Brenda Blethyn has been spotted filming some pretty tense looking scenes alongside David Leon, the returning co-star who 'broke her heart' when he left the show nearly 10 years ago.
North East actor David, who starred in hit BBC drama Cutting It before landing the role of Joe Ashworth in Vera, played Brenda's first on screen sidekick in the hit ITV show, with DCI Stanhope and DS Ashworth proving to be a bit of a formidable partnership when it came to getting to the bottom of grisly murder investigations.
It came as a huge shock to both Brenda and loyal Vera viewers when it was confirmed that David had left the role in 2014, with Brenda only this year opening up about just how devastated she was over his departure, telling ITV, just earlier tris year: "I never thought I’d get over David Leon going in series four. That broke my heart."
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Brenda is now having to deal with the Vera exit of her second sidekick, with Kenny Doughty quitting his role as Aiden Healy, after eight years, but the blow has been softened by the shock return of David, who is noiw right in the middle of filming Vera series 13, alongside Brenda and other cast members including Riley Jones, Jon Morrison and newcomer, ex Hollyoaks villain Rhiannon Clements.
Filming for the n ew feature length episodes has taken the Vera team all over the North East during the last two months, with cameras rolling in the likes of Hexham, Wylam, North Shields, Gosforth and down the road in North Yorkshire. And the cast and crew of the long-running drama have also been right in the heart of Newcastle, to shoot scenes on the Quayside.
As well as filming close to the Crown Court last week, production took over popular bar The Hooch, changing its frontage for it to become the Grounded Out cafe for the purposes of the Vera plot. Brenda and David were seen sitting right in the window of the venue, with passers by describing their expressions as 'fraught and tense' as they filmed the scene.
It is thought that the scenes down the Quayside were being shot for the second of the new episodes, with plot details already spilled on the first. Entitled Fast Love, it sees DCI Stanhope called to a quiet country lane where a young man has been found dead following a collision with a car.
As the investigation gathers pace, Vera learns that this cheeky chappy was a complex character. Antagonistic, arrogant and able to get what he wanted but did all of this come at a price? Adding to the complexity of the case, Vera is taken aback by Joe Ashworth's return and is unsure of his motives.
