'Vera' Adds Behind-the-Scenes "Farewell Pet" Special Ahead of Season 14
ITV announced in early 2024 that Season 14 of the long-running mystery series Vera would be the final installment of the popular U.K. whodunit. Starring Brenda Blethyn as the titular DCI Vera Stanhope, the series is an adaptation of Ann Cleeves' mystery novels of the same name, conceived and written first by Cleeves with Paul Rutman and now mainly penned by Paul Matthew Thompson and Phil Mulryne.
The series probably could have kept going (Cleeves has obligingly kept writing novels, so there's always new material to adapt). However, Blethyn, who turned 78 in February 2024, decided it was time to hang up the hat and coat and let ITV do with the series what it will once she's gone. The final episodes of the season are due out in early 2025 and will now be joined by a behind-the-scenes special, Vera... Farewell Pet.
The announcement came as part of ITV's Festive Lineup for the end of the year, featuring several specials ITV plans to air between the week of Christmas and New Year's Weekend. Mixed in with Alison Hammond's For the Love of Dogs Christmas Special, a Christmas edition of The Masked Singer, and Flecher's Farm Christmas, Vera... Farewell Pet is a look at the show's fourteen seasons on the air, including plenty of behind-the-scenes footage from the forthcoming final episodes.
