Les enquêtes de Vera

Love this series...only downside is they make me feel cold! :-) The weather where it's filmed is terrible! So different from Southern California where I live. It's really great to see a smart mature woman as the lead. At least she's not a 20 year old blonde bimbo! Too many series in the US are full of the tall skinny blondes...boring! This is true of many of the British series that make it over to the United States. They are full of characters who look like REAL people and not Hollywood starlets or runway models. You see the same in "Scott and Bailey", another British TV series I really love. I wish we'd see more of British dramas and comedies. I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting the quality of programs the Brits put on. Keep up the great work.

Gutsy, gritty police drama series has an unusual format and a great star: Brenda Blethyn.

This is not a weekly series, nor is it a miniseries. It's a yearly series of four 90-minute movies that loosely tie up together, especially in the character of Vera Stanhope, a driven and crotchety character who excels in her work but who has trouble connecting to the people around her or in dealing with her past life.

Brenda Blethyn is just perfect as the middle-aged copper and just as changeable as the North England weather. She's just as likely to lash out at her colleagues as she is the suspects in the series of murders she must solve.

Chief among the supporting cast are David Leon as Vera's sergeant Joe Ashworth, later replaced by Kenny Doughty as Aiden Healy. There's also Jon Morrison as Kenny Lockhart and Riley Jones as Mark Edwards. In the first couple of seasons, Peter Ritter as the weirdly comic pathologist Billy Cartwright is a delight. But there are plenty of other quirky coppers and suspects lurking about the Yorkshire dale and towns. The location shooting is quite stunning as well.

The mysteries are based on characters created by Ann Cleeves and most of them are excellent. It's never easy to guess the killer. You won't see a parade of famous actors but that works in the show's favor.

A great show for mystery fans and those who like great acting.

And how is it possible that this great show has never gotten a single BAFTA nomination?

I am worried about some of my favorite shows due to Covid but I'mso happy Blevins has returned to her work as the irascible Vera. Hurrah to her acting skills and Britain's acceptance of skill over age. Elderly, overweight, cranky Woman as the protagonist.... I love it!! . Please Britain take care of her. She is a National treasure. .I want to see 10 more years of Vera.

Midsomer murders is coming back next week, November 2021. The stories are carried by more actors plus a dog. Ms. Blyth is in every scene of Vera....and that's what we want and love.

Kudos to use of drones. I can't get enough of this areas scenery.

I recently binge watched several series of Vera. I feel the review I give has to cover not just the lead actors but the support cast. I love Brenda Blethyn and Kenny Doughty and the chemistry between them the interactions between the rest of the squad but I would also like to mention the weekly guest cast. These are actors who don't always have a huge portfolio of starring work and yet some (heck most) of the performances are amazing. The episode I have just watched the confession of the father to killing his son was heart wrenching and having watched several series in a row the quality never fails. Credit where it's due I say pet!

The plot lines always seem to grab our attention. My husband and I actually enjoy Vera's character. To me she seems like a female version of Colombo, but she is not quite as corny--instead she is more human...just as clever and determined...never giving up until she finds the killer. I think one needs to develop a taste for British detective stories (they are not nearly as "glamorous" as American whodunits) in order to enjoy watching them. We also notice the same actors appearing and reappearing in different series, inevitably playing a variety of different character types. We find British shows well-written and often more original than their American counterparts. In fact, when we started watching British shows we could barely understand the actors and now we are quite comfortable listening to British English. So many excellent shows would never be available in the US if we didn't have public broadcasting. Thank you public television for hours and hours of commercial-free entertainment and a variety of intelligent, stimulating dramas from which to choose.