Brenda Blethyn heroically intervened during a ‘medical emergency’ on the set of ITV’s Vera when a fan collapsed close to the filming location.
After an illustrious 14-year tenure on the programme, BAFTA-winning actress Brenda has taken her final bow as DCI Stanhope on the beloved detective series.
She decided last year that it was time to retire her iconic character, subsequently bringing the show that premiered on ITV in 2011 to a close.
Brenda’s departure from Vera was marked by her last scenes in the concluding episode named The Dark Wives at the beginning of January, following a summer of shooting across the North East.
Having said farewell to Kenny Doughty, Brenda saw the return of original partner-in-solving-crime David Leon as shooting commenced for the year’s series of Vera.
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Vera steps in to support a fan over medical emergency (Image: Craig Connor/ChronicleLive)
Whenever Vera arrived for filming, local excitement peaked; one instance in Redcar in August 2023 led to a dramatic scenario when an elderly lady onlooking the scene suffered a fall due to the intense heat.
Alerted by the commotion, Brenda took it upon herslf to bring filming to a halt so that she could rush over to assist the distressed woman who was being attended to by medics.
Brenda ran to the aid of a fan who had collapsed (Image: ITV)
Recalling the incident in an ITV interview, Brenda recounted: “The medics went over, even our medics went over, to make sure she was alright. But she refused to go; she wanted to watch a bit more Vera being filmed,” reports .
She added: “Eventually I went over and she nearly passed out….again, when I leaned over her. When I got home it was on the news and the next day they interviewed at home.”
Brenda suffered her own medical emergency on set too (Image: ITV)
During a press event for Vera in London last year, Brenda Blethyn opened up on her own on-set medical emergency, detailing an incident where she suffered from Bell’s Palsy while filming.
The actress remembered being in the middle of a scene when a makeup artist noticed her face dropping on the monitor. “I was dealt with immediately by a doctor and taken to hospital,” Brenda disclosed. “We found out it was caused by an ear infection.”
ITV’s Vera can still currently be streamed on the platform ITVX.