Crime drama Vera returns for a ninth series this weekend on ITV.
Brenda Blethyn reprises her role as the the unorthodox but brilliantly perceptive Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope for four feature-length episodes.
The first episode of the series, Blind Spot, is written by Paul Logue and also stars Peter Davison (Toast of London, Doctor Who), James Atherton (Coronation Street, Porters), Jodie McNee (Britannia, Little Boy Blue) and Adrian Lukis (Collateral, The Crown).
Bright and ambitious, Joanne Caswell is a newly qualified HMP forensic psychologist working in Newcastle. When her body is found dumped at a landfill site far from home, Vera alights on the fact that Joanne had been looking into the crime of a former patient who recently committed suicide. Vera must follow the trail Joanne has left behind to uncover who might have had a motive to kill her.
Preview the first episode with our gallery:
The cast for the series also includes Kenny Doughty as Detective Sergeant Aiden Healy, Jon Morrison as DC Kenny Lockhart, Riley Jones as DC Mark Edwards and Ibinabo Jack as Veraās newest recruit, DC Jacqueline Williams, who transferred from the Fraud Squad in series eight.
Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones, Three Girls) joins the series as Pathologist Dr. Malcolm Donahue.
Across the four episodes there are guest stars including Dean Fagan (Coronation Street, Homefront), Mark Addy (Game of Thrones), Patrick Baladi (No Offence, Stella), Elizabeth Berrington (Vanity Fair, Little Boy Blue) , Robert James Collier (Downton Abbey, The Level), Natalie Gumede (Jekyll & Hyde, Coronation Street), Daniel Ryan (Innocent, Mount Pleasant), Steve Evets (Girlfriends, Bancroft), Mark Wingett (The Bill), Claire Higgins (The Worst Witch, The Syndicate) and Ian Reddington (Doctors, Coronation Street).
Vera is inspired by the bestselling novels and characters created by acclaimed crime writer Ann Cleeves.
Series 9 of Vera begins at 8pm on Sunday 13th January 2019.
