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Last week, I reviewed a new detective mini-series, The Jetty. Tina reviewed a classic book, The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico.

Vera, a police procedural series featuring an aging female detective, ran for 14 seasons. The final season aired in 2025 with just two episodes to wrap up the long arcs of the story, while setting up a future for younger characters.

Over the years, Vera has been shown in the US on Hulu, Prime, and BritBox. The TV show was based on the Vera Stanhope series of novels by Ann Cleeves. The success of Vera resulted in the TV adaptation of another series by the same author, Shetland.

The title character was played by Brenda Blethyn who is currently age 79. She started the role at retirement age! And then, just kept going for 14 years. She’s a role model, for me, of staying engaged.

By TwentiethApril1986 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Kevin Whately (Morse, Inspector Lewis) made an appearance in the final season. It was fun to see two actors from long-running detective series work together.

The final two episodes contained excellent mysteries with terrific scenes. I particularly enjoyed the last episode that was mostly set in the countryside of northeast England and included an annual village event called a “witch hunt.”

Northumberland and Newcastle upon Tyne are settings that shine in Vera. BritBox is streaming a documentary about the final season called Vera: Farewell, Pet. I learned from that series that filming of the whole show happened in a studio in Newcastle and in the surrounding areas. That means that Vera has been a big employer of local talent — everything from the technical crew to local actors.

Are you a fan of Vera?