Vera (TV series)

Forthright, drink-loving Inspector Vera Stanhope and her young sergeant Joe Ashworth investigate when 15-year-old Luke Armstrong is strangled and placed in a bath strewn with flowers and candles. Luke's widowed mother Julie tells them that Luke's friend Tommy accidentally drowned some months earlier and initial suspicion falls on Tommy's father. But then teacher Lily Marsh is murdered, also throttled and dumped on a beach, surrounded by flowers. The body is found by a group of ornithologists, including husband and wife Peter and Felicity Calvert, into whose beach house Lily was due to move, and Gary Wright, a womanising friend of Julie. Lily had a sugar daddy who paid money into her account and Vera learns that Tommy had photographed her with this man and had drowned trying to save his camera when it fell into the sea. She deduces that he is rubbing out evidence of the affair and believes the lover to be Peter Calvert.

Sentenced for the murder of Abigail Mantel, precocious young daughter of her lover Keith a decade earlier, Jeannie Long escapes from prison, and after a row with her father, kills herself. News of her death brings evidence that shows she was innocent, as she had long claimed, and Vera reopens the case. At a charity event where Keith pays tribute to Jeannie, Chris Winter, son of Jeannie's probation officer Robert, is murdered, having tried to contact ex-cop Caroline Fletcher, who arrested Jeannie and later had an affair with Keith. As Abby was a friend of the Winters, Vera suspects Chris was the killer but comes to realise that he was the witness, attempting to cover up for the real murderer. When Keith is attacked after exposing the secret of another family member Vera now knows that the Winters are shielding one, if not two, murderers.

A woman is murdered in a hedgerow but her son survives the attack, only to fall beneath the ice of a frozen pond as he makes his escape. DCI Vera Stanhope wades in and drags him out, and against all the odds he pulls through. As the investigation into the mother's killing unfolds, Vera finds a kindred spirit in the boy and comes to realise the key to solving the case lies deep in his memory.

When an old colleague of DCI Vera Stanhope, Sergeant Stuart Macken, commits suicide at the hospital where his daughter lies critically injured after his home had been firebombed, the investigation leads to a number of suspects: the daughter's stepfather, a missing protester Sergeant Macken had under surveillance, the protester's pregnant girlfriend and an art teacher. Furthermore, a senior officer's affair with Macken comes to light and a second attempt on the daughter in hospital breaks the case wide open to explain the sergeant's suicide.

When a respected senior social worker, Jenny Lister, is murdered by drowning while swimming in a reservoir a number of suspects emerge from one of social services past cases about an infamous case involving the death of a child drowning in a bath. The child's mother was jailed, a junior social worker was pilloried and when Lister's missing laptop is found containing a book she was writing gives Vera a prime suspect until they too are murdered by drowning.

A shoe found in Newcastle matches another found on a dead body found in a skip in Portsmouth. The victim had traces of heroin in his bloodstream, a wallet containing £300 and another man's credit card which seem at odds with his character. The investigation includes a possessive mother, a girlfriend, a homosexual beekeeper dying of leukemia, and a local drug dealer later found dead on a beach. Vera's private memories about her dead father are also stirred when Joe gives her an address for her father's mistress.

Departure of DC Bethany Whelan

Revenge is behind the clinical murder of Staff Sgt Deverson, a soldier in charge of a bomb disposal unit, The Sandancers. Deverson's second in command, Ollie, who was killed in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device, was having an affair with his wife. The wife, Ollie's family, and other members of the unit all come under suspicion and the death of another unit member confuses the investigation which is not helped by the army closing ranks.

Young physiotherapist Lizzie Faulkner is shot dead while enjoying a holiday at a luxury country retreat. The resulting murder investigation unearths betrayal, guilt and the desire for atonement - as Vera moves quickly to avoid another tragedy, and Joe tries to make amends with the demons of his past.

The detective delves into the past of extreme sports enthusiast Gideon Frane after he plunges from a cliff in a ball of flames. A scan of the files reveals a long list of stalking complaints against an ex, and an anonymous letter to the victim spelling out Burn in Hell is linked to one of her friends. Aided by DC Shepherd and the newly appointed DC Edwards, the team tries to track down Gideon's old gang to uncover a lifetime of bullying and an unexpected story of rough justice.

The detective is brought in to investigate when a former Met police officer is stabbed to death outside a nightclub in Newcastle. The team initially suspects a crime of passion after it emerges the victim had recently rekindled his affair with his childhood sweetheart, whose husband has a history of violence. However, Vera uncovers evidence pointing to a more complex case involving inside information and the hostile takeover of a brewery.

DS Ashworth's daughter is a witness to the death of a pensioner, seemingly stabbed, on a rush hour train she and her father were travelling on. The investigation leads back to the past lives of residents of Harbour Street in a quiet coastal village.

A man, outwardly happily married, is discovered in the river with his shoe laces tied together suggesting suicide until the post mortem confirms murder. Vera's investigation is joined by a Revenue and Customs investigator for whom the victim was an informant into the smuggling of alcohol which widens the suspects from family to include his business associates.

DCI Vera Stanhope investigates a suspicious fire that rips through a holiday park on the Northumberland coast. Three cabins are destroyed and the body of a woman is found inside. Park owner, Jim Viner returns from a weekend away with his daughter Clare. He quickly suspects the body is his sister, Deena, but he can’t explain why she was there and not at the family home. Long-term resident Malcolm returns to find his cabin has also burned to the ground.

First Appearances of DS Aiden Healy and Intelligence Officer Helen Milton

DCI Vera Stanhope investigates the mysterious murder of a fifty six year old grandmother, discovered by a young girl on the wild and desolate Northumberland moors. The body is swiftly identified as Anne-Marie Richards, recently returned from Scotland to reconcile with her two daughters, Nicole McKendrick and Christine Withers. A 999 call placed by Anne-Marie on the night of the murder coupled with the disturbed state of her cottage, suggests a possible abduction by someone she knew.

Vera investigates the murder of a twenty two year old Alex Gartside, victim of a hit and run in a remote Northumberland Valley. Inside the manor house Alex had been minding, Vera and DC Healy make a grim discovery: the body of a moth enthusiast stabbed to death on the dining room floor.