Riley Jones has lifted the lid on 'secrets' from set of Vera, including what the cast get up to between takes, as viewers wait for news on whether there'll be another series of the hit ITV drama.
North East actor Riley has been playing DC Mark Edwards in Vera for years now and played a key role in the show's 11th and 12th series, both of which have been on this year. After a hiatus of nearly a year, Vera returned to schedules in January, with the two 'missing' episodes from series 11 airing first, before fans of all things DCi Stanhope were treated to four feature length tales from series 12.
As with every run of Vera, it was over far too quickly for viewers' liking and there is currently no word on what the future holds for Brenda Blethyn's famous character, beyond The Rising Tide, the screen adaptation of Ann Cleeves; latest novel, which was filmed before Christmas.
Doubts surrounding Vera's future were heightened when star Kenny Doughty, who plays DS Aiden Healy, shared some photos from the Vera set on Instagram and captioned the post 'thank you for the memories,' without elaborating on what he was eluding to.
In the run up to series 12 finale The Darkest Evening airing, Riley admitted that he was 'waiting for the call' to film more Vera and has now opened up on what life is like on set, with Brenda, Kenny and other castmates.
And he's also given an insight into how things can be very different to how they appear on screen. Speaking to the Express, he explained: "A three-minute scene in the incident room could take three or four hours to film."
Riley also revealed that, while they enjoy a joke and doing crosswords together, many Vera stars try not to 'break' character between takes, singling out Brenda for particular praise, by adding: "She could be creased in laughter and when they're ready to roll, she just turns it on and she's ready to go."
He continued: "I don't think you could do a show like this for 12 years and not have a bit of fun and a laugh between set-ups and in between scenes.
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