Harbour Street (Vera Stanhope)

Product Information

For the National Year of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups in prisons as part of the Inside Books project, became Cheltenham Literature Festival's first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working with libraries.

Weekly Top 30 Programmes: ITV w/e 5 April 2015". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Archived from the original on 15 December 2012 . Retrieved 18 April 2015.Vera's familiar Land Rover Defender was positioned next to a police cordon and officers wearing forensic suits. Overall, this is a strong opener. There are quibbles: Vera and Joe’s story arcs - a brief revelation about Vera’s father and Joe’s struggle with work and Jessie - feel like they get short shrift. In the end, most of our emotion is suddenly and unexpectedly rerouted elsewhere, in a dramatic confrontation. If those storylines don’t feel like they quite get the depth they should - Vera’s monologue about her father is a masterful, simple performance by Blethyn - one of her very best. This was a really good read, well paced and with a lot of interesting police work. Having read the series so far from book one I also enjoyed the relationships between the main characters. Vera is an amazing person and I have always liked Joe. Even Holly is coming good now that Vera lets her do more.

Alistair Petrie ( Stuart Bayliss) & Kingsley Ben-Adir ( Dr. Marcus Summer) also worked together on Deep State (2018) as George White & Khalid Walker respectively. The body of teenager Ethan Dewley is found floating in a reservoir. When Vera and her team discover that Ethan had been missing for three days, they look to a rural timber community for answers. The story definitely dragged on and on. I grew bored several times and almost gave up, but I wanted to find out who the murderer was and why he or she killed the women. I honestly can’t say that the story was compelling, nor were any of the characters particularly likeable. In short, by the end of the book I just didn’t care that much.

Vera is confronted with the sight of Caden Lennon's murder, by knife, in a coastal town's shipyard. The teenager had absconded from his support worker's care six weeks previously but, with few leads, Vera looks into a gang connection and discovers a drugs network. Weekly Top 10 Programmes: ITV HD w/e 3 June 2012". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board . Retrieved 12 June 2012. Those two stories - Vital Signs and Where The Wind Blows, were the first to air Vera's return, each lasting two hours; before the action then moves to series 12, which will bring with it a replacement for Paul Kaye as his character, pathologist Malcolm leaves the show. The scene is just before Christmas on crowded train when Margaret Krukowski, an elderly elegantly dressed woman, is stabbed to death. Yet, it seems no-one saw the murderer, even though Joe and his daughter Jessie were there on the train at the time. With huge swathes of Northumberland already aired on-screen during the drama's lengthy run, filming expanded over the years across the region, with more spots around Durham and Newcastle have been playing a role.

Cleeves offers up evocative settings and flawed characters with depth, making her mysteries wonderfully addictive. Her latest is no exception." Vera must uncover a life of secrets and lies when Owen Thorne, a well-loved family man, plummets to his death from a multi-storey car park. Over the past year, the Vera cast and crew have been spotted on location at a variety of different places all over the region. Almost as it was confirmed that production had started on series 12, eagle eyed fans spotted filming taking place at Amble at outside of Morpeth larder. She added: "There is such a variety of locations in the area. From places like Corbridge in the Tyne Valley to the Northumberland coastline and many other varied locations. I also like working in the vibrant city of Newcastle which was the main venue for Sally Abbot’s “For The Grace of God”. Series 11 locations I enjoy the PBS Vera series so when I saw several of the author’s books on the library shelf I decided to go with a story I hadn’t already seen. First off, I found that the books are different from the television series in that Vera isn’t exactly the sweet and loveable character in the books as she is on television. I HATED the way the author made so much about Vera’s weight. There was absolutely no reason to hammer the fact home that Vera is overweight. I could have counted the number of times the author used the word ‘fat’ to describe Vera and a few of the other characters. I found this extremely off-putting.Despite all that, I did somehow like the odd assortment of characters in a small community, the way they all had secrets and complex pasts - although the ending disappointed me. We're constantly told by the other characters how brilliant Vera is, but we don't actually see any evidence of her brilliance. She doesn't seem to have even basic policing skills. There is no consideration here of the nature of the murder weapon or who might have had access to such an item, or to tracing the estranged husband of the victim until several days into the investigation. Enquiries lead them to Dee Sinton (Tilly Vosburgh), an alcoholic and old friend recently thrown out of the shelter where Margaret volunteered. When Dee is found dead, Vera knows the key to this new killing will be found in Margaret’s past.

Weekly Top 30 Programmes: ITV w/e 22 May 2011". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Archived from the original on 15 December 2012 . Retrieved 2 July 2011. She has also been filming in Elvaston Park Road, Hexham; Allendale village; Port of Sunderland and Marlborough Park in Washington and last summer Blethyn was also pictured enjoying an ice cream during a break in filming in Corbridge. Weekly Top 10 Programmes: ITV+1 w/e 3 June 2012". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board . Retrieved 12 June 2012. Although Vera is certainly the central character, this is an ensemble cast with each member of her team being significant. It is also nice to learn about the other members of her team, as well as about Vera growing up. All of it combines to provide dimension to the characters. But Cleeves also gives one insight into the other characters, as well. It is nice when a case is solved by footwork, and by following the clues.

Cast & Crew

Weekly Top 30 Programmes: ITV w/e 29 April 2012". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Archived from the original on 15 December 2012 . Retrieved 8 May 2012.