Vera
2011
Original language: English
- crime
- drama
- mystery
The story
A sharp detective with a messy life, DCI Vera Stanhope patrols her “patch” of northeast England, pursuing the truth in cases of murder, kidnapping, and blackmail. Vera is obsessive about her work and faces the world with caustic wit, guile and courage.
What it’s like
Grey Northumberland light does most of the work here: wide, overcast landscapes of moor, reservoir and drizzled market towns, with rooms often lit by flat daylight or the sodium glow of a car park at dusk. The camera tends to hold on people in ordinary interiors (a cluttered kitchen, a police canteen, a farmhouse parlour) while conversations unfold at an unhurried pace, with a rumpled, mud-spattered texture that suits a damp weekday. The score is sparse and understated, with long stretches of wind, rain and room tone carrying the mood. The vibe is wry, earthy melancholy, comfortable rather than frightening. It suits a rainy afternoon, a slow evening on the sofa, or a comfort rewatch. Its people's arcs are about a brusque, unglamorous woman who is lonely beneath her gruffness and gradually lets a few colleagues into her orbit. Violence is present because it is a crime drama: murders and kidnappings occur, mostly off-screen or shown briefly, with no gore and little sexual content; the dread is more about tension and uncertainty than graphic horror. It is for viewers who enjoy character-led detective stories and dry humour, and who want a mystery without brutality.
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