Riley Jones has spoken out about the exit of a much loved Vera star this series, saying he was gutted not to have done more scenes with them.
Having played quick witted and no nonsense pathologist Dr Malcolm Donahue in the hit ITV drama for the last few years, Paul Kaye bowed out of the Vera cast midway through the first episode of its 12th series last month, with Malcolm having time for one last dig at sparring partner DCI Vera Stanhope, when he accused her of 'trampling all over the evidence' in series 12 opener Against The Tide.
Vera viewers became aware that Paul was leaving the drama thanks to lead actress Brenda Blethyn, who heaped praise on him when revealing his depature in an interview about Vera's return to screens. And, speaking to the Daily Express, North East actor Riley, like Brenda, said he was sad to see Paul go.
READ MORE: Vera's Brenda Blethyn left 'heartbroken' by co-star's exit from ITV drama
He commented: "I don't really get many scenes with Paul, so I haven't really had much time with him unfortunately," Riley began. But the bits of time that I have been able to spend with him, he is such a lovely guy."
Riley, famous for playing Vera's colleague DC Mark Edwards, added: "I've got a lot of time for him and I mean he's had such an amazing career. And it was nice to be able to chat to him about stuff he's doing and what he's done in the past."
Viewers were gutted to see Paul leave Vera, with a few even tweeting Brenda asking her to get him to stay, having loved the banter between their two characters.
Dr Malcolm has since been replaced by Dr Paula Bennett, played by Sarah Kameela Impey. She is set to be in action as the current run of Vera comes to an end on Sunday, February 19. The series finale has been dubbed 'dark and stormy' by Vera author Ann Cleeves, who having seen a preview of the episode, told fans it was unmissable.
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