Filming begins on Vera series 9

Brenda Blethyn returns to the North East as filming begins for Vera series 9.

Following the huge success of series 8, award-winning actress Brenda Blethyn dons her infamous mac and hat to play the unorthodox but brilliantly perceptive Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope, in four chilling feature-length episodes set against the backdrop of the North East.

With filming underway for the first episode – ‘Blind Spot’, written by Paul Logue – Brenda is joined by a strong ensemble cast which includes Peter Davison (Toast of London, Doctor Who), James Atherton (Coronation Street, Porters), Jodie McNee (Britannia, Little Boy Blue), Adrian Lukis (Collateral, The Crown) and Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones, Three Girls),

Bright and ambitious, Joanne Caswell is a newly qualified HMP forensic psychologist working in Newcastle. When her body is found dumped on a landfill site far from home, Vera alights on the fact that Joanne had been looking into the crime of a former patient who had recently committed suicide. Vera must follow the trail that Joanne has left behind to uncover who might have had a motive to kill her.

Kenny Doughty returns as Detective Sergeant Aiden Healy, who over the years has proved himself to be a strong and reliable partner to DCI Stanhope. Completing Vera’s team is Jon Morrison who plays DC Kenny Lockhart, Riley Jones who plays DC Mark Edwards and television newcomer Ibinabo Jack who plays Vera’s newest recruit, DC Jacqueline Williams, who transferred from the Fraud Squad in series 8.

The four self-contained crime stories have once again been inspired by the bestselling novels and characters created by acclaimed crime writer Ann Cleeves, who received the Diamond Dagger Award at the Crime Writer’s Association in 2017 for a lifetime achievement for sustained excellence.

The fourth episode, ‘The Seagull’, has been adapted from Ann’s latest book of the same title. Vera has to open up a cold case when she discovers not one but two skeletons hidden in a culvert near Whitley Bay. One of the skeletons is suspected to be a missing person, Robbie Marshall. And when an old acquaintance of Robbie’s is murdered in the present, Vera suspects that the two deaths must be connected.

Made by Silverprint Pictures for ITV, Vera series 9 will be produced by Will Nicholson and directed by Paul Gay, Lawrence Gough, Carolina Giammetta and Declan O’Dwyer. Regular series writers Paul Matthew Thompson and Martha Hillier also return to the production.