from 9:00pm–11:00pm.

On 22 April 2013, ITV renewed Vera for a fourth series, before the third series had even been broadcast. Filming on the fourth series completed in October 2013, and included an adaptation of the then-unpublished novel On Harbour Street, which was subsequently published in January 2014, ahead of the TV broadcast. This made the opening episode the first since the second series to be a direct adaptation from the Vera novels and leaves The Glass Room as the only novel yet to be filmed. On 5 June 2014, ITV announced that a fifth series had been commissioned and that David Leon would not be returning to the series. Kenny Doughty was unveiled as his successor. Latisha Knight was announced as executive producer for this series. Cush Jumbo returned to the main cast following her two episode guest stint in series two, while Lisa Hammond joined the cast as newcomer Helen Milton. In March 2015, ITV announced that the show had been renewed for a sixth series, with filming commencing in June. The third episode was announced to be an adaptation of the novel The Moth Catcher, which was set to be published in September 2015. Noof McEwan joins the cast following the departure of Cush Jumbo.

Cast

• Brenda Blethyn as DCI Vera Stanhope (series 1–present)
• David Leon as DS Joe Ashworth (series 1–4)
• Kenny Doughty as DS Aiden Healy (series 5–present)
• Jon Morrison as DC Kenny Lockhart (series 1–present)
• Wunmi Mosaku as DC Holly Lawson (series 1–2)
• Cush Jumbo as DC Bethany Whelan (series 2, series 5–6)
• Clare Calbraith as Capt./DC Rebecca Shepherd (guest series 2, series 3–4)
• Riley Jones as PC/DC Mark Edwards (series 1–present)
• Lisa Hammond as DC Helen Milton (series 5–present)
• Noof McEwan as DC Hicham Cherradi (series 6–present)
• Paul Ritter as Dr. Billy Cartwright (series 1–3)
• Kingsley Ben-Adir as Dr. Marcus Sumner (series 4–6)
• Christopher Colquhoun as Dr. Anthony Carmichael (series 7–present)

Episodes

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Originally aired		Average UK viewers (millions)
			First aired	Last aired
	1	4	1 May 2011 (2011-05-01)	22 May 2011 (2011-05-22)
	2	4	22 April 2012 (2012-04-22)	3 June 2012 (2012-06-03)
	3	4	25 August 2013 (2013-08-25)	15 September 2013 (2013-09-15)
	4	4	27 April 2014 (2014-04-27)	18 May 2014 (2014-05-18)
	5	4	5 April 2015 (2015-04-05)	26 April 2015 (2015-04-26)
	6	4	31 January 2016 (2016-01-31)	21 February 2016 (2016-02-21)
	7	4	19 March 2017 (2017-03-19)	9 April 2017 (2017-04-09)

Series 1 (2011)

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions)
1	1	"Hidden Depths"	Adrian Shergold	Paul Rutman	1 May 2011 (2011-05-01)	6.75
DCI Vera Stanhope has two apparently unrelated murders and a kidnapping. Her life is complicated by the death of her father and her decision to live in his home which sadly contains the cluttered remains of his life. The story unfolds with Vera discovering that the murders are tied to photos and a missing camera.
2	2	"Telling Tales"	Peter Hoar	Paul Rutman	8 May 2011 (2011-05-08)	6.57
Sentenced for the murder of Abby, precocious young daughter of her lover Keith Mantel a decade earlier, Jeannie Long escapes from prison and, after a row with her father, kills herself. News of her death brings evidence that shows she was innocent, as she had long claimed, and DCI Vera Stanhope reopens the case.
3	3	"The Crow Trap"	Farren Blackburn	Stephen Brady	15 May 2011 (2011-05-15)	6.58
Vera investigates when an old associate, Bella Furness, is found bludgeoned to death in the barn of her farmhouse. Environmentalist Ann Preece, who discovered the body, denies having a motive for murder. Suspicion falls upon Bella's stepson, Neville, who stands to inherit the land on which the farmhouse is located. His connections with a local building firm, who plan to demolish the farmhouse to build an access road for a new quarry, further complicates Vera's investigation. Meanwhile, Vera is confronted by a bereaved mother whose son disappeared whilst up at the farmhouse several years previously. As a complex love triangle involving several of the prime suspects begins to unravel, a second murder throws suspicion upon the identity of Bella's killer, and links between the three cases begin to emerge, suggesting a possible motive for murder.
4	4	"Little Lazarus"	Paul Whittington	Paul Rutman	22 May 2011 (2011-05-22)	6.51
When the body of a badly beaten young mother is found up on the moor, Vera follows a trail of footprints and discovers a young boy submerged in a nearby river. As it transpires that the initial victim was beaten several times with a baseball bat, Vera and Joe set about discovering her identity. A holdall containing £2,000 found in the boot of her car fails to yield any significant clues, and the young boy is unable to recall the events of that night, nor much of his life to date. When the victim is finally identified as 31-year-old Margaret Wilde, a complex web of former relationships and care home abuse begins to unravel. As Vera tries to identify a possible suspect identified only as 'The Shiny Man', she begins to cross wires with a local county judge, Patricia Carmichael, whom she suspects is more involved with the victim than she cares to elaborate.

Series 2 (2012)

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions)
5	1	"The Ghost Position"	Peter Hoar	Paul Rutman	22 April 2012 (2012-04-22)	6.12
When an old colleague of DCI Vera Stanhope, Sergeant Stuart Macken, commits suicide at the hospital where his daughter lies critically injured after his home had been firebombed, the investigation leads to a number of suspects: the daughter's stepfather, a missing protester Sergeant Macken had under surveillance, the protester's pregnant girlfriend and an art teacher. Furthermore, a senior officer's affair with Macken comes to light and a second attempt on the daughter in hospital breaks the case wide open to explain the sergeant's suicide.
6	2	"Silent Voices"	Paul Whittington	Gaby Chiappe	29 April 2012 (2012-04-29)	6.53
Social worker Jenny Lister is murdered whilst out swimming. Everybody speaks of Jenny as if she was perfect, arousing Vera's suspicions, especially when she learns that Jenny was writing a book about some of her cases.
7	3	"A Certain Samaritan"	Ed Bazalgette	Paul Rutman	20 May 2012 (2012-05-20)	6.98
A shoe found in Newcastle matches another found on a dead body found in a skip in Portsmouth. The victim had traces of heroin in his bloodstream, a wallet containing £300 and another man's credit card which seem at odds with his character. The investigation includes a possessive mother, a girlfriend, a gay beekeeper dying of leukemia, and a local drug dealer later found dead on a beach. Vera's private memories about her dead father are also stirred when Joe gives her an address for her father's mistress.
8	4	"Sandancers"	Julian Holmes	Colin Teevan	3 June 2012 (2012-06-03)	5.83
Revenge is behind the clinical murder of Staff Sgt Deverson, a soldier in charge of a bomb disposal unit, The Sandancers. Deverson's second in command, Ollie, who was killed in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device, was having an affair with his wife. The wife, Ollie's family, and other members of the unit all come under suspicion and the death of another unit member confuses the investigation which is not helped by the army closing ranks.

Series 3 (2013)

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions)
9	1	"Castles in the Air"	Will Sinclair	Paul Rutman & Gaby Chiappe	25 August 2013 (2013-08-25)	6.29
When a young woman, Lizzie Faulkner, is shot outside of the holiday chalet where she and a group of friends are staying for the weekend, Vera and Joe suspect that her murder may be linked to poachers operating in nearby fields. They identify a suspect, Robert Doran, but despite being in the vicinity at the time, he denies being responsible for Lizzie's murder. Vera begins to suspect the woman's death may have been a case of mistaken identity, and that the intended victim may have been one of the chalet designers, Corrine Franks, who was meant to have been staying there at the time. A link to a tragic car accident involving Corrine which lead to an innocent woman losing her life appears to confirm their theory, and when Corrine is later targeted once more and killed in a freak hit-and-run, the team finally get the breakthrough they have been looking for.
10	2	"Poster Child"	Paul Cotter	Paul Rutman	1 September 2013 (2013-09-01)	6.74
An acclaimed doctor, Dan Marsden, is shot through the skull in the living room of his remote country home, and his two daughters, Karen and Mira, are taken against their will. Meanwhile, a new DC, Barry Kelman, is temporarily assigned to the team to help them with the investigation. Initial suspicion falls upon Jonah Regan, an award-winning photographer who had previously tried to adopt Mira before the Marsden family were granted custody. However, it soon becomes apparent that one of Mira's relatives - her estranged brother, Malik - who was thought to have died in a bomb attack in Baghdad - is in fact alive and well, and has been contacting her through her social media accounts. Malik, however, is determined to flee back to his homeland with Mira in tow - but when he comes face to face with Laura Marsden and DC Kelman, tragedy strikes.
11	3	"Young Gods"	Dušan Lazarević	Gaby Chiappe	8 September 2013 (2013-09-08)	6.54
A group of sixth form students on a weekend retreat at a leisure centre bear witness to a man being set on fire, who subsequently falls from a cliff and drowns in the river below. The victim, Gideon Frane, is discovered to have been a former head boy at a local boarding school for high achieving students, but is also known to have a chequered past, having been responsible for 97 incidents of harassment against his ex-girlfriend. When Billy discovers the cause of death was poisoning, Vera begins to look at the case from a completely different perspective. When the team finally track down Gideon's former best friend, Jamie Levinson, both he and Vera fall victim to a further poisoning. Connections start to build when Joe links the case to the death of a former teacher at their school, whose daughter happened to be present when Gideon was murdered.
12	4	"Prodigal Son"	Thaddeus O'Sullivan	Marston Bloom	15 September 2013 (2013-09-15)	6.54
Former London Metropolitan Police detective and well-documented ladies man, John Warnock, is found stabbed in alleyway adjacent to a quayside pub he had been visiting earlier in the evening. Suspicion initially falls on young street thief Reece, who is well known to Kenny, having arrested him several times in the past. Although Reece admits to lifting the victim's credit card, he denies murder. A complex web of relationships and deceit begins to boil to the surface, and it soon becomes apparent that Warnock had been using his skills as a detective to act as a spy for a local firm of solicitors, to uncover the secrets of his current boss, brewery owner Sam Harper. But with Sam, his wife and his daughter all having rock solid alibis for the time of Warnock's murder, Vera is left to decipher just how one of them managed to slip away to commit the crime.

Series 4 (2014)

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions)
13	1	"On Harbour Street"	Thaddeus O'Sullivan	Paul Rutman	27 April 2014 (2014-04-27)	7.00
Joe's daughter is a witness to the death of a pensioner, seemingly stabbed, on a rush hour train she and her father were travelling on. Her seemingly quiet life turns out to be anything but as Vera's investigation begins to unravel a tangled web of lies and deceit. An old friend of Vera's father appears to hold the key to the entire mystery, which involves unraveling a murder committed thirty years previously, a rape which resulted in a child whose identity has been shrouded in mystery, and an affair which nobody suspected would ever be likely to have taken place. Vera realises that the answer may lie in events which have started to repeat themselvs.
14	2	"Protected"	Daikin Marsh	Martha Hillier	4 May 2014 (2014-05-04)	6.44
When a young property developer dies on a beach in Whitley Bay, Vera's investigation begins to tread on many toes. It appears that the victim was not only having a secret relationship with his estranged sister, but that he had confronted a local arcade owner, whose son had died at his house many years before, having slipped from a flat roof in a supposed 'burglary'. When the victim's father dies of cardiac arrest, Vera suspects foul play, but it turns out not to be the case. However, a scam involving the family's rental business may hold the key to the motive behind the victim's death. But in order to place all of the pieces of the puzzle together, Vera has to reveal some long buried - and heartbreaking - secrets, leading to a shock revelation which points the team firmly in the direction of the real killer.
15	3	"The Deer Hunters"	Will Sinclair	Steve Coombes	11 May 2014 (2014-05-11)	6.01
A man killed by a single gunshot wound is found by his car in a quarry. The victim was in Northumberland to sell his recently deceased grandfather's property but at the last minute pulled out of the sale to a wealthy couple who own a nearby deer shoot. A second vehicle is found burnt out with the remains of a dead stag in the back and poaching is suspected.
16	4	"Death of a Family Man"	David Richards	Martha Hillier	18 May 2014 (2014-05-18)	6.22
A man, outwardly happily married, is discovered in the river with his shoe laces tied together suggesting suicide until the post mortem confirms murder. The victim was an informant for Revenue and Customs, on a case regarding the smuggling of alcohol which widens the suspects from family to include his business associates.

Series 5 (2015)

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions)
17	1	"Changing Tides"	Marek Losey	Martha Hillier	5 April 2015 (2015-04-05)	6.52
With Joe now promoted, Vera and her new sergeant, DS Aiden Healy, investigate a fatal explosion at a caravan park which killed Deena Viner, sister of the park's owner, Jim. The mystery deepens when Vera and Aiden discover that Deena was killed and then placed in the caravan before it blew up.
18	2	"Old Wounds"	Daikin Marsh	Martha Hillier	12 April 2015 (2015-04-12)	5.91
The discovery of skeletal remains in Hollowthorp Woods leads to Vera re-opening the case of a seventeen-year-old school girl, Carrie Telling, who went missing some thirty years earlier. Found with the body's remains were a camera, a company credit card and a telephone number for an abortion clinic. When another murder occurs, it becomes apparent to Vera that the killer is somebody who had something to hide thirty years ago, and is still prepared to kill to ensure their secret stays safe.
19	3	"Muddy Waters"	Stewart Svaasand	Glen Laker	19 April 2015 (2015-04-19)	6.20
Vera and her team investigate the death of a young man dredged up from a slurry pit. Vera discovers the victim was a traveller who had left his camp following a row with his parents. Vera locates the victim's camper van, which contains a wad of notes, suggesting the victim was involved in something illegal. However, it is a deaf little boy who presents Vera with the solution to the case.
20	4	"Shadows in the Sky"	Will Sinclair	Martha Hillier	26 April 2015 (2015-04-26)	6.13
Vera must uncover a life of secrets and lies when Owen Thorne, a well-loved family man, plummets to his death from a multi-storey car park.

Series 6 (2016)

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions)
21	1	"Dark Road"	Marek Losey	Martha Hillier	31 January 2016 (2016-01-31)	7.93
When Anne-Marie Richards is found dead on the moors, shoe-less, Vera deduces that she was killed at home and the body dumped. Later, Vera discovers that Anne-Marie was a frequent visitor to a seaside guest house where she entertained gentleman friends she met whilst working as a barmaid, as well as acting as a drug dealer for one of her daughters. An examination of the family provides Vera with the identity of the killer though the investigation is marked by a deadly attack on one of her team.
22	2	"Tuesday's Child"	Jill Robertson	Glen Laker	7 February 2016 (2016-02-07)	7.91
Vera investigates the death of a local lad whose body is found wrapped in plastic sheets at a rural teenage hang out.
23	3	"The Moth Catcher"	Jamie Childs	Paul Matthew Thompson	14 February 2016 (2016-02-14)	8.14
Vera investigates the murder of 22-year-old Alex Gartside, victim of a hit and run in a remote Northumberland Valley.
24	4	"The Sea Glass"	Paul Gay	Paul Matthew Thompson & Martha Hillier	21 February 2016 (2016-02-21)	7.55
Former trawler-man Tommy Stonnall's corpse is pulled from the sea six weeks after his sons reported him missing. He was depressed following his wife's death, huge debts and an accusation - never proved - by unpopular siblings Ellie and Jay Connock that he burned down their fish market, killing their father. Vera however discounts suicide when she finds an abandoned van stained by Tommy's blood, leading her to a lodgings house where he stayed for the missing weeks and where she finds contraband cigarettes. She also uncovers a more sinister smuggling racket in which Tommy was involved, along with a secret liaison and an explanation for the arson attack.

Series 7 (2017)

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions)
25	1	"Natural Selection"	Jamie Childs	Helen Jenkins	19 March 2017 (2017-03-19)	8.60
Vera is drawn into the suspicious death of Gemma Wyatt on Ternstone, a remote and inaccessible island off the coast of Northumberland. Although the victim's friends and family believe her death was an accident, marks found on her body quickly prove otherwise. As suspicions turn to Gemma’s family and workmates, Vera starts to piece together an altogether different portrait of the popular and successful ranger. But as Gemma was left alone on the island overnight, the question remains, who could have made the treacherous journey out to sea and up the island’s impenetrable coastline to kill her, and why?
26	2	"Dark Angel"	Louise Hooper	Paul Matthew Thompson	26 March 2017 (2017-03-26)	7.72
The body of a young man is discovered face down in a river, bludgeoned to death. But with no ID on the body, tracing the victim's identity proves difficult for Vera and her team. She is forced to make headway with the only clues they have: a mourning ring worn around the young man’s neck, needle marks on the body, and a drugs wrapper with a distinctive stamp – ‘Dark Angel’. Tracing the stamp draws Vera to Gateshead and into Newcastle’s criminal underbelly, where the victim, Nathan, had several ties with people both dangerous and vulnerable – all people with good reason to want Nathan out of the picture. But the investigation takes an unexpected turn when a witness sighting leads Vera and DS Aiden Healy to the scene of an old crime, a remote farm in which a brutal murder took place some 13 years ago. Could there be a link between Nathan’s murder and the historic crime?
27	3	"Broken Promise"	Lee Haven Jones	Robert Murphy	2 April 2017 (2017-04-02)	7.86
Vera is called to the University of Northumberland when Jamie Marshall, a young, promising journalism student, plummets to his death from the top of a disused faculty building. With no eyewitnesses and no immediate leads, Vera turns to friends and family to glean all she can about Jamie, and to discover who might have wanted him dead. Her investigation delves further into Jamie’s academic and personal life, as it becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. His sunny persona is betrayed by vlog posts that cast Jamie in a different light altogether, with anger and resentment bubbling to the surface. But what was Jamie rallying against?
28	4	"The Blanket Mire"	John Hayes	Paul Matthew Thompson & Martha Hillier	9 April 2017 (2017-04-09)	7.20
Surveyors out on the Northumberland moors make a shocking discovery: the body of a young woman buried beneath the soil. On the scene, assumptions are that this is the body of local teenager, Mia Hinkin, who disappeared six weeks ago. Vera is forced to deliver the terrible news to a broken family, desperate for answers. With her body found so close to home, Vera must re-trace the vulnerable young woman’s footsteps from her isolated rural life and into a dark and tangled web of deceit to track down her killer.

Series 8 (2018)

On 7 April 2017, Brenda Blethyn confirmed that an eighth series of Vera will begin filming in June 2017.

Ratings

The first series attracted an average consolidated audience of 6.60 million (25% share) over four episodes. The show was subsequently recommissioned by ITV for four more episodes. The second series attracted an average consolidated audience of 6.36 million over four episodes. Vera was later recommissioned for two more series. The third series attracted an average consolidated audience of 6.53 million over four episodes, whilst the fourth series attracted a slightly smaller audience of 6.42 million over four episodes.

International broadcast

• In Australia, the first series was broadcast on the Seven Network. Series 2 was shown on 7Two from Wednesday, 18 July 2012 at 8:30pm. Series 3 commenced on ABC1 on Sunday, 23 August 2015 at 8:30pm and was immediately followed by series 4. ABC reverted to series 1 episode 1 on Sunday, 27 December 2015 at 8:30pm. ABC commenced screening series 5 on Sunday 28 August at 8:30pm, and series 6 on Sunday 5 March 2017, again at 8:30pm.
• On subscription TV provider Foxtel, series 1–5 is aired every weekend at 8:30pm and series 6 began airing on Monday, 7 March 2016 and aired every Monday at 8:30pm on 13th Street Channel 118, with episode 4 airing on 28 March 2016.
• In Belgium, Dutch-speaking channel Canvas started airing the series.
• In Canada, Knowledge Network (British Columbia) aired series 1 beginning in December, 2014.
• In Denmark, the national public service broadcaster DR aired the four first episodes on their popular channel DR1 late Sunday evenings. In 2013, series 2 was broadcast on DR1 on Saturday evenings, rather than Sunday evenings. Likewise, series 3 and 4 were broadcast on Saturday evenings, in autumn 2014, on DR1.
• In the United States, the series is broadcast on public television stations. Series One was also available in the U.S. for online streaming via the Netflix service. Series 1, 2 and 3 are available for online streaming via Amazon Video, Acorn TV (series 1–5) and Hulu.
• In Finland the national broadcasting company Yle started airing all episodes starting on 21 December 2012 on Friday nights at 7pm.
• In The Netherlands the series is shown by KRO–NCRV on NPO 1.
• In New Zealand the series is shown on TV One.
• In Croatia the series is shown on HRT2.
• In Germany the series is shown on ZDFneo.
• In Poland the series is shown on Ale Kino+.
• In Spain the series is shown on La 2
• In Portugal the first series was shown on public broadcaster RTP2. It was repeated and subsequent series shown on Fox Crime from 2013.
• In Norway the series is shown on public service broadcaster NRK.
• In France the series is shown on France 3, starting from Sunday, 11 January 2015.
• In Slovenia the series is shown on RTVSLO.
• In Sweden the first series started on 3 July 2015 on SVT.
• In Italy the series was shown on Giallo from 10 October 2016.
• In Africa the series is shown on DSTV ITV Choice. Series 6 was to be broadcast 24 hours after first showing in the UK.

DVD releases

Series	Release dates (Region 2)
1	23 May 2011
2	28 May 2012
3	16 September 2013
4	19 May 2014
5	11 May 2015
6	7 March 2016
7	17 April 2017

External links

• Vera at IMDb
• Vera at TV.com
• Vera at epguides.com