The Oscar-nominated actor and best-selling crime writer have become firm friends
and are often seen together at book festivals. And even though Brenda has stepped
away from the role after more than 50 episodes, Ann says the character will feature
in at least one more book to add to the eleven already published.

The audience at the RTS North East and the Borders Awards heard the Vera
phenomenon on tv and in publishing had sustained drama production in the North
East for more than a decade and brought in thousands of visitors to see Vera’s iconic
locations. The feature length episodes and the books are also popular around the
world.

Brenda ended the night with two awards because she also won for Drama
Performance.

Peter Darrant and the team from Pride Media Centre in Gateshead celebrated
winning the prestigious Centre Award in recognition for their work as a hub for
studios and more than 16 businesses. Chief executive of the RTS Theresa Wise who
presented the award praised the team’s work with start-ups, schools and colleges to
encourage interest and access to the screen sector. And she said their commitment
to equity and inclusion for the LGBTQ+ community was impressive.

Other winners on the night included Fulwell 73’s Netflix documentary series
Sunderland Til I Die (Broadcast Factual) and the BBC’s Smoggie Queens which
won the Comedy award for Hat Trick Productions. The writer and star of the
Teesside-based series about drag queens Phil Dunning won Best Newcomer at the
ceremony hosted by the comedian and writer Jason Cook.

Gateshead production company Twenty Six O3 won the Factual Entertainment prize
for their series Joanna Page’s Wildlife, Film Nova received the Sports award for the
Great North Run and The Red King (Quay Street Productions) won Best Drama.
There were also awards for behind the scenes talent. The Red King’s assistant
director La’ Toyah McDonald received the Crew Award, editor David Fisher won the
Post Production prize for his work on feature film Jackdaw and the Amazon drama
The Devil’s Hour while James Cook won best Cinematography for his work on Just
‘Cause I’m Dead.

TV and film production spend in the North East increased to more than £22million
according to figures from North East Screen. And Chief Executive Alison Gwynn
predicted there’s more to come.

The annual event is the region’s biggest creative industries gathering of the year and
attracted a host of famous faces including actors Jill Halfpenny, David Leon and
Riley Jones, comedy stars Danny Adams and Mick Potts, Dragon’s Den and The Big
Idea Works star Sara Davies, boxer and commentator Glenn McCrory, North East
Mayor Kim McGuinness and cast members from The Dumping Ground and Smoggie
Queens. Also on the red carpet for the event were news presenters Amy Lea and
Simon O’Rourke (ITV Tyne Tees), Dawn Thewlis (Look North), Pam Royle and Jeff
Brown.

BBC North East won best News Programme for Look North and one of their best-
known journalists Sharuna Sagar picked up the Presenter award. Gregg Easteal of
ITV Tyne Tees won the On Screen Journalism prize and his colleague Paul Kingston
scooped the Broadcast Short Form award for his feature about a 98 year old horse
riding botanist.

University and college student also had their work recognised at the ceremony.
Students from the University of Sunderland picked up the Entertainment award for
One Foot Out The Door and the Factual Long Form prize for Fleece to Fabric.
Wildlife Media student Megan Richards of Cumbria University won the Saving the
Planet award for her documentary Saving the Iberian Lynx. Gateshead College
students won the Factual Short Form prize for The Independent Cinema Crisis, Husk
won the Student Drama prize for Northumbria University, while the award for Student
Animation went to Teesside University for Juicy Cat.

Joanna Makepeace-Woods, the chair of the RTS in the North East and the Border
said: "We are delighted our awards can provide a showcase for the talents of
programme makers across our region. There were more than 400 people at the
ceremony who work in or support creative industries in the area and they’re all
optimistic this year’s increase in production will continue to grow.”

A full list of winners can be found here