ITV's last Vera coming earlier than expected with string of top guest stars

The last ever series of ITV’s will be the jewel in the crown of ’s schedule, with guest stars including Lewis actor Kevin Whately, Casualty's Derek Thompson and Corrie's Shobna Gulati.

The two feature-length episodes will be the very last outing for on ITV after actress announced in April that she was retiring from the role after 13 years. The shows will also feature appearances from Band of Gold's Cathy Tyson, Here We Go’s Freya Parks and Graeme Hawley, best known as serial killer John Stape.

Blethyn will make an “emotional farewell” in her 14th series which comprises two "poignant" stories adapted from the books by author Ann Cleeves; Inside and The Dark Wives. Both intertwine murder mysteries with the story of Vera’s own personal journey as it reaches its final chapter on ITV. In the first of the two festive finales, Vera is called to the banks of the Tyne where the body of a young man has been discovered by fishermen and a tale involving secret love, grudges, regret, and fraud begins to emerge.

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The final instalment brings Vera back to a very familiar place when a body is found at the foot of local stones The Dark Wives. With memories of her own childhood looming large, Vera works hard to solve the mystery of why a bright young student would be violently attacked and left so far from home. The episode, described as "poignant" weaves together past and present and is said to make for a "compelling and emotional farewell”.

All the Vera regulars will return including David Leon as DI Joe Ashworth, Jon Morrison as DC Kenny Lockhart and Riley Jones as DC Mark Edwards plus Sarah Kameela Impey as pathologist Dr Paula Bennett and Rhiannon Clements as DC Steph Duncan, who arrived in series 13 which aired in January.

Other famous faces taking guest roles are former Shameless actor Anthony Flanagan, Casualty’s Chelsea Halfpenny and ex-Goodnight Sweetheart regular Michelle Holmes. To mark the finale, ITV will also show Vera... Farewell Pet, a documentary celebrating the drama, featuring behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew.

Announcing that she was retiring from the role she has played since 2011, Blethyn said: “Working on Vera has been a joy from beginning to end and I’m sad to be saying Cheerio. But I am so proud of our achievements over the last 14 years. I’ll be forever grateful to the wonderful Ann Cleeves who created Vera, and to Elaine Collins, who saw fit to cast me in the role. The producers, dream cast and crew have been fabulous and I’m going to miss them, but I won’t forget their huge talent, the camaraderie, laughter or kindness we shared nor the friendship of the people of the northeast and our fans worldwide. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

ITV is putting drama at the heart of its programming over the Christmas and New Year period with offerings including Archie, a four-parter in which Jason Isaacs plays Hollywood superstar Cary Grant. ’s stars in a psychological thriller Playing Nice, about a birth-switch nightmare involving two couples who take home the wrong babies from hospital. And Martin Clunes plays a disgruntled farmer in Out There, a drama about county lines drug dealers who move their urban operations to the countryside - threatening everything he hold dear.

Films to be shown on ITV over the holiday period include Jurassic World: Dominion, Downton Abbey: A New Era and Rogue One. Entertainment shows will include the Royal Variety Performance, hosted by Alan Carr and Amanda Holden, and a Christmas special of retro quiz Bullseye, presented by Freddie Flintoff. There will also be a Christmas special of The Masked Singer, featuring new guesser , who replaces on the panel. All four of the celebrities in the festive one-off will be unmasked in one go. And quiz fans will be kept happy with festive outings for all of ITV’s favourite gameshows including Deal or No Deal, Wheel of Fortune, Limitless Win, The 1% Club and Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

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