VERA, the critically acclaimed ITV crime drama starring multi-award-winning actress Brenda Blethyn (SECRETS & LIES; Little Voice) as DCI Vera Stanhope, returns to public television for a fourth season of in-depth, edge-of-your-seat, crime-solving drama. Based on the best-selling Inspector Stanhope books by renowned writer Ann Cleeves, this season takes Vera down by the sea to investigate a community’s deep secrets.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Episode 1: “On Harbour Street” airs Friday, July 31 at 10 p.m. - In the new season of VERA, DCI Vera Stanhope investigates the mysterious death of pensioner Margaret Kraszewski on a busy Newcastle train at the height of rush hour. DS Joe Ashworth (David Leon) struggles to maintain a professional distance, as his daughter is key witness in the case. Led to a quiet street in a rundown seaside town, they discover a tight knit community living in the shadow of a long-held, explosive secret.
Episode 2: “Protected” airs Friday, August 7 at 10 p.m. - DCI Vera Stanhope and DS Joe Ashworth investigate the murder of David Kenworthy, found dead on the beach at Whitley Bay. Although spotted in an argument with a local business owner earlier that night, Vera digs into the past uncovering that the Kenworthy family and their business is not as respectable as it appears. When a second death occurs, Vera is faced with pressure to solve the case quickly; she must use all her tenacity to expose the rift in the heart of the fractured family.
Episode 3: "The Deer Hunter" airs Friday, August 28 at 10 p.m. - When DCI Vera Stanhope and DS Joe Ashworth find Shane Thurgood, a suspected poacher, dead from a gunshot wound, Joe concludes it is a hunting accident while Vera digs deeper. Vera uncovers Shane's tragic life and his new inheritance of a vast amount of land. She further digs into Shane's checkered history with a family of poachers and landowners to understand his sudden departure fifteen years ago and what brought him to his ultimate end.
Episode 4: "Death Of A Family Man" airs Friday, Sept. 4 at 10 p.m. - In the closing episode of the fourth series of VERA, DCI Vera Stanhope investigates the death of businessman John Searwood, who was found floating under the Gateshead Millennium Bridge. Chief Investigator Owen Preece (Robert Glenister) uncovers that John's business manager has been running a booze scam and John was no longer sleeping in the family home. Vera unpeels all the secrets hidden behind John's veneer of respectability to discover that his downfall in fact delves back to a tragic incident years before.
Season 5 of VERA begins airing on Friday, Jan. 8, 2016 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV.
VERA is on Facebook. Ann Cleeves is on Facebook.
