Vera, ITV, TV review: She’s more dishevelled than Columbo but our Vera knows how to nail a killer

The detective, played expertly by Brenda Blethyn, looks like the murderer from I Know What You Did Last Summer

Long and winding road: Brenda Blethyn stars as the down-to-earth detective Vera (ITV/Helen Turton)

Every good TV detective has “a thing”. Luther, well he was unhinged. And Inspector Barnaby (the original one) was Mr Nice Guy. Columbo was unassuming and Poirot was meticulous. DCI Vera Stanhope, however, is harder to place.

The North-east detective, played expertly by Brenda Blethyn, looks like the murderer from I Know What You Did Last Summer – long mac and fisherman’s cap included. But she also wears a floral dress and calls everyone “love”, which doesn’t exactly send shivers down your spine. She’s hard-nosed and uncompromising (when asked for a reference by DC Bethany Whelan for a job in the serious crime’s unit she obliges by telling the department the officer isn’t ready) but she clearly has a heart too (“These are her footprints,” she realises while trying to solve the murder of grandmother Ann-Marie Richards, “This is her kicking off her shoes and running for her bloody life.”) She’s also fiercely protective of her team and demonstrates faultless self-control.

The opening episode of the sixth series of Vera, called “Dark Road”, saw a young girl discover Ann-Marie’s body on the Northumberland moors. What unfolded was a string of suspects and an encyclopaedia of theories. Suspicion fell on Ann-Marie’s secret lover, her secret ex-lover, her neighbour, her colleagues, a local farmer, her son-in-law, her daughter, her other daughter, the neighbour’s nurse. The list goes on. And at every turn I was sucked in. Yes of course it was her. No, it’s got to be him. She’s definitely guilty – etc etc. The plot twisted so far in on itself that my mind was in knots but the mark of a good detective drama is one that keeps you guessing right until the end.

Even when you thought they’d nailed the right suspect, it was the wrong motive and skeletons just kept crawling out the closet, all of which made for an incredibly tense – and emotional – climax. The acting – Cush Jumbo’s DC Whelan and Kenny Doughty’s DS Aiden Healy included – was excellent but Blethyn stole the show. When she finally nailed her killer, losing one of her officer’s in the process, she also finally lost her cool. “She gave her life to protect her daughter,” she screamed of victim Anne-Marie. “Just like my officer did trying to protect yours.” This time, she sent shivers down my spine.