Riley Jones, who has been a fixture on the beloved crime series Vera for an impressive two decades, credits none other than Brenda Blethyn for his enduring television career. Starting out at the tender age of 21, he owes his break to the star's early support.
The actor, famed for portraying DC Edwards, recently graced ITV's Lorraine with his presence, discussing the end of an era as Vera prepares to draw its final curtain on January 2nd after a remarkable 20-year run.
In conversation with host Ranvir Singh, Riley opened up about how Brenda was instrumental in securing his role on the show, essentially shaping his career in television.He praised his co-star, stating: "She changed my life for the better."
He then disclosed that it was Brenda herself who insisted on his continued involvement in the series, reports the Mirror. Riley recounted how a single line he delivered during his debut episode resonated with Brenda so profoundly that she urged the producers to retain him. Two decades on, he is immensely grateful for the chance she took on him all those years ago.
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Ranvir, eager to delve into the specifics of Brenda's mentorship, prompted: "And you say what she's [Brenda's] done for you has been amazing." To which she further probed: "Tell us about that?"
The actor enthusiastically confirmed: "Ohh god yeah," and then he candidly expressed: "I mean she's [Brenda's] changed my life. I was in that one scene and Brenda was really instrumental in getting me back."
Before delving into the heart of the conversation, the Lorraine show revisited Riley's debut scene on ITV, prompting him to reflect: "In that scene that you just showed there, there was a line where Mark has seen a dead body for the first time and he's a young policeman, quite nervous."
He elaborated: "There's a line where Brenda sees something and sees him walking off and says 'wait where are you going' and Brenda always says that I got the job going forward because of that one line."
"She said 'it broke her heart the way I delivered the line' and yeah she was very instrumental in getting me back on the show which she didn't have to do, she could have just said 'that was a nice little scene'."
Riley continued: "But she didn't, she said 'oh we'd like to get him back' and so yeah, it changed my life really." In a candid chat with Ranvir, the Vera star shared how Brenda had been a game-changer for his career.
He explained: "I'd been studying for three years just got myself out of drama school and was my first job and I just thought that was brilliant and I had one scene with Brenda... and I thought 'that would be great on the show reel'.
"That was it, I moved on and was doing other jobs and then they called back on the second day and said 'we'd love you to come back and do a little bit more' and I thought 'well that's good'. Then in the third year they got us back again and I've been there ever since."
Vera will draw to a close for good this evening on ITV1, from 8pm.
