Brenda Blethyn has opened up on how she thought she was 'done for' on the set of Vera, as the weather took a turn during filming for the latest series.
In a week that is sure to see plenty of Vera doppelgangers for World Book Day, fans of the long-running ITV drama are having to come to terms with the fact that DCI Stanhope has hung up her iconic fishing jhat for another series, with no news yet on when she'll be back on the case.
The latest run of Vera came to an end in dramatic fashion with series finale The Darkest Evening and as Vera was replaced by Inspector Morse spin-off Endeavour, many ITV viewers were left longing for its return as Brenda cleared up a 'mystery' surrounding the show after being questioned by a fan on Twitter.
BAFTA and Golden Globe winner Brenda has been playing Vera for 12 years now and has often spoke about her love for the North East, having often spent months on end away from home during filming.
However, one things she isn't such a fan of is the North East weather, although its the heat, rather than the freezing cold, which caused her problems during production for series 12.
Talking to ITV about a day of filming she'd rather forget, Brenda said: "We encountered extremes of weather. We shot one episode during that intense summer heatwave. It was 37C when we were filming on a golf course and I had all of Vera’s clobber on."
She added: ""I thought I was done for. It was so hot I had to unbutton Vera’s mac. I kept asking, ‘Could I take the mac off?’
"I could if I really wanted to. But I tell myself I’m not going to be any cooler if I take it off."
Brenda lifting the lid on the issues prompted by the unusually hot weather in the region comes weeks after she spoke about being 'drenched' during filming for The Darkest Evening. The plot of the Ann Cleeves' tale sees Vera caught up in a violent storm and Brenda explained that a mix of 'fake' rain and a real downpour made for an unpleasant experience.
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