The star will hang up her trench coat and hat after filming Vera Series 14

ITV have announced that Brenda Blethyn is leaving her role as DCI Vera Stanhope after the current season.

Vera has been in production since 2011, with Blethyn bringing to life the character who is based on novels by writer Ann Cleeves.

Brenda Blethyn 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 fourteen years.  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.”

Filming is taking place in Northumberland and North East, and will conclude in the summer. The two final two-hour stories will bring the show’s final tally to 56 instalments.

The series, which has been produced by Silverprint Pictures since 2018, will be produced by Will Nicholson.

All 13 previous series of Vera are available for streaming on ITVX.