Vera - General Discussion

[Maren]

That was a really sad episode. I'm glad they caught all the bad guys and I like to think that Steve made the center a success!

[LisaM]

Just watched Blue, episode 3. Good episode but sad result. Cracked up at Vera standing up the big brass and not showing up for the medal ceremony.

[krankydoodle]

I just realized that the new pathologist is played by Sarah Kameela Impey, who's also Saira in the wonderful series We Are Lady Parts. No wonder I was inclined to like her.

[LisaM]

2 hours ago, krankydoodle said:

I just realized that the new pathologist is played by Sarah Kameela Impey, who's also Saira in the wonderful series We Are Lady Parts. No wonder I was inclined to like her.

Great catch! I love that show and I did not make the connection.

[mledawn]

Caught up with ep3 and now really like the new ME. She was competent, informative, and fun. “He is quite fit” “Well that’s inappropriate” had me chuckle.

The case was good, lots of moving parts.

Loved Jack’s suit at the awards ceremony - purple and schnazzy!  

[RedElf]

The guy who played Steve in episode 2, who ran the homeless outreach, originated the role of Ron Weasley in the stage production of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child". His name is Paul Thornley.

[storyskip]

Aiden got to drive the Land Rover!

Sometimes, it's the little things.

[Suzn]

I really loved this episode.  It was great to see an episode based on a book again.  The snow storm was changed to wind and rain, but that worked well.  I enjoyed seeing Vera's cousins and the way she dealt with them.

[laredhead]

It's always fun to spot actors who had staring roles in other series, and seeing 2, Kevin Doyle (Downtown Abbey) and Jack Deam (Father Brown) in the latest episode did not disappoint. 

I was trying to work out the relationship between Vera and her cousins.  I am assuming it was through her father that she was related to them - right?

The actor who played Nial Halsop gave a very creepy, scary performance.

BTW, Brenda Blethyn just turned 77!

 

[MicheleinPhilly]

Was this the last episode of the season? 

[Suzn]

6 minutes ago, MicheleinPhilly said:

Was this the last episode of the season? 

I think that's all we get.

[krankydoodle]

I'm glad Vera called for backup in this one since I've complained before when episodes have ended with her going off on her own to confront the villain. I used to think that was a show invention, but I read both The Darkest Evening and The Rising Tide and IIRC she does that in both. It was especially frustrating in the latter because of how dangerous the villain is. I still enjoyed reading them, though. I will say that I've gotten so used to Vera being the central figure in the show that it took me a while to adjust to the multiple POVs in the books.

[dgpolo]

40 minutes ago, krankydoodle said:

I'm glad Vera called for backup in this one since I've complained before when episodes have ended with her going off on her own to confront the villain.

I'm not sure leaving a message on Aiden's voicemail!! counts as calling for backup! I had the passing thought at the time that something nefarious might have happened to Aiden and he wouldn't be able to respond, after all, why wouldn't he answer his phone? so I was still disappointed that she didn't at least call for a patrol car.

[mledawn]

Kenny Doughty announced on his Instagram today that he's not going to be doing any more of the show.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CqBLuFWo_cw/

[Milburn Stone]

I'm not terribly surprised at the Doughty news. In the S12 episode we watched the other night, he basically had nothing to do but follow Vera around like a pup. After all the seasons he's put in, I thought he can't be happy with that. And I guess he wasn't.

[Suzn]

I really hate to see Kenny Doughty leave the show.  I guess I can understand why he'd want to be in a more prominent role, but he and Vera were so good together.

[MrsKravitz]

I can’t see the instagram post. I thought the show was over. Is there going to be another season?

[Suzn]

14 minutes ago, MrsKravitz said:

I can’t see the instagram post. I thought the show was over. Is there going to be another season?

I thought there was to be at least one more season, but I can't find anything to confirm it.

[LakeGal]

I guess he got tired of putting Vera's booties on her.  

[LisaM]

I actually liked Joe better than Aidan. Will be curious to see if they elevate from within or find another sidekick. 

[storyskip]

On 3/22/2023 at 9:41 AM, Milburn Stone said:

I'm not terribly surprised at the Doughty news. In the S12 episode we watched the other night, he basically had nothing to do but follow Vera around like a pup. After all the seasons he's put in, I thought he can't be happy with that. And I guess he wasn't.

The last couple seasons in particular I'd noticed this also. Not just Aiden but the whole team. It seemed their only purpose was to screw something up so Vera could have a great epiphany and make the connection.

[mledawn]

Oh wow! Joe is coming back and Season 13 has been confirmed! Does Hello! count as a reputable news source? I don't know - sort of sketchy. But I will take it!!

[MrsKravitz]

9 hours ago, mledawn said:

Oh wow! Joe is coming back and Season 13 has been confirmed! Does Hello! count as a reputable news source? I don't know - sort of sketchy. But I will take it!!

I LOVE Joe. There just wasn’t the same chemistry with Aiden. 

[LisaM]

16 hours ago, mledawn said:

Oh wow! Joe is coming back and Season 13 has been confirmed! Does Hello! count as a reputable news source? I don't know - sort of sketchy. But I will take it!!

Britbox put it out on Instagram last evening too. I had the strangest sense that, when the actor playing Aidan announced he was leaving, Joe would be returning. Glad to hear it. I always preferred Joe to Aidan. 

[Milburn Stone]

Will be interesting see Joe all these years later. He and his wife are approaching middle-age! Their kids are teens now! 

 

 

 

[storyskip]

I liked Aiden as a character more than Joe in the first four or so seasons he was in. I enjoyed the chemistry between BB and KD and liked Aiden's character. 

The last 4 seasons, the last 3 in particular it felt like the writers really shoved every character who wasn't Vera into strictly prop roles, which made Aiden pretty boring. Like I said in a prior post it seemed like the team was only there to make mistakes for Vera to shine as she cleaned up the mistake, and/or the mistake caused Vera to have the case cracking revelation.

I think since Joe is from the books, the writers were always more faithful to Joe as a genuine foil/partner/balance to Vera than they were with Aiden. From that perspective I do like Joe and will enjoy seeing David Leon back with the cast. But I am going to miss KD and the character of Aiden from seasons 5 to 9.

[roseha]

Not going to say much yet because I've only seen episode 1 of Season 12 but I'm sorry to see Malcolm go.  Of course he was obnoxious but he and Vera had so many memorable exchanges in a dark kind of way.  Will have to see how the new coroner works out.

[roseha]

I have to say that I was impressed with Season 12.  The Darkest Evening most of all.  You could really tell it was based on a book, it seemed much more complicated than usual and I really liked that the killer didn't turn out to either be totally obvious or less than believable.

I also liked that the subject of fathers and daughters was a running thread, especially in the way that Vera recognized the subject of the victim's paintings.

It will be interesting to see Joe returning.  I wonder if the actor agreed to it because they feel the show may only run another season or two?  Not that I want to see that!

I did like Aiden but perhaps the actor just wanted to move on to other things.

[Milburn Stone]

On 4/21/2023 at 11:12 PM, roseha said:

Not going to say much yet because I've only seen episode 1 of Season 12 but I'm sorry to see Malcolm go.

I love Paul Kaye in everything he does. He was hilarious as the recurring shrink in the Ricky Gervais comedy-drama After Life on Netflix.

[LisaM]

Just watched the Christmas special. Quite good. 

[MMEButterfly]

On 7/2/2023 at 10:29 PM, roseha said:

I have to say that I was impressed with Season 12.  The Darkest Evening most of all.  You could really tell it was based on a book, it seemed much more complicated than usual and I really liked that the killer didn't turn out to either be totally obvious or less than believable.

I also liked that the subject of fathers and daughters was a running thread, especially in the way that Vera recognized the subject of the victim's paintings.

It will be interesting to see Joe returning.  I wonder if the actor agreed to it because they feel the show may only run another season or two?  Not that I want to see that!

I did like Aiden but perhaps the actor just wanted to move on to other things.

My thoughts exactly when I saw it was based upon one of the books. 

[mledawn]

The Christmas special was very enjoyable. I like how they've added fresh blood to the team, but I was expecting to see some set up on Aiden leaving and Joe returning in preparation for the next series.

[enoughcats]

Quote

A lengthy and enticing review of Vera's Christmas special.

When will it appear over here?

[mledawn]

11 hours ago, enoughcats said:

When will it appear over here?

If "over here" is North America - it's here. It's on Britbox.

[abbyzenn]

Enjoyed the Christmas special.  I like when we have a pool of suspects.

Quite a nice house the Police Commissioner (or whatever her title is) has.  Also liked Charlotte's house.  The island looks rather interesting - would liked to have seen more of it.  I enjoy these shows for the scenery as much as for the story.

[krankydoodle]

I also liked the Christmas special, another one based on a book. I think it might've benefited from a longer runtime since there were a lot of characters and the various relationships were so messy, but I preferred the episode's ending to the book's.

Billy's an appealing character and I'm glad he's been added to the team. I think this is the first time in a long time they've shown Mark out of the office, so maybe he'll take on a more active role now.

[sempervivum]

22 hours ago, krankydoodle said:

I think it might've benefited from a longer runtime

Yes, I felt like the revelation of the villain was pretty abrupt, and I found it hard to believe that Annie would have covered up for him (re. the baby's death) all this time. 

OTOH, I thought Billy had a pretty believable arc from 'useless kid' to 'functioning team member' to 'hero' within 88 minutes.

[krankydoodle]

But I don't think Annie knew, did she? Isn't that one of the things Vera says in the confrontation at the end, that Annie's suffering was compounded because she blamed herself for the baby's death? It's possible I missed something because I was getting annoyed that Vera was yet again facing off with a killer by herself. I was so glad for the reveal that she wasn't.

[BlackberryJam]

Yes, I think Vera did say that Annie didn't know about Daniel and had been living with guilt for years. 

[abbyzenn]

Just watched the first show of the new season.  

David Leon has returned as Joe only now he's a DI (same as Vera).  He's there to look at their procedures which really irritates Vera.  I liked him and was sorry to see him leave the show but in this episode he wasn't the same old Joe and at times rather annoying - for example when Kenny calls him Joe, Joe replies "call me sir".

[dgpolo]

1 hour ago, abbyzenn said:

Joe only now he's a DI (same as Vera). 

Vera is a DCI, Detective Chief Inspector, DI is Detective Inspector, she still outranks him.

[mledawn]

19 hours ago, abbyzenn said:

Just watched the first show of the new season.  

David Leon has returned as Joe only now he's a DI (same as Vera).  He's there to look at their procedures which really irritates Vera.  I liked him and was sorry to see him leave the show but in this episode he wasn't the same old Joe and at times rather annoying - for example when Kenny calls him Joe, Joe replies "call me sir".

Yes, and when he calls Vera by her first name she replies “That’s ma’am [mum] to you”.

He came around though!

Sad to see Jack is also gone - I hadn’t heard anything about the actor leaving the show.

[mledawn]

Enjoyed this week’s episode, a solid story. It was fun seeing Julia “Saffy” Sawalha, especially playing someone her actual age(ish). I am still getting the hang of Joe and also of Steph. Joe is with Vera’s team by choice so his conversation with Kenny was odd to me. 

[LGraves65]

I knew who the murderer was in s13e02 the minute he showed up on screen - that actor is ALWAYS the murderer. LOL

Edited January 15 by LGraves65

[laredhead]

When will new episodes air in the U.S.?

[mledawn]

I still haven't seen anything about a release date for S13 in North America.

The final ep of S13 was a nice way to go out. You can really see how different her relationship with Joe is (vs Aiden). 

I hope they do another season of course but Vera is getting on in years...

[isalicat]

Vera Season 13 will start streaming on February 28th on BritBox. 😺

[enoughcats]

A new Vera book will be published this fall 

Quote

Coming out on the 29th August 2024, The Dark Wives is the next book in the Vera Stanhope series

The Dark Wives

by Ann Cleeves

 

A man’s body is found by a local dog walker on the common outside Rosebank, a care home for trouble teens. The victim is Josh, a staff member. DI Vera Stanhope is called out to investigate the death. Her only clue is the disappearance of one of the home’s residents, fourteen-year-old Chloe Spence. Vera can’t bring herself to believe that a teenager is responsible for the murder, but even she can’t dismiss the possibility. Vera, Joe and new team member Rosie Bell are soon embroiled in the case, and when a second body is found near the Three Dark Wives landmark, superstition and folklore begin to collide with fact.

 

[mledawn]

Britbox reminds us that the "new" Vera season starts tomorrow - it's series 13 that aired in the UK in January.

The 14th series has apparently already been greenlit for 2 feature length episodes with filming to begin in the spring.

 

Edited February 28 by mledawn

[krankydoodle]

I just finished the first episode of season 13 and was surprised to see more cast changes than I expected. It's too bad because I liked the characters who left even though their roles were relatively minor.

It is nice to have Joe back, though, and to see his history with Vera referenced. I don't love everything they did with his character, but I'm relieved he's still married so we don't have to deal with fallout from a divorce. I liked Aiden fine but much prefer Joe's relationship with Vera because he pushes back a bit more but does so with respect and affection.