Brenda Blethyn has lifted the lid on some behind the scenes trickery used by the Vera crew, that ITV viewers won't have a clue about. And it's all to do with her character's famous Land Rover.
Now that the latest series of the hit drama has come to an end, Brenda has bowed out of the primetime spotlight once again, with millions of viewers tuning into watch her in action in last Sunday's series finale The Darkest Evening. Things looked rather bleak for Brenda's legendary alias at one point when, after shots were fired, Vera fell to the ground with blood pouring from her head.
Thankfully, after the drama returned from a well timed ad break, during which Vera fans who hadn't already ready the Ann Cleeves novel held their breath, it was revealed that, rather than being shot, Vera had just banged her head on the wall in front of her and fallen to the floor.
Prior to the latest six episode run of Vera coming to an end, leading lady Brenda had already confirmed that another 'special' episode had been filmed, after the cast and crew reunited for filming just before Christmas. The result is a screen adaptation of another of Ann's acclaimed Vera novels The Rising TIde.
READ MORE: ITV's Vera 'replacement' confirmed as upset fans make new series demand
It looks likely that will air on ITV at some point later this year and, as well as teasing details about that, Brenda has also exposed something that goes on backstage involving Vera's famous Land Rover.
The Defender has become just as synonymous with DCI Stanhope as her mac and fishing hat but, all it's quite what it seems on screen.
Talking about something fans have seen on screen this year, Brenda explained: "“There’s a brief scene where we see Vera changing a tyre on her Land Rover in the middle of nowhere. It was a very heavy tyre but I lifted it up and chucked it in the back. Vera would have learned how to do all of that from her dad. That’s her dad’s motor. It was her who got it going when he died. She got it out of the shed.“
However, divulging a behind the scenes 'secret' she added: "The Land Rover was adapted to an automatic for me to drive. And I’ve got a little extra step to get in and out. Getting out is easy. I just come out like going down a chute. But it’s quite high up to get in. So they added a little step for me."
Earlier this week it was confirmed that another detective drama, Endeavour will go in to Vera's 8pm slot on Sunday nights, starting from February 26.
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