ITV Vera ends after 14 years as Brenda Blethyn quits show with emotional statement

ITV's award winning crime procedurial Vera is coming to an end after the next series following the exit of star Brenda Blethyn. The star announced her departure in an emotional statement.

“Working on Vera has been a joy from beginning to end and I’m sad to be saying Cheerio. But I am so proud of our achievements over the last fourteen years. I’ll be forever grateful to the wonderful Ann Cleeves who created Vera, and to Elaine Collins who saw fit to cast me in the role.

"The Producers, dream cast and crew have been fabulous and I’m going to miss them, but I won’t forget their huge talent, the camaraderie, laughter or kindness we shared nor the friendship of the people of the north east and our fans worldwide. Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” she wrote.

The Oscar and Emmy nominated actress will hang up DCI Vera Stanhope’s infamous trench coat and hat following the filming of the next series which will take this summer. The next series will consist of two feature length episodes of two hours each which will add to the 54 episodes of the show that already exist.

The news will come as a blow to fans who had been delighted to learn there would be a fourteenth season. Brenda confirmed it responding to a viewer on social media. The fan asked: "Why are lots here saying this is the last #Vera ?? Have I missed something??" The actress simply replied: "It's not the last."

The most recent series consisted of a Christmas special in December which was quickly followed by series 13, which aired three feature-length episodes.

However the confirmation that the next season w ill only consist of two episodes seems to rule out a festive offering for 2024 and viewers will likely have to wait until early 2025 to see the detectives swansong.

Brenda had previously addressed her potential exit from the programme as she admitted she wasn't sure she wanted to make any more episodes without co-star Kenny Doughty whose final episode was the 2023 Christmas special.

"After we filmed The Rising Tide at the end of 2022 I didn’t want to do anymore 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," she said.

"I was broken-hearted when David left after Series Four and equally overjoyed when I heard he was coming back as the relationship between Vera and Joe worked so well," the 78-year old acclaimed actress said.

"They have all of that early history together. I wouldn’t have continued if David had not agreed to come back.

However int he same chat she also alluded to the fact that she was considering her departure.

"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?” she runimated.

All epsiodes of Vera are available to watch on ITVX. Series 14 is expected to air on ITV in early 2025.