Riley Jones had an unexpected but very welcome reunion with an old friend on the set of Vera, as he admits he's 'waiting for a call' to see if there will be another series of the hit ITV drama.
North East actor Riley is one of the longest serving stars left in the Vera team, having played DC Mark Edwards for over a decade now, sharing many a scene with leading lady Brenda Blethyn as her famous alias, DCI Stanhope tries to get to grips with an ever growing lost of murder mysteries.
One of those was played in The Way The Wind Blows, the final episode of series 11, which aired at the end of January, with its plot focused on the death of mum Lisa Millworth, whose body was found washed up by the River Tyne after a night out. Her friend Joanne, who many Vera viewers had nailed on as the culprit, was played by County Durham actress Catherine Dryden, who has a history with Riley, given that they starred alongside each other in a play when they were in their early 20s.
Ahead of her episode airing, Catherine took to Twitter to say she was 'beyond grateful' for the opportunity to be on Vera and working with Brenda and Brenda returned the favour by heaping praise on Catherine.
And now Riley has spoken out on how much it meant to him to be on set with his old friend. Speaking to the Express, he said: "We're very close friends so it was nice to be able to share that (Vera) with her.
"I have kept my call sheet on the day that she was in as well, which was nice to see our names on the call sheet together."
He added: "We started off at a similar point in our careers together so it's always nice to sort of share those moments.
"And she was super excited because she's been wanting to be in it for a long time now, so I was very happy for her to be able to share that experience.
Riley has so far stayed silent on the speculation that Vera might be coming to an end or that Kenny Doughty has quit the show, after the DS Aiden Healy actor took to Instagram to share photos of him on set, with the caption 'thanks for the memories.'
Riley did address the show's future in the run up to the series finale, saying it was 'out of the cast's hands' and adding: "I obviously hope there is and I'll be waiting to see if we get that call. And when we do it's all go, but I am in the know as much as you."
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