Brenda Blethyn to depart long-running ITV drama Vera

The English actress, 78, will return for a 14th and final series, playing Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope.

However, after all of the series' of the ITV drama, Blethyn has said: “Working on Vera has been a joy from beginning to end and I’m sad to be saying Cheerio. But I am so proud of our achievements over the last 14 years.

Brenda Blethyn as Vera (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

“I’ll be forever grateful to the wonderful Ann Cleeves who created Vera, and to Elaine Collins who saw fit to cast me in the role.

“The producers, dream cast and crew have been fabulous and I’m going to miss them, but I won’t forget their huge talent, the camaraderie, laughter or kindness we shared nor the friendship of the people of the North East and our fans worldwide. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

She will film her last season this summer, which will bring more stories of murder mysteries from the North East of England in the form of two, two hour episodes.

The actress has announced this will be her final series (Image: PA MEDIA)

The drama is based on the Vera Stanhope novels written by Ann Cleeves, whose works have also been adapted into the TV shows Shetland and The Long Call.

Silverprint Pictures creative director Kate Bartlett has been an executive producer on many of the series since the show’s inception.

She said: “It is the end of an era and has been an extraordinary journey over 14 amazing series of Vera.

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“So many wonderful and talented people have been involved in the making of Vera across all the series, but none of us would be here without two incredible women: firstly, the absolutely extraordinary talent of the inimitable Brenda Blethyn.

“She is brilliant as DCI Vera Stanhope, a truly iconic character of our times. And – of course – the amazing Ann Cleeves, author of the original novels and creator of DCI Vera Stanhope.

“We will all be very sad to say goodbye to Brenda and everyone involved in making the show.”