The two women behind TV’s favourite North East detective received a standing ovation when they collected Outstanding Contribution awards at a sellout ceremony in Gateshead. Brenda Blethyn, who played Vera Stanhope on ITV for 14 years, and Ann Cleeves, who created the character, were honoured at the RTS North East and the Border Awards last month.
Satirical novelist Jonathan Coe skewers many peculiarities of modern Britain in his latest book, The Proof Of My Innocence. “I don’t think there’s another country in the world that would take the subject of violent homicide and rebrand it as ‘cosy’,” says one character. “It’s very British, in some indefinable way.”
Brenda Blethyn first pulled on the distinctive fishing hat, scarf and gabardine coat back in 2010, when episode one of Vera started filming in the North East for ITV. Now, after 14 years and more than 50 episodes, the award-winning actor has confirmed that she is stepping down from the role of DCI Vera Stanhope, after filming for her final two shows wrapped in May.
The two stars of the ITV cop show joined crime writer Ann Cleeves, whose books inspired the series, on stage to collect the RTS Judges’ Award at the Hilton Newcastle-Gateshead in late February. Filming begins on Vera’s 10th season in Northumberland next month.
We are in the wintry Northumberland countryside to celebrate Burns Night with friends on the lakeside at Kielder Water – a vast man-made reservoir surrounded by dense forest. Surprisingly, the chatter is not about the imminent delights of haggis, bagpipes and single malt, or the excitement of gathering beneath the darkest skies in Northern Europe – so prized by stargazers.
The documentary following the lives of 25 millennium born children returns for another chapter in the individuals lives as they turn 16.
As if we don’t have enough drama in our lives right now, I have to welcome the fact that so much of the TV variety is being filmed here in North East England.
I dropped in on the set for CBBC’s special-effects-laden thriller Wolfblood, at a disused office block in North Shields, and of ITV’s long-running whodunnit Vera, filmed at old shipping buildings on the River Tyne.
Good evening. I’d like to start with an apology to Monica and Karen, our two signers tonight. They maybe from Signpost - our multi-award winning Gateshead-based signing business - but I bet they’ve not signed Anglo Saxon before….until tonight. Standby for a speech that can link Ant and Dec to the West Germanic version of Old English…yes, really.
