After having watched endless episodes of Inspector Tom Barnaby arriving in a village to investigate the apparent suicide of a man who is found hanging from a windmill during a Michaelmas celebration while in the meantime nine other murders are committed and a barn catches fire, and Tom eventually working out that the only person left in the village must be the murderer, we found the crime drama VERA so much more convincing that we couldn't wait for the weekly TV appearance of Brenda Blethyn.
We enjoyed VERA. No culture wars, no gender reassignments, not a mention of LGBTIQA, whatever that means (I've asked several people what it stands for, but was never given a straight answer); just good old-fashioned murder. Vera, obsessed with her work while fighting her inner demons, solves every case, ably assisted by her trusted Sergeant Joe.
Other detectives have special coats, such as Sherlock’s student greatcoat, or Ellie’s orange anorak in Broadchurch, but the green-ish raincoat in VERA, though it looks as if the costume department found it in a skip outside a charity shop, is different because Brenda Blethyn seems to have taken a vow of poverty as she never wears anything else. And while you may think she is just a woman who is stuck in her ways always donning that same old hat and wearing the same scarf, in the books she has a skin condition and doesn't like going out in the sun.
What about that battered old Land Rover? She drives an automatic because she doesn't have a manual licence, but she pretends to change gear for filming. She also does her own stunts because the show's stunt driver is a man with a ginger beard. Now that's what I call acting! 😀
Brenda Blethyn's portrayal of the character, her caustic wit and singular charm, the scenery, and the atmospheric mystery really drew us to the show and we were disappointed to hear that there would be no further episodes and so, to slowly veen us off her, we pressed the PLAY button on the oldie "Music from Another Room" which stars a much younger Brenda Blethyn, without expecting much. Our expectations were met.
Please come back, VERA!
