Brenda Blethyn reprises her role as D.C.I. Vera Stanhope in a new season of Vera next month.

Based on the characters created by novelist Ann Cleeves, the crime drama returns at 8pm on Sunday 5 April on ITV.

> Buy the complete Season 1-4 boxset on Amazon.

Watch the Season 5 trailer…

Blethyn is joined by Jon Morrison (Nil By Mouth) as D.C. Kenny Lockhart, Cush Jumbo (Torchwood: Children of Earth) as D.C. Bethany Whelan, Kingsley Ben-Adir (City Slacker) as pathologist, Dr. Marcus Summer and Riley Jones as D.C. Mark Edwards.

Kenny Doughty (Stella) will also join the show as DS Aiden Healy, replacing David Leon as D.S Joe Ashworth.

In the opening episode, ‘Changing Tides’, DCI Vera Stanhope (Brenda Blethyn) investigates a suspicious fire that rips through a holiday park on the Northumberland coast. Three cabins are destroyed and the body of a woman is found inside.

Park owner, Jim Viner (Wayne Foskett) returns from a weekend away with his daughter Clare (Katherine Rose Morley). He quickly suspects the body is his sister, Deena, but he can’t explain why she was there and not at the family home. Long-term resident Malcolm (Dorian Lough) returns to find his cabin has also burned to the ground.

Are you looking forward to Season 5? Let us know below…