Vera's new sarge is just as easy on the eye: Dishy DS Ashworth is replaced by a hunky new sidekick in the detective drama 

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Listening to Brenda Blethyn talking about her TV detective DCI Vera Stanhope, she could well be describing herself. 

‘There are no pretensions about her. She tells the truth. She’s good at her job and talent is always attractive. No matter how intelligent you are, or how much of a dunce, you could still have a conversation with her. Yes, she can be a bit caustic but only if someone isn’t doing their job properly. She can also be kind.’

That pretty much sums up Brenda too, who’s generally regarded as one of the nicest people in the business and who returns tomorrow for a fifth series as the no-nonsense policewoman at the heart of Ann Cleeves’s bestselling books. 

Kenny Doughty plays Vera's latest sidekick DS Aiden Healy in the new series 

In fact it’s only in appearance that the two women diverge. Today Brenda’s looking rather glam in a high-necked black sweater and black trousers set off with a vivid lime-green jacket. Suddenly, she lifts her left foot up to table level. 

‘Do you like my shoes?’ she asks, showing off a natty, lace-up court shoe with a small wedge heel. ‘I bought them in Paris.’

You’d never catch Vera in those, I suggest. ‘Vera dresses for comfort,’ says Brenda. ‘I’ll let you into a secret. I bought the boots she wears for £12 in Birmingham 20 years ago. They’re children’s – I’ve got small feet – but I knew they’d come in handy one day. They’re comfortable and you can wear them with trousers. Perfect for Vera.’

Last series' Joe Ashworth proved a hit as the on-screen heart throb 

Unlike many actors Brenda, 69, insists on watching the finished series when it goes out. ‘I always watch it. I like seeing how it’s all come together. Someone said to me once after they’d seen me in Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies, “How do you feel when you see yourself looking so awful on the screen?” I told them I didn’t see me; I saw the character.’

Ann Cleeves now writes her books with Brenda in mind. Before she started filming the first series, Brenda read Ann’s book The Crow Trap to get a feel for the character. 

‘I got halfway through and there was still no sign of Vera. I was beginning to wonder whether I only had a cameo. Then suddenly the church doors bang open and “in walks this scruffy, lumbering woman who looks like a bag lady”. I remember thinking, “I wonder why they thought of me?”

‘Apparently Ann has my voice in her head now. People in Northumberland tell me my accent is accurate, but it’s become second nature to me. Which is just as well because I want people to listen to what Vera’s saying, not how she’s saying it.’

The new series sees Vera investigating a fatal blaze at a caravan park, a 30-year-old mystery when a teenage girl’s remains are found in a wood, an unidentified body discovered floating in a slurry pit and a suspected suicide. But she’ll be tackling the cases without her trusty sidekick DS Joe Ashworth, as the actor who played him, David Leon, wanted to branch out into directing. 

David was hailed by some as the most gorgeous man ever to appear on TV when the show started four years ago, but he’ll be replaced by Kenny Doughty as DS Aiden Healy. And he fills David’s boots perfectly, according to Brenda. 

‘I was sorry to say goodbye to David, but Kenny slotted in very quickly as Aiden... and it doesn’t hurt that he’s easy on the eye too,’ she says with a chuckle. Kenny, who’ll be seen with Sheridan Smith in police show Black Work later this year, says, ‘I’m going to bring a different energy to the show. There’s very much a new partnership to be formed – a new dynamic between Vera and Aiden.’

At the end of May Brenda will start shooting series six. Can she ever imagine retiring? ‘Oh yes, but not yet. If you work in an office you have to go in every day, but in my job you get time off, then you can dip your toe back in if something nice comes along. I turn down quite a lot, but I’ll keep doing Vera for as long as they want me.’  

Vera, Sundays, 8pm, ITV.