Brenda Blethyn sends clear message over possible ITV Vera return – just months after ending series
Vera star Brenda Blethyn has implied she would be willing to create a return of the beloved ITV series, explaining how much she “misses it”.
The actress, 78, starred as the Geordie detective from the show’s debut in 2011 until it ended last year, but she seems to be thinking about the role a lot.
The show came to a close back in early January with Blethyn having wrapped up filming the year prior.
Despite previously dismissing scope for a come-back, she recently admitted: “A special would be nice.
“It’s definitely one of my favourite roles I’ve done. I love the character.”
Opening up of the grief she felt leaving the show behind, she told The Daily Star: “When we get to March, I’d normally be packing my bag to go up north to film, but I will be sad. I will miss it. I had a great time doing it.”
Speaking in September to GB News, she reflected: “I’m not sad because I’m so happy to have done it.”
She continued: “And I’m just so happy to work with all these wonderful people.
“The producers and directors are coming up the rear here, I mean, it was such a happy time. So we’ll be friends forever.”
When asked if it was a “difficult” decision to call time on the series, Blethyn explained why it hadn’t been too difficult for her.
“Not really, because I was away from home for six months every year. And after 14 years, you know…” she added candidly.
She previously cited the gruelling nature of filming the series, telling Chronicle Live recently: “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 working all day meant our time together was short. I love my Vera family, but I love my other family too.”
Speaking in late December last year, just before the final aired, Blethyn even quipped at a spin-off before shutting down the possibility due to logistics and geography.
“People sometimes say is there going to be a prequel? Personally, I don’t think they ever work,” she confessed to The Sun.
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The actress admitted that, while she does enjoy some prequels, she doesn’t think their connections to the original show remain.
“I wish there could have been an episode where I stayed at home in Kent: ‘Vera Goes South,'” she joked to PA as she talked about wanting to spend more time in the south with her husband and dog rather than shooting scenes in Northumberland.
However, she made clear why any kind of spin-off would, in her eyes, fail: “But, of course, the series is dyed in the wool Northumberland and the North East and I understand that’s where it has to be.”