Brenda detects the humour in life
Brenda Blethyn couldn’t be more different from her alter ego, TV detective Vera Stanhope. But the fun-loving actress is really rather fond of her curmudgeonly character, as Jeananne Craig finds out
Her crime-solving character Vera Stanhope rarely cracks a smile, but laughter and light-heartedness seem to accompany actress Brenda Blethyn wherever she goes.
Anything can set the Oscar-nominated star off, from discussing Vera’s frumpy wardrobe to joking about “him indoors” – her art director husband Michael Mayhew.
As the youngest of nine, growing up in a working class household in Ramsgate, Kent, Blethyn learnt to see the funny side of life from an early age.
“We didn’t have much. But my mum used to say, ‘We’re not poor, we just don’t have any money’, because we were rich in lots of other things,” she recalls.
“We laughed a lot, and it’s great to be able to laugh. If you can find the absurdity in yourself, and laugh at it, you can get through so many difficult problems.”
Humour is also crucial to her relationship with Mayhew, who she has been with for nearly 40 years but only married in 2010.
“He makes me die laughing. I’m just so fond of him, I love him to bits. And I think it’s reciprocated,” she says, smiling.
The pair divide their time between south-east London and Kent, and keep in touch via Skype when Blethyn’s filming ITV crime drama Vera on location in Northumberland and the North East.
“Wherever I am, Michael comes and spends time with me. To be honest, it’s so full on working on Vera that he came up one time and I hardly saw him, because I was just too busy,” the 68-year-old confesses.
“When I’d come in, he’d have cooked me a lovely meal and I thought, ‘Oh God, I can’t sit and chat or watch telly or anything’. So I said, ‘You know what, you’re better off down by the seaside [in Kent].”
Shooting the four stand-alone films, each two hours in length, is exhausting work.
“I’m in nearly every scene – it’s long, long days. Sometimes, if we’re at some of the beautiful coastline or moor locations, there’s maybe an hour’s drive each way, on top of the 12 or 13-hour day of filming.
“Plus I have to learn tomorrow’s lines when I get home.”
The toil is worth it, as Blethyn is clearly very fond of her brilliant but somewhat shambolic character, based on the novels of Tynemouth author Ann Cleeves.
“I’ve had so many letters of support from all over the world, some of them not even written in English, saying ‘Vera bellissima’, nice words like that,” says the star, looking smart in a fitted cream jacket and black blouse.
“What I really like about Vera, is that they’re maintaining this character and have totally avoided the temptation to either glamorise her, or make her less abrasive.
“What you see is what you get with Vera. It’s great to have a character of a certain age, a woman in authority, without the need for lipstick.”
Vera’s eclectic wardrobe – heavy coats, long scarves, and a rather unflattering floppy green hat – does come in handy sometimes, the actress reveals.
“I wear layers and layers of clothes, so I’m the only warm one when the wind is howling and the rain is sheeting across the set,” she says.
“In the summer, of course, it’s payback time, because I’m sweltering.”
DAVID LEON as DS Joe Ashworth and BRENDA BLETHYN as DCI Vera Stanhope
Episode one sees DCI Stanhope tasked with investigating the death of a pensioner found stabbed on a Newcastle train at the height of rush hour. She’s joined by her right-hand man, Detective Sergeant Joe Ashworth (David Leon), whose young daughter is a key witness in the investigation.
And, as ever, there’s a steady stream of guest appearances, including Hustle’s Robert Glenister and EastEnders actress Kellie Bright.
“There’s a lot of levity on the Vera set. I think, sometimes, if the story is rather sombre, it’s kind of a relief to have a bit of a giggle at something else,” Blethyn reveals.
“Or there might be a young actor who’s in a bit of a state because they’ve said the line wrong, and they’re panicking that they’re going to get told off. You’ve got to crack a joke to make them relax.”
For Blethyn, acting began as a hobby. After leaving school, she began work as a typist for British Rail and discovered a talent for performance in an amateur dramatics production.
After studying at the Guildford School of Acting, she appeared in the National Theatre before being cast in Mike Leigh’s TV film Grown-Ups in 1980. It was a big screen role in a later Leigh film, 1996’s Secrets & Lies, which made her a household name.
When asked about success coming later in life, Blethyn points out: “I thought I was successful before I went to drama school. I had a good job which I enjoyed, I had a good wage… Being an actor wasn’t something that I craved.”
And despite the acclaim and awards – including a best actress Bafta and Oscar nomination for Secrets & Lies (and another Oscar nomination for Little Voice two years later), she still gets nervous before a new scene or episode.
Brenda Blethyn arriving for the 2012 South Bank Sky Arts Awards at the Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, London
“When I was making Pride & Prejudice [Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation], I was with Donald Sutherland and Judi Dench, and the three of us were going over it in our heads,” she recalls.
“Lovely Carey Mulligan came along and said, ‘Oh you all look so nervous, but you’ve been doing it for years!’ And I said, ‘Carey, we haven’t done this scene before, we want to get it right’.”
Our time is almost up, but not before Blethyn reveals an anecdote about Vera’s beloved hat.
“There was a drama once, we thought we’d lost it,” she says, erupting into giggles once more.
“It did turn up – it had got trodden underfoot somewhere. It didn’t look any different when it arrived anyway!”
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