Vera (TV Series) Hidden Depths (2011) User Reviews

DCI Vera Stanhope's first investigation is a quality one.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 16 October 2017]

DCI Vera Stanhope and her Sergeant, Joe Ashworth are called in to investigate a suspicious death, plenty of suspects, and plenty of people who are hiding something.

I think the series gets off to a flyer with this episode, it's gritty, intriguing and beautifully acted, anything Blethyn touches seems to turn to gold, it is little wonder that the show is set for an eighth series. A sensible move to have a strong, well known actress from the North East in the opener, and Gina McKee is brilliant, her scenes with Blethyn in particular are excellent.

A lot is done to mask the identity of the killer, so the viewer is given a clever mystery to solve. It also explores life and death, one life is welcomed in as Joe and Seline's newborn baby is welcomed in, while another, Vera's father is put to rest.

A quality start 8/10

Brenda Blethyn is fabulous

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 19 January 2014]

The series "Vera" starring Brenda Blethyn introduces Vera Stanhope, a hard-working, caring woman with a tough exterior who knows something about life and loneliness. In the first episode, her father has just died and she is taking over a home in the middle of nowhere. It's a stark, barren land, magnificently filmed, I believe in Northumberland, where the series takes place.

In this episode, Vera and her assistant, handsome, young Sgt. Ashworth (David Leon) are called in to investigate the death of a 15-year-own who was drowned in his bath. Luke's mother explains that Luke's friend Tommy drowned earlier, and at first, Vera suspects Tommy's father.

Then there's another murder, of a teacher, Lily, and she was also strangled, this time found on a beach. She was due to move into a beach house owned by Peter Calvert, a prominent botanist. Vera finds out that Lily and Calvert had been having an affair, and Tommy had photographed them together. Now Vera thinks that Calvert was trying to get rid of any evidence of the affair. But events become more complicated when the sister of the murdered boy Luke goes missing too.

Excellent series with a magnificent performance by Blethyn, who really makes one know the character she plays. Her weathered face and sad smile match the setting. A really wonderful series, very well done.

In the beginning

[safenoe · 8/10 · 3 April 2021]

I've seen most of the Vera episodes, but surprisingly it's only now (2 April 2021) that I now finally watch the very first episode of Vera, Hidden Depths. Love and betrayal, peeping toms, fandom, the Northumbria beaches, yes it's all here to start off a fine series in British detective drama.

All credit to the production crew. You can actually feel the icy winds when watching the scenes on the windswept beach.

Gina McKee is one of the big names in this episode. She played a wheelchair-bound barrister in Notting Hill, and I actually thought at the time she really was wheelchair-bound.

Anything Brenda Blethyn is in is well worth watching

[Paularoc · 7/10 · 26 July 2012]

Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope is a frumpy, late middle-aged, hard working and empathetic detective who drinks too much. She's also smart and gets the job done. In this episode she and her colleagues investigate the murder of a 15 year old boy and a subsequent murder. The mystery itself was not particularly interesting and the best part of the show was in introducing us to Vera with all her flaws, strengths, regrets and fears. It's odd but one of my problems with the show was that I had a hard time at first telling apart the two leading support actresses as they looked so much alike in their dress, hair and general appearance, at least from afar. As much as I like Blethyn, I think this is the kind of series that grows on one after time and fortunately Netflix has the first four episodes so I'll be able to test this. An observation on the title of the series - why is it that there's Morse, Wycliffe, Lynley, Murdoch, Lewis, etc. but when the lead detective is a woman, the first name is used?

A great start to many years of excellent YV

[hindsonevansmike · 9/10 · 5 January 2021]

By chance, ITV3 in the UK began Vera from the start on 04JAN2021, showing the first episode of Vera just after the first-ever episode of "Wycliffe" so that we could compare 2010 coppering to 1994 coppering.

First episode; Vera is a bit cranky until we work out that her father has died (she will take over his ancient LandRover tomorrow night in S01Ep02!) and the distinctive Vera-mobile will emerge.

This show clearly had potential from the start - which has been expanded and exploited over the intervening near-decade. Watch the scenery, enjoy her witty one-liners and marvel at the characterisations. A good ensemble cast is assembled (which has changed and evolved over the years).

Well worth two hours of your time on a cold winter's evening.

Hidden Depths

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 2 June 2017]

This first episode introduces Brenda Blethyn's Vera as a curmudgeonly but determined detective inspector in the sparse north east landscape. She is muddling on after the recent death of her father whom she might not had always got on with.

Gina McKee plays a distraught mother whose son is found drowned just a few months after his friend was also found drowned. When a woman teacher is found dead, Vera thinks that the deaths are somehow linked especially by the way the bodies are laid out surrounded by flowers

Vera is assisted by her younger partner Sergeant Joe Ashworth (David Leon) both think a group of bird watching friends might hold a clue to the deaths.

An interesting starter with a few guest stars such as Murray Head playing a philandering professor. Maybe the episode tried too hard to disguise the actual culprit.

Very involving crime tale

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 30 June 2013]

Soon after the death of her father, with whom they weren't on the best terms, chief inspector Vera Stanhope is called in to investigate the ritualistic (?) murder of a teenage boy. Not before long, a second body - that of a young female trainee teacher - turns up, and it appears to be the work of the same killer. But what's the connection?

If you liked "Blue Murder", another TV series about a middle-aged British female chief inspector, you'll probably like "Vera" as well; the main difference is that Janine from "Blue Murder" has a busy and full family life, while Vera has none. This first episode is both a very involving murder mystery (written by Paul Rutman, who is an expert at the genre, as his work in the Miss Marple episodes "They Do It With Mirrors" and "The Secret Of Chimneys" proves), and a powerful human drama (death has real impact on people). Brenda Blethyn is excellent as the antisocial but still compassionate Vera, and David Leon is solid as her unassuming younger partner (with a busy family life of his own). Other outstanding supporting performances are given by Gina McKee, Juliet Aubrey (both still very attractive in their mid-40s) and Craig Conway. Looking forward to the following episodes. *** out of 4.

Sometimes very predictable

[hibiscus-rose · 5/10 · 18 September 2020]

How is it her subordinate, Joe Ashworth - and later DS Aden Healey, are able to cheek her? Everyone else in the office has to kowtow to her or fear her wrath!! But both of these young men are able to practically tell her off. I'm sure in a real room full of cops, if this kind of thing went on there would be complaints of discrimination!!!

so bad it's pathetic

[alk64 · 1/10 · 11 November 2018]

How does series get through 9 seasons is beyond me. bad writing, bad acting, bad characters. so pathetic, is not even worth an actual review. where is inspecor morse when you need one.