A body is found and Vera is on the case...!

If you search online for female TV detectives, the results prove interesting reading. Anna Friel’s Marcella, Gillian Anderson in The Fall and Helen Mirren’s Prime Suspect all feature.

Even if the roles are gritty, there’s a certain degree of glamour to them all. However, one woman stands out – Vera, as played by Brenda Blethyn.

She’s the central character in this crime drama, based on the novels by Anne Cleeves who only revealed this year that Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope is based on her maternal grandmother’s neighbour. Apparently, she was a bit of a busybody…

Cleeves also said of her creation: “I think (viewers) love having this strong, competent, authoritative woman they can identify with, who doesn’t mind putting people down and doesn’t need a man in her life to be independent and happy.”

Vera’s forthrightness – coupled with her steel trap of a mind – have made her a firm favourite with viewers and explains why the series bearing her name has continued to grip for a decade.

Speaking about making the show, Brenda said: “At the end of filming every season I think, ‘oh, thank the Lord I’m going home. Never again’. But it’s like having a lovely meal: you’ve eaten too much, then a week later you get hungry again. By the time I go back to Newcastle, I’m always very much looking forward to it.”

There’s a bittersweet feel to the latest series, which consists of just two episodes, though they are feature length outings.

In the first programme, shown last week, Vera probed the murder of well-respected local builder Jim Tullman, who was found beaten to death on the steps of the Collingwood Monument, uncovering a web of family grievances, jealousies and lies to ensure justice was done.

This second episode sees DCI Vera Stanhope called to the scene of a murdered support worker, Angela Konan (Karlina Grace-Paseda), who is found hidden among the bleak woodlands of Northumberland National Park.

The location is so remote, Vera wonders if this was an attack of opportunity or a carefully planned ambush. However, her curiosity is piqued by Noel Henderson and Stanley Booth, played by Cayyvan Coates and Mark Benton, the two park rangers who reported the body and appear oddly evasive when asked if they knew the victim.

She soon discovers Angela worked tirelessly for a women’s addiction recovery centre, yet neither her manager nor her colleagues had any kind of relationship with her beyond the refuge.

Vera and her team must peel back the layers of their introverted victim to uncover her closely guarded secrets and surprising depths.

It appears an increasingly erratic Angela clashed with two clients in the week before she died, rashly evicting Aysiha Nassar while becoming ever-more personally involved in the life of Beth Draper, a recovering addict desperate to reunite with her daughter, Maya.

Vera trains her insightful mind on what was driving Angela, to learn the truth about her tragic death.

Caroline Lee, Ayten Manyare, Sian Reese-Williams and Mia McKenna-Bruce also feature.

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