Vera star Brenda Blethyn addresses Strictly plans and 'dance with Vera's hat'
Brenda Blethyn is wearing the iconic hat and coat of DCI Vera Stanhope for the last time in the final series of Vera, beginning on New Year’s Day. The 78 year old actress has played the role of the obsessive Northumberland police inspector since 2011, but has no plans for retirement now the series has finished. She went straight from filming the last episodes to making a movie with Andrea Riseborough, and at a recent launch for Vera in London shared she had no plans for retiring, saying: “Oh no, I haven’t retired. I’ve just come south!”
In an interview with TV Times, she addressed whether a post-Vera stint on Strictly Come Dancing could be on the cards. “I’ve been asked to do the Strictly Christmas special before but I was in Northumberland at the time so couldn’t,” she replied. “It would actually be quite good to learn to dance, wouldn’t it? They’d probably make me dance with Vera’s hat and coat on to Singing In The Rain or something!”
At the Vera event, Brenda also spoke about why it was finally time to hang up Vera’s hat - a hat she found herself more than a decade ago. “I found it in a fishing shop in Newcastle and knew straight away it would be perfect for Vera,” she remembered.
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“While, through Vera, I have my Newcastle family who I love so much, I also have a family of my own back at home who I haven't been able to see as much as I'd like, because of filming,” she explained. “I don't know what the retiring age of a policeman/woman is, but ITV were, I think, happy for me to carry on. I’d have been on a Zimmer. I'm 78. I mean, you see more and more of older women nowadays, and I applaud it. It's brilliant.”
Fans are, of course, devastated that the series is coming to an end. One wrote: "I'm so upset that we won't see Vera anymore. Only 2 more episodes of this fabulous show to go." Another said: "Really sad that we won't have any more Vera, an absolutely fantastic show," while a third added: "So sad Vera is ending. Best crime drama, by far! Best stories, fabulous acting, Great scenery."
Brenda confirmed earlier this year that the new year episodes would be the last viewers would see of Vera Stanhope, a character created by author Ann Cleeves. "Working on Vera has been a joy from beginning to end, and I'm sad to be saying Cheerio," she said in a press statement. "But I am so proud of our achievements over the last fourteen years."
