It’s six years since writer Anne Cleaves spoke at OxLitFest to what one reviewer described as “a small but knowledgeable” audience about the genesis of Vera Stanhope, her acerbic but essentially good-hearted detective who was about to make the leap from page to small screen.
Colin Dexter always remained closely – perhaps too closely – connected with his most famous creation, Inspector Morse – a bit like a controlling parent who won’t let go of an adult child (is it me or does “adult child” sound a bit weird?). Anne Cleaves, on the other hand was ready, even at that point, to let go and allow Vera’s character to be developed by the pens of other writers and, of course, the more than capable hands of actor Brenda Blethyn.
This business of seeing fictional characters as independent actors in their own story is something I’ve commented on before. One writer explained how his latest novel ground to a halt for two weeks after the central character decided to go on holiday. According to Cleeve, Vera just turned up at a funeral one day of her own accord, fully formed.
So, as the seventh series of Vera draws to a close, how’s she faring? Quite well, I would say. The whole thing is tightly written.
The writers have continued to avoid making Vera too quirky or eccentric – the antithesis of Morse, Holmes and a whole host of fictional detectives. They’ve also avoided that other great pitfall of fictional detection – the temptation to include too much about the personal lives or personal histories of Vera or any other character (wherein lies the slippery slope to soapdom).
Visually, things work brilliantly, but there’s a realism to everything – they don’t try to make central Newcastle look like the Lower East Side and they capture the rugged beauty of the Northumbrian countryside without turning it into an advert for the regional tourist board.
They even manage to keep the body count down, realizing that good drama doesn’t depend on the automatic introduction of a second victim after about 20 minutes. Serial killers are mercifully rare in the rural Northeast.
There is one slightly quirky feature, though and that’s the number of black and Asian actors in the series. I say “actors” rather than “characters” advisedly. You don’t get a character played by a black actor because it’s integral to the story or lends authenticity (an Asian shopkeeper or an area with a large ethnic minority community) or because you can “get away with” a black actor in that particular part. No, these are mainstream characters with regional accents and “English-sounding” names who are simply played by black actors in what appears to be colour blind casting. It’s an interesting development and something I’ve not seen before outside London-based dramas -certainly not on this scale. It will be interesting to see whether the practice spreads and whether we will start to see the emergence of significant numbers of black actors into the top flight of the profession.
Links and picture credits:
May Day debut for Vera Stanhope (May, 2011)
Anne Cleeves: The Vera Stanhope Novels (Oxford Literary Festival, 2011)
Screenshots from Vera (ITV) reproduced on the basis of fair comment
After Work 
Thank you for that. I knew nothing about Vera. I can see some time on iPlayer or a box set coming on.
You write about character development and hands off writers.
I’ve recently read the only authorised biography of John Le Carre. A fascinating book including how he relates the weaving of real people ie. friends and family into the cast, and real events into his novels. . Friends and relatives subsequently recognised them selves and the events , not always to their pleasure. He hinted at and then outed himself as a spy. He hated his father. All makes for interesting stuff.
But returning to your point, he didn’t always write the screen plays for his films but in “The Constant Gardener” ( the tale of the multi-national pharmaceutical giants’ corrupt and deadly behavior in Kenya) he did. However during filming the cast began to ad lib and ad lib until, he writes, almost nothing was left of his original script, and the characters had developed them selves. He has the enormous grace to say that the film was the better for it.
PS. I knew the film, but not the book. I then read the book, and re-watched the film. The film only makes sense if you watch the deleted scenes.
PPS. This is known as the “Captain Correlli” or ” A Town Like Alice” syndrome (as I like to call it) which if you ask nicely I’ll explain
J
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I read “The Constant Gardner” when it came out in paperback,but have never seen the film. I seem to remember that part of it’s draw was to see how a writer who had been so heavily dependent on the stock Cold War baddies would deal with the emerging world order – at the time, Big Pharma seemed to fit the bill.
Yes, I would love to know all about the “Captain Correlli” or “A Town Like Alice” syndrome. Please. Please nicely?