The reason we saw Kenny Doughty leave Vera and what happened to Aiden is something that might have been intriguing fans of the Ann Cleeves drama since his last episode aired.
As fans eagerly await Vera season 13 and all the intense cases and emotional moments that lie in store, it will likely be with a somewhat bittersweet feeling. The last episode to air was the 2023 festive special which brought actor Kenny Doughty’s time as DS Aiden Healy on the hit ITV crime drama to an end. Kenny’s departure as DCI Vera Stanhope's loyal sergeant might have sparked confusion amongst some viewers as it didn’t feature an obvious exit for him. Thankfully, we have all the details about why we saw Kenny Doughty leave Vera, whether he could appear in season 13 and what happened to Aiden.
*Warning: Spoilers ahead*
Why did Kenny Doughty leave Vera?
When it comes to why we saw Kenny Doughty leave Vera as DS Aiden Healy after the Christmas special, he’s revealed that there wasn’t just one, but “lots” of reasons that he made this decision. According to RadioTimes.com, he shared that whilst playing Aiden in Vera was a “life-changing job” he felt the time was right to leave.
"There were lots of personal and professional reasons why I wanted to move on,” Kenny declared. “I have loved doing Vera, 100 percent. It has been a life-changing job for so many reasons. Including working with Brenda Blethyn (who plays DCI Vera Stanhope) and in the North East. I feel like an honorary Geordie. There is also a real family connection to the crew, who I’m still in touch with."
Kenny reflected on his nine-year-long tenure on the hit ITV crime drama, before expressing how he “just wanted to leave while [he] was still happy with everything”.
"It was a really difficult decision to leave, because I loved doing that job and I loved working with everybody on the Vera team. But a little part of me, for whatever reason, the little inner self said to me, 'You should probably call it a day while you’re still enjoying it'. To step away and seek new acting challenges,” he said.
Ultimately, whilst playing Aiden in Vera is something that will likely hold a special place in his heart forever, Kenny Doughty left the show when he still enjoyed everything about being part of it.
Is Kenny Doughty in Vera season 13?
Sadly it’s understood that viewers won’t get to actually see Kenny Doughty leave Vera as Aiden in Vera season 13 and he isn't in the new series. Instead, his final episode was the 2023 Christmas special. Titled The Rising Tide, this was a direct adaptation of one of Ann Cleeves’ Vera novels which not all the episodes are. The name of his final episode is something that Kenny believes is very fitting, as it mirrors the name of his first ever episode, Changing Tides.
"My first Vera film was series five, episode one, called Changing Tides. While this story is called The Rising Tide. So it feels appropriate to come in on one tide and go out on another,” he explained, as per RadioTimes.com.
Kenny also revealed that he made the decision to leave as Aiden in Vera before they’d even started filming series 2. However, when the idea of a Christmas special came up, he was persuaded to extend his time on the show and made that his last episode instead.
He said, "But then halfway through filming they said, 'Can we do a Christmas special as well?' So it was a long goodbye, with The Rising Tide being my last episode, filmed in November and December 2022.”
What happened to Aiden in Vera?
Since Kenny Doughty’s last episode as Aiden in Vera was the Christmas special, many fans might have been left wondering what happened to him. The Christmas special ended with Vera’s team happily exchanging secret Santa presents and Aiden was still very much part of the team. He'd even been given the honour of driving Vera's beloved car across the causeway to Holy Island in the episode.
So it’s not clear yet how Aiden’s exit will be explained in the show, but as with his predecessor Joe Ashworth, it will likely be revealed via dialogue. We never actually saw David Leon leave Vera as Joe, only heard the reason why given by Vera. It’s likely a similar situation will happen when series 13 starts since we haven’t technically seen Kenny Doughty leave Vera.
Who replaced Kenny Doughty in Vera?
It might be hard to imagine anyone replacing Kenny Doughty as Aiden in Vera but ultimately a Detective Chief Inspector can’t be expected to do all the investigative work without a loyal assistant and so Joe Ashworth is coming back. Played by David Leon, DS Joe Ashworth was DCI Stanhope’s original sergeant from Vera seasons 1-4 but his final episode aired back in 2014 and he hasn’t appeared on the show since.
When Kenny Doughty first joined the show as DS Aiden Healy, he took David Leon’s place on the cast and so the revelation that David would then be replacing Kenny from season 13 might well have been a silver lining for fans.
Meanwhile, lead actor Brenda Blethyn has revealed how the departure of Kenny Doughty in Vera almost led her to decide against coming back for season 13 - unless they brought David back to replace him.
According to The Mirror, she declared, “After we filmed The Rising Tide at the end of 2022 I didn’t want to do any more without Kenny Doughty, who had decided to leave. But I said, 'I'll think about it if you can see if David Leon is available to return as Joe Ashworth.' And so they did and here I am.”
The star described herself as “broken-hearted” when David left and was “equally overjoyed” when she heard he was coming back.
Brenda said, "They have all of that early history together. I wouldn’t have continued if David had not agreed to come back. I just didn’t want to start another board game with somebody else when I know I’m not going to do many more. And who would want to do it anyway?"
David was also full of praise for Kenny’s performance as Aiden in Vera and directed him in the episode, Black Ice, which aired in 2018.
"I had obviously kept an eye on the show from afar. Also coming back in 2017 to direct a Vera film called Black Ice screened in 2018,” he shared, before adding, “I worked with Kenny Doughty (DS Aiden Healy) then and really like him both as a human being and as an actor. I also have huge respect for Kenny and his contribution to the series.”
Although some fans will still be incredibly sad to have seen Kenny Doughty leave Vera as Aiden, having Joe as his replacement seems very fitting and a lovely nod to the start of the show.
