Popular ITV crime drama Vera, filmed across Tyneside and Teesside, has won big at the Royal Television Society Awards 2022.
The programme, starring Brenda Blethyn as the tenacious Detective Vera Stanhope, won the prestigious Best Drama award and the actress won for Best Drama Performance.
Brenda and her team were presented with the accolades at the star-studded event at the Hillton Newcastle-Gateshead, which is a celebration of the region's television, media and creative industries.
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On receiving the award, speaking to the hundreds of assembled guests, Brenda Blethyn, said: “Thank you so very much to the Royal Television Society for giving me this. I am absolutely thrilled to bits.
"This year sees us embarking on season 12 of Vera, so that means we’ll have made 50 feature length Vera films.
"So, you can see, we love coming to the North East and that’s partly because we’re made to feel so very, very welcome.
"And, of course Vera’s creator, Ann Cleeves, lives in the North East and I’d like to thank her very, very much for giving us all 12 years of work and thank you to the Royal Television Society for giving me this. I'm truly over the moon.”
The Vera production team also won the Drama Pandemic Innovation Award recognising their ingenuity in continuing to produce the ITV series during lockdowns with significant restrictions in place.
Filming for the next series is getting underway at locations across the region from March.
More than 40 media professionals from broadcasters and production companies across the UK were tasked with judging the incredible volume of entries submitted for the 2022 awards which covered an extended period due to the impact of the pandemic.
Among the other winners was the BBC Look North's weather presenter Jen Bartram, who won the News and Factual Pandemic Innovation Award for her resourceful use of home weather forecasts.
The Best News Programme went to BBC Look North, with judges praising the programme for bringing personal stories to life, attention grabbing interviews and the warmth of presenters.
In further successes for the BBC, the award for Best Sports Presenter went to Look North’s Jeff Brown with Dawn Thewlis winning Best Presenter.
ITV Tyne Tees secured three awards from the ceremony hosted by Tyneside comedian and writer Jason Cook.
News Correspondent Rachel Bullock was presented with the Outstanding Journalism Award. While ITV camera operator Paul Kingston had double reasons to celebrate by winning in both the Rising Star category as well as Professional Excellence in Photography.
After a challenging couple of years for the region’s media industry, Alison Gwynn, Chief Executive of Northern Film and Media was presented with the Outstanding Contribution Award.
She has helped secure future investment in the region from the BBC and from other companies exploring the potential to bring productions to the North East.
Will Nicholson, North East & Border Centre Chair, said: “The past two years has been incredibly challenging for all of us. I am extremely proud of the creative and emotional tenacity shown by the region’s creative industries."
The ceremony also included a performance by musician Kema Kay: a former student of Excelsior Academy in the West End of Newcastle.
As an early career rapper and actor, he performed across the county and starred in the critically acclaimed ‘I, Daniel Blake’.
He returns to Zambia, where he born, for a documentary with the BBC World Service next week and he is also being profiled for a BBC North East & Cumbria documentary.
The Best Children’s Award went to “My Life: My New Heart” by Sunderland-based MCC Media for CBBC.
The documentary follows the inspirational story of a 12-year-old boy waiting for a heart transplant at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.
Middlesbrough independent production company Ithica Films, meanwhile, picked up the prestigious Centre Award.
The fast-expanding Tees Valley production company works with creative agencies, charities, brands and other companies, and they have ambitions to break into broadcast.
Favourite faces from the region gathered at the awards which opened with a champagne reception and saw former ITV Tyne Tees & Border Presenter Pam Royle along with Robson Green, the Voice of BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing, Alan Dedicoat and Oscar-winning producer David Parfitt (Shakespeare in Love, The Father) presenting the awards.
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