ITV has announced its Christmas 2024 TV highlights – and one beloved show is ending sooner than expected.
Among the series set to air over the festive period are new dramas Out There and Playing Nice, starring Martin Clunes and James Norton, respectively – but it’s the finale of Vera that most people will be anticipating.
It was announced earlier this year that Brenda Blethyn had quit the series after 13 years on the show.
Blethyn has portrayed Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope in every episode of the ITV crime series, which debuted in 2011, and filmed her final episodes earlier this summer. While fans speculated the show would be returning in 2025, ITV has now confirmed it will begin this Christmas.
Guest stars in the final series include Shobna Gulati, Kevin Whately, Cathy Tyson and Yazmin Kayani.
The final episode, which has been described as “poignant”, will bring Vera back to a familiar place – the legendary local stones, The Dark Wives – where past and present will be weaved together “for a compelling and emotional farewell”.
To mark the finale, ITV will also air Vera... Farewell Pet, a celebratory documentary featuring behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew.
“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 14 years,” Blethyn said of her decision to leave.
“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,” Blethyn concluded.
The series is filmed across the North East of England in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Northumberland. Specific locations include Gateshead, North Shields, Whitley Bay, Amble, Warkworth, Alnmouth, Bamburgh, and Holy Island.
As a result, Vera has had a positive impact on North East Tourism, which was celebrated by a win at the 2019 RTS North East and Border Awards.
Vera follows Blethyn’s detective chief inspector of the fictional Northumberland & City Police, who is nearing retirement but continues to solve cases with her team, often detecting small errors in her colleagues’ thought processes.
The lead character, as well as some specific episodes in series one and two, are based on Ann Cleeves’s Vera Stanhope crime novels.
Series 13 aired in January, and welcomed the new character of DC Steph Duncan, played by the former Hollyoaks actor Rhiannon Clements, who will return in the final series.
UK viewership peaked in 2018 with season eight, which raked in an average of 9.03 million viewers.
Films set to be shown on ITV over Christmas include Jurassic World: Dominion, Downton Abbey: A New Era and Rogue One.
