Vera celebrated at Royal Television Society Awards with two Outstanding Contribution awards

Brenda Blethyn, who has played Vera Stanhope on ITV for 14 years and Ann Cleeves who created the character, were presented with Outstanding Contribution awards at a ceremony in Gateshead on Saturday, February 15.

The Oscar-nominated actor and best-selling crime writer have become firm friends and are often seen together at book festivals.

And even though Brenda has stepped away from the role after more than 50 episodes, Ann says the character will feature in at least one more book to add to the eleven already published.

The audience at the RTS North East and the Border Awards heard the Vera phenomenon on TV and in publishing had sustained drama production in the North East for more than a decade and brought in thousands of visitors to see Vera’s iconic locations.

Blethyn ended the night with two awards, having also won for Drama Performance.

Other winners on the night included Fulwell 73’s Netflix documentary series Sunderland Til I Die and the BBC’s Smoggie Queens which won the Comedy award for Hat Trick Productions.

The writer and star of the Teesside-based series about drag queens Phil Dunning won Best Newcomer at the ceremony hosted by the comedian and writer Jason Cook.

Gateshead production company Twenty Six O3 won the Factual Entertainment prize for their series Joanna Page’s Wild Life, Film Nova received the Sports award for the Great North Run and The Red King won Best Drama.