‘We're like Morecambe and Wise!'

In an exclusive interview, Brenda Blethyn and Kenny Doughty tell us about their special bond, and Vera and Aiden’s new cases…

- TESS LAMACRAFT

VERA

NEW SUNDAY / ITV / 8PM / DRAMA

Few double acts are as successful or as enduring as DCI Vera Stanhope and DS Aiden Healy.

And with filming on location in Northumberland for ITV’s phenomenally popular Vera taking up six months of the year, stars Brenda Blethyn and Kenny Doughty get on famously, both on and off screen.

Here, Brenda, 75, and Kenny, 46, tell TV Times about their brilliant friendship, mishaps on location and what makes their crime drama so special…

The two new episodes are the third and fourth stories of series 11, which began airing last August. The show is so popular – do you have any theories on what makes it successful?

BRENDA Lots of youngsters seem to love it, too. Vera’s not your normal run-of-the-mill detective. Sometimes people say to me, ‘You don’t see people like that in the police station.’ And I’m like, ‘How many times have you been in a police station?’

KENNY It’s like a good vintage wine; it seems to get better the longer you keep it. There are amazing locations, brilliant guest stars and I think, because of the great friendship Brenda and I have, that dynamic between Aiden and Vera really works.

You first met when Kenny joined the cast in 2015. Did you hit it off immediately?

BRENDA Yes. We have so much fun together. When we’re filming, we live in next-door flats in Newcastle and we always find things to keep us amused.