Brenda Blethyn has admitted she ends up feeling 'emotional' when she think about the future of Vera and the prospect of walking away from the role, telling fans to 'watch this space' as they look forward to its return to screen this weekend.
It's been close to a year now since Brenda's formidable on screen alias had any new cases to solve, after ITV pulled Vera off its schedules midway through series 11, to make way for The Good Karma Hospital and the launch of Trigger Point. Viewers were left confused as to why Vera made a sudden disappearance, given there were still two episodes left.
Those two episodes will finally air over the coming weeks, with the first of those, Vital Signs, airing on ITV1 on Sunday, January 15. The feature length episode will see Brenda reunited with sidekick Kenny Doughty as their characters attempt to get to the bottom of the death of a GP, after herbody is found in a burnt out car.
READ MORE: Vera's Brenda Blethyn confirms co-star will leave ITV drama during new series
Last week, Brenda revealed that the filming the Vera cast and crew reunited in the run up to Christmas to film The Rising Tide, an on screen adaptation of Vera author Ann Cleeves' latest book and the BAFTA winner was also quizzed on how long she think she'll continue to do the show.
Giving a full and frank response, Brenda, 76, said: "Every time we finish a series I say I’m not going to be doing any more. But then I change my mind. Usually it means six months away from home in Kent for me and in 2022 it was the best part of 10 months"
Talking about her famous pet dog Jack,, who made a star of himself as she appeared on This Morning, she added: "My dog Jack can’t be with me in the North East for all of that time. He’s all right after I’ve been away for a little while. But if I happen to manage to come home for a few days in between filming Vera episodes he goes mad and then my husband has a merry time of it when I go away again with the dog wondering where I am.
“So when we finish filming, as we just have, I always say, ‘I really don’t think I can do this anymore.’ But then I have a rest and get my appetite back again and change my mind. I suddenly might get a bright idea about what to do with Vera and suggest who might be cast in it."
Opening up on the emotional pull of her iconic role and being part of it, Brenda added: "The emotional feeling also comes in - thinking of all of the other people who are still there who do want to do more. And Ann Cleeves is currently writing her 11th Vera novel. So that hasn’t been dealt with on screen yet and you feel like you’d be letting her down.
"All of that goes on. Never say never. Things happen. circumstances change. Enthusiasm and opinions change. So watch this space.”
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