Woman's Weekly Magazine 16th February 2016 Edición anterior

BRENDA BLETHYN
We joined friends, novelist Ann Cleeves, who created DCI Vera Stanhope, and Brenda Blethyn, who plays her, talking about their love of the TV drama Vera. It’s five years since Brenda Blethyn first appeared on our TV screens as DCI Vera Stanhope (currently in its sixth series), wearing that trademark battered hat, baggy raincoat and multiple layers of charity shop clothes bulking out her frame. But the part gave her more than a job; it gave her a friend. Because Brenda and Ann Cleeves, the novelist who created Vera, have become the closest of chums. We joined the two formidably talented, funny women, both in their sixties, in ITV’s London offices and, as they chatted away, the warmth and ease between them was obvious. Both say they’d love to have Vera as a mate. ‘I’d like to phone her up and go for a drink with her, wouldn’t you?’ says Brenda. Yes, I would!’ says Ann. Wouldn’t we all.