Vera bosses took liberties with geography as the hit show returned to screens for its last ever series on Wednesday night, as the River Tyne was ‘moved’ for the purposes of a new mystery.
Some 14 years after it made its debut on ITV with pilot Hidden Depths, the much loved crime drama is back for one last outing, following the announcement last year that it would be wrapping up ion 2025, with its lead star Brenda Blethyn deciding to walk away from the role that has earn ed her legions of fans the world over.
In a further blow to Vera viewers, who’ve followed the investigations of DCI Stanhope and her team since 2011, Vera’s final series is much shorter than its predecessors, consisting of just two episodes and the first of those, Inside, began with the grim discovery of a young man, ZAchary Mountain, by what is said to be, the River Tyne.
However, it diodn’t take long for any Northumberland natives who tuned into watch the two hour tale, that the body of water that Zach’s lifeless corpse was found next to wasn’t actually the River Tyne, but the River Wansbeck in Ashington; with it seen on screen, months after production vehicles for Vera were seen parked up in the town.
Once they’d clocked that the Wansbeck was being used for the River Tyne, with the North Seaton bridge in the background, plenty of people took to social media to point out the ‘error’, including one who posted on X to write: “When the advert man on the telly says the #Vera finale is a deceased baddie on the banks of the Tyne but you then watch it and it’s very clearly Ashington and the river Wansbeck. Gan on Ashington being represented!!”
Having also noticed the same thing, a second reacted: “Body found on the banks of the Wansbeck” as another posted: “Nice to see the Blacka, Stakeford Bridge, Rowing Club and River Wansbeck in the first part of #Vera whether it’s supposed to be the Tyne or not”