She’s played the TV detective Vera, whose catchphrase is ‘farewell, pet’, for 14 years, but this month that’s exactly what Brenda Blethyn will be saying to the much-loved character when the final series airs.
‘Filming our last scene was quite emotional for all of us,’ says Brenda, who has now played the curmudgeonly Northumbrian detective for the last time. ‘We all had a glass of Champagne and there were speeches. I got a bit choked up, thanking everybody.’
ITV’s Vera is one of the UK’s best-loved crime shows, attracting huge audiences here and around the world, so why has Brenda chosen to make this month’s two-parter the last? ‘Well, I shall probably regret the decision soon,’ she says with a sigh, ‘but Vera takes up quite a lot of my time. Filming a series means six months of the year away from home. The people I work with do feel like a family, but I've also got my own family down south.’