Brenda Blethyn: 'Vera's like a bag lady' (VIDEO)

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Brenda Blethyn: 'Vera's like a bag lady' (VIDEO)
Brenda Blethyn: 'Vera's like a bag lady' (VIDEO) (Image credit: Helen Turton)

Brenda Blethyn says her latest character looks more like a bag lady than a detective. The Atonement star plays Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope in ITV's new four-part crime series Vera, which begins on Sunday night. Speaking exclusively to whatsontv.co.uk about the role, Brenda explained: "Vera always gets to the root of the problem but she doesn't look as though she's a capable police officer. "People might think: 'What's this bag lady questioning me for?'" She went on: "Vera's not your conventional police officer. She's earthy, well-grounded and like someone you might chat to in the supermarket or at a bus stop." Vera starts on Sunday May 1 at 8pm on ITV1. CLICK below to watch an interview with Brenda Blethyn

Patrick McLennan
Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.