Crime drama Vera starring Brenda Blethyn back in production
New episodes of ITV’s crime drama VERA starring Brenda Blethyn have gone into production in Northumberland. Guest stars Hugo Speer (Five Days, Sorted, Full Monty), Gary Lewis (Mo, Billy Elliott) and Lolita Chakrabarti (Silent Witness, Fortysomething, The Bill) join Brenda in Telling Tales, the second of four self contained films.
Set around the Northumberland coast, the second film follows DI Vera Stanhope (Brenda Blethyn) as she sets out to retrospectively resolve the mystery of Abigail Mantel’s (Amber Britton-Dyer) murder.
It’s only after Jeanie Long’s (Sarah Preston) suicide hits the headlines that new evidence comes to light exonerating her for the murder of fifteen-year-old Abigail. Throughout her eleven year sentence, Jeanie pleaded her innocence with Probation Officer, Robert Winter (Gary Lewis), but no one, including her own father, Michael (Alan Williams), believed her. Abigail was found strangled in the countryside near her home and was the teenage daughter of Jeanie’s boyfriend, Keith Mantel (Hugo Speer).
Vera, accompanied by her loyal and long suffering team; Sergeant Joe Ashworth (David Leon), DC Holly Lawson (Wunmi Mosaku) and Forensic Pathologist Billy Cartwright (Paul Ritter), delve into the secrets and lies of a small community that continues to be rocked by Abigail’s murder. For some, the wounds remain close to the surface, while others seek to put the past behind them.
In her inimitable style, Vera strips back the varnish disguising the truth, but not before the case takes a violent and unexpected turn with another – potentially connected - murder. With a murderer on the loose, tension and suspicion run high between Vera and Caroline Fletcher (Lolita Chakrabarti), a former DI who convicted Jeanie of Abigail’s murder now linked to Keith. Vera uses her skill and instinct to expose the lies and half-truths at the heart of a small community, while setting the ghosts of Abigail and Jeanie to rest.
VERA also stars Jon Morrison as DC Kenny, Elizabeth Edmunds as Mary Winter, Daniel Rose as Chris Winter, Emun Elliott as James Bennett and Kate Foster- Barnes as Emma Bennett.
VERA has been commissioned by Director of Drama Commissioning Laura Mackie and Sally Haynes, Controller of Drama Commissioning, and is executive produced by Kate Bartlett, Creative Director - Drama ITVS and Kate Lewis. Elaine Collins is the producer and Peter Hoar will direct the second film.
The script, which is based on the book Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves, has been adapted for television by Paul Rutman who wrote the first VERA film and has also written for Marple and Lewis.
International bestseller and CWA Dagger award-winning author Ann Cleeves first introduced us to the inimitable Vera Stanhope in The Crow Trap in 2005 (followed by Telling Tales and Hidden Depths) and, since then, Ann’s beautifully atmospheric and psychological crime novels have continued to grip readers around the world, with translated editions of her work now published in 17 countries.
Filming for VERA, Telling Tales, began on Monday 2nd August 2010. Please advise Natasha Bayford if you would like to arrange interviews with the cast.
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