Vera

OREM, Utah — One student holed up in his house for two days after witnessing Charlie Kirk’s shooting, nervous about going back to the Utah college campus where the conservative activist was killed. Another, unable to sleep or shake what she saw and heard, called her dad to come take her home.

As investigators spend the weekend digging deeper into suspect Tyler James Robinson, 22, ahead of his initial court appearance Tuesday, students who witnessed Wednesday’s shooting at Utah Valley University are reckoning with trauma, grief and the pall the killing has cast on their community.

Robinson’s arrest late Thursday calmed some fears. Still, questions persist about the suspect’s motive and planning, as well as security lapses that allowed a man with a rifle to shoot Kirk from a rooftop before fleeing.

The university has said there will be increased security when classes resume Sept. 17.

In Robinson’s hometown, about 240 miles southwest of campus, a law enforcement presence was significantly diminished Saturday after the FBI executed a search warrant at his family’s home. A gray Dodge Challenger that authorities say Robinson drove to the university appeared to have been hauled away.

No one answered the door at the home in Washington, Utah, and the blinds were closed.

The killing has prompted pleas for civility in American political discourse, but those calls have not always been heeded. Meanwhile, there has been a backlash against journalists and others for some comments and questions in the wake of Kirk’s death. Some have been suspended or fired.

On Friday, Office Depot said it fired a worker at a Michigan store who was seen on video refusing to print fliers for a Kirk vigil and calling them “propaganda.” On Thursday, a conservative internet personality filmed a video outside Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s home, urging viewers to “take action” after Kirk’s assassination. Pritzker’s security has been stepped up.

At a makeshift memorial near Utah Valley University’s main entrance in Orem, people have been leaving flowers. Cars looped nearby streets Saturday, honking horns, flying American flags and displaying messages such as “We love you Charlie,” “Charlie 4 Ever” and “RIP Charlie.”

In the area where the Turning Point USA co-founder was shot, a crew has begun taking down tents and banners and scrubbing away reminders of the killing.

Memorial brings stunned students together

Student Alec Vera stopped at the memorial after finally leaving his house Friday night for a drive to clear his head. Vera said he had been in a daze, unable to concentrate and avoiding people, since watching Kirk collapse about 30 or 40 feet in front of him.

“I just kind of felt the need to come here, to be with everyone, either to comfort or to be comforted, just to kind of surround myself with those that are also mourning,” Vera said.

One woman knelt, sobbing. Others stood quietly or spoke softly with friends. On the campus’ perimeter, trees were wrapped in red ribbons.

Several cars remained stranded in parking lots by students who left behind keys while fleeing the shooting. One student pleaded with an officer to let him retrieve his bike from beyond the police tape, smiling as the officer let him through. The university said people can pick up their belongings early this week.

Anxious about returning to campus

Student Marjorie Holt started crying when she brought flowers to campus Thursday, prompting her to change her mind about returning to campus this weekend.

Hours after the shooting, the 18-year-old said, she lay in bed, haunted by the horror she witnessed: the sound of a single gunshot as Kirk answered a question and then, “I saw him fall over, I saw the blood, but for some reason it couldn’t click to me what happened.”

Unable to sleep because of a pounding headache, nausea and the day’s trauma, she called her dad, who brought her home to Salt Lake City, about 40 miles to the north.

Returning to campus, Holt said, is “going to feel like a terrible — like a burden on my heart.”

Vera said the area where Kirk was shot is the campus’ main gathering spot — where students take naps, meditate, do homework and hang out.

“Seeing it when I go back, I will be pretty uncomfortable at first, knowing I have to walk past it each time, knowing what had just occurred here,” Vera said.

A ‘weird heaviness’

Student Alexis Narciso said he has flashbacks when he hears a bang, a honking horn or other loud noise. He was about 10 feet away.

“I just feel numb. I don’t feel anything,” Narciso said. “I want to cry, but at the same time I don’t.”

Jessa Packard, a single mother of two who lives nearby, said even with a suspect in custody, her feeling of unease hasn’t lifted. Packard’s home security system captured video of the Challenger that police say Robinson drove to campus. After the shooting, she said, law enforcement officers descended on her neighborhood, searching yards and taking security video.

“There’s this really weird heaviness and I think, honestly, a lot of fear for me personally that hasn’t gone away,” Packard said. “The fact that there was like this murderer in my neighborhood, not knowing where he is but knowing he’s been through there, coursing things out, is a really eerie feeling.”

Searching for closure from one campus to another

Halle Hanchett, 19, a student at nearby Brigham Young University in Provo, said she had just pulled her phone out to start filming Kirk when she heard the gunshot followed by a collective gasp. Hanchett said she saw blood, Kirk’s security team jump forward and horror on the faces around her. She dropped to the ground in the fetal position, wondering: “What is going on? Am I going to die?”

On Friday, she brought flowers and quietly gazed at the place where the kickoff to Kirk’s planned tour of American college campuses ended in violence.

“The last few days I’ve just, haven’t really said much. I just kind of like zone out, stare off,” Hanchett said, standing with her fiance as water fountains bubbled nearby. “The memory, it just replays.”

She’s praying for the strength to move forward, she said, “and take it as: ‘OK, I was here for this. How can I learn from this? And how can I help other people learn from this?’”

Suspect’s neighbor searches for answers

In Robinson’s hometown in southwestern Utah, neighbor Kris Schwiermann recalled him as a shy, studious and “very respectful” student who loved to read. Schwiermann, 66, was head custodian at the elementary school that Robinson and his siblings attended.

She said she was stunned by the news of his arrest, describing the Robinsons as a “very tight-knit family.”

Like the Robinsons, Schwiermann is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She said that they belonged to the same congregation but that the family hadn’t been active in the church in several years.

“I want to make sure that people know that we don’t have any ill feelings towards their family or him,” Schwiermann said. “He made the wrong choice.”

Bedayn, Schoenbaum, Wasson and Yamat write for the Associated Press. Bedayn, Schoenbaum and Wasson reported from Orem. Yamat reported from Washington, Utah, and St. George, Utah. AP writers Sejal Govindarao in Phoenix, Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.

A federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order that blocks Los Angeles police officers from using rubber projectiles and other so-called less-lethal munitions against reporters covering protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

In a ruling made public Friday, U.S. District Judge Hernán D. Vera said a coalition of press rights organization successfully argued that a court injunction was necessary to protect journalists and others exercising their 1st Amendment rights.

The Los Angeles Press Club and investigative reporting network Status Coup filed suit last month to “force the LAPD to respect the constitutional and statutory rights of journalists engaged in reporting on these protests and inevitable protests to come.” The lawsuit challenged the “continuing abuse” by police of members of the media covering the demonstrations.

Vera’s order bars the department from using less-lethal munitions and other crowd-control tools such chemical irritants and flash-bang grenades “against journalists who are not posing a threat of imminent harm to an officer or another person.”

“On some occasions, LAPD officers purportedly targeted individuals who were clearly identifiable as members of the press,” Vera wrote.

The judge cited a June 8 incident at a demonstration downtown where an Australian reporter named Lauren Tomasi was wrapping up a report on live TV, dozens of feet away from a line of officers.

“No protesters are visible near her,” Vera wrote. “Despite this, an LAPD officer appears to aim at Tomasi, hitting her leg with a rubber bullet.”

The judge ruled that the LAPD cannot prohibit a journalist from entering or remaining in protest areas that have been closed off to the public while “gathering, receiving, or processing information.”

The order also forbids intentionally “assaulting, interfering with, or obstructing any journalist who is gathering, receiving, or processing information for communication to the public.”

Free press advocates who brought the suit praised the judge’s decision.

“The press weren’t accidentally hurt at the immigration protests; they were deliberately hurt,” said attorney Carol Sobel. “It’s astonishing to me that we are at the same point with LAPD over and over again.”

City lawyers could challenge the order before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has said he’s “very concerned” by instances of journalists being targeted by police munitions and vowed each incident would be investigated. He said he did not believe officers were aiming at reporters with less-lethal weapons.

“It is a target-specific munition,” he told reporters at a press briefing. “That’s not to say that it always hits the intended target, particularly in a dynamic situation.”

Vera’s order says that if the LAPD detains or arrests a person who identifies themselves as a journalist, that person may contact a supervisor and challenge their detention. The order also required the LAPD to report back to the court with details of officers being informed of the new rules. The judge set a preliminary injunction hearing for July 24, in which both sides will argue the merits of the case.

The lawsuit accuses the LAPD of flouting state laws passed in the wake of the 2020 protests over the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, when journalists were detained and injured by the LAPD while covering the unrest.

Apart from journalists, scores of protesters allege LAPD projectiles left them with severe bruises, lacerations and serious injuries.

Under the restrictions ordered by the judge Friday, police can target individuals with 40-millimeter rounds “only when the officer reasonably believes that a suspect is violently resisting arrest or poses an immediate threat of violence or physical harm.” Officers are also barred from targeting people in the head, torso and groin areas.

Times staff Writer Libor Jany contributed to this report.

Vera, the heroine of Gary Shteyngart’s sixth novel, “Vera, or Faith,” is a whip-smart 10-year-old Manhattanite, but she’s not quite smart enough to figure out her parents’ intentions. Why is dad so concerned about “status”? Why does her stepmom call some meals “WASP lunches”? How come every time they visit somebody’s house she’s assigned to see if they have a copy of “The Power Broker” on their shelves? She’s all but doomed to be bourgeois and neurotic, as if a juvenile court has sentenced her to live in a New Yorker cartoon.

Since his 2002 debut, “The Russian Debutante’s Handbook,” Shteyngart has proved adept at finding humor in the intersection of immigrant life, wealth and relationships, and “Vera” largely sticks to that mix. But the cynicism that has always thrummed underneath his high-concept comedies — the dehumanizing algorithms, the rapacious finance system — is more prominent in this slim, potent novel. Vera is witnessing both the slow erosion of her parents’ marriage along with the rapid decline of democracy in near-future America. Her precocity gives the novel its wit, but Shteyngart is also alert to the fact that a child, however bright, is fundamentally helpless.

Not to mention desperate for her parents’ affection, which is in short supply for Vera. Her father, the editor of a liberal intellectual magazine, seems constantly distracted by his efforts to court a billionaire to purchase it, while her stepmom is more focused on her son’s ADHD and the family’s rapidly dwindling bank account. Things are no better outside in the world, where a constitutional convention seems ready to pass an amendment awarding five-thirds voting rights for “exceptional Americans.” (Read: white people.) Vera, the daughter of a Russian father and Korean mother, may be banished to second-class citizenry.

Even worse, her school has assigned her to take the side of the “five-thirders” in an upcoming classroom debate. So it’s become urgent for her to understand the world just as it’s become inexplicable. Shteyngart is stellar at showing just how alienated she’s become: “She knew kids were supposed to have more posters on their walls to show off their inner life, but she liked her inner life to stay inside her.” And she seems to be handling the crisis with more maturity than her father, who’s drunk and clumsy in their home: “If anyone needed to see Mrs. S., the school counselor with the master’s in social work degree, it was Daddy.”

It’s a challenge to write from the perspective of a child without being arch or cutesy — stories about kids learning about the real world can degrade to plainspoken YA or cheap melodrama. Shteyngart is striving for something more supple, using Vera’s point of view to clarify how adults become victims of their own emotional shutoffs, the way they use language to at once appear smart while covering up their feelings. “Our country’s a supermarket where some people just get to carry out whatever they want. You and I sadly are not those people,” Dad tells her, forcing her to unpack a metaphor stuffed full of ideology, economics, self-loathing and more.

Every chapter in the book starts with the phrase “She had to,” explaining Vera’s various missions amid this dysfunction: “hold the family together,” “fall asleep,” “be cool,” “win the debate.” Kids like her have to be action-oriented; they don’t have the privilege of adults’ deflections. Small wonder, then, that her most reliable companion is an AI-powered chessboard, which offers direct answers to her most pressing questions. (One of Shteyngart’s most potent running jokes is that adults aren’t more clever than computers they command.) Once she falls into a mission to discover the truth about her birth mother, she becomes more alert to the world’s brutal simplicity: “The world was a razor cut … It would cut and cut and cut.”

Shteyngart’s grown-up kids’ story has two obvious inspirations: One, as the title suggests, is Vladimir Nabokov’s 1969 novel “Ada, or Ardor,” the other Henry James’ 1897 novel “What Maisie Knew.” Both are concerned with childhood traumas, and if Shteyngart isn’t explicitly borrowing their plots he borrows some of their gravitas, the sense that preteendom is a crucible for experiencing life’s various crises.

In its final chapters, the novel takes a turn that is designed to speak to our current moment, spotlighting the way that Trump-era nativist policies have brought needless harm to Americans. A country can abandon its principles, he means to say, just as a parent can abandon a child. But if “Vera” suggests a particular vision of our particular dystopian moment, it also suggests a more enduring predicament for children, who live with the consequences of others’ decisions but don’t get a vote in them.

“There were a lot of ‘statuses’ in the world and each year she was becoming aware of more of them,” Vera observes. Children will have to learn them faster now.

Athitakis is a writer in Phoenix and author of “The New Midwest.”

Critic Bethanne Patrick recommends 10 promising titles, fiction and nonfiction, to consider for your July reading list.

It’s officially beach-reads season: Whether you do your reading outdoors or inside in air-conditioned comfort, July’s hot new releases will help you stay cool. Topics range from analog memories of Golden Age Hollywood to a maverick female athlete. Happy reading!

FICTION

In Pursuit of Beauty: A Novel
By Gary Baum
Blackstone: 256 pages, $29
(July 1)

Baum, a journalist for the Hollywood Reporter, draws on knowledge he has gleaned about cosmetic surgery, the profession of his protagonist, Dr. Roya Delshad. Dr. Delshad, who is multiracial and once supposedly plain, remakes herself into a glorious bombshell — but then lands in prison. She’s agreed to consider interviews with a ghostwriter named Wes Easton, who will soon discover why she’s called “the Robin Hood of Roxbury Drive.”

Typewriter Beach: A Novel
By Meg Waite Clayton
Harper: 320 pages, $30
(July 1)

Like the carriage of a well-oiled Olivetti, this novel moves between Carmel and Hollywood, in two different centuries, with ease. In 1957, actress Isabella Giori hopes to land a career-making role in a Hitchcock film; when her circumstances change and she winds up secluded in a tiny cottage in Carmel-on-the-Sea, a blacklisted emigre screenwriter named Léon Chazan saves her. In 2018, his screenwriter granddaughter finally learns how and why.

Vera, or Faith: A Novel
By Gary Shteyngart
Random House: 256 pages, $28
(July 8)

Vera, the child narrator of this wry and relevant new novel from Shteyngart (“Our Country Friends”), brings a half-Korean heritage to the Russian-Jewish-WASP Bradford-Shmulkin family. Between Daddy, Anne Mom, and her longing for her unknown bio Mom Mom, Vera has a lot to handle, while all she really wants is to help her dad and stepmom stay married — and to make a friend at school. It’s a must-read.

Mendell Station: A Novel
By J. B. Hwang
Bloomsbury: 208 pages, $27
(July 22)

In the wake of her best friend Esther’s 2020 death, Miriam loses faith in almost everything, including the God that made her job teaching Christian scripture at a San Francisco private school bearable. She quits and takes a job as a mail carrier (as the author also did), not only finding moments of grace from neighborhood to neighborhood but also writing letters to Esther in an effort to understand the childhood difficulties that bonded them.

Necessary Fiction: A Novel
By Eloghosa Osunde
Riverhead: 320 pages, $28
(July 22)

The title tells so much about how queer people must live in Nigeria, and so does the structure: Osunde (“Vagabonds!”) calls it a novel, although its chapters read more like short stories. If it doesn’t hang together like a traditional novel, that may be part of the point. Characters like May, struggling with gender identity, or Ziz, a gay man in Lagos, know that their identities don’t always hang together in traditional ways — and that’s definitely the point.

NONFICTION

The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War With Forbidden Literature
By Charlie English
Random House: 384 pages, $35
(July 1)

Decades of Cold War espionage between the United States and the Soviet Union included programs that leveraged cultural media. The Central Intelligence Agency’s Manhattan-based “book club” office was run by an emigre from Romania named George Midden, who managed to send 10 million books behind the Iron Curtain. Some of them were serious tomes, yes, but there were Agatha Christie novels, Orwell’s “1984” and art books too.

The Hiroshima Men: The Quest to Build the Atomic Bomb, and the Fateful Decision to Use It
By Iain MacGregor
Scribner: 384 pages, $32
(July 8)

Crucially, MacGregor’s painstakingly researched history of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II includes Japanese perspectives. The historian (“Checkpoint Charlie”) treats the atomic bomb more as a weapon of mass murder and less as a scientific breakthrough, while managing to convey the urgency behind its development for the Allied forces.

On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports
By Christine Brennan
Scribner: 272 pages, $30
(July 8)

Let this sink in (basketball pun very much intended): Caitlin Clark has scored more points than any player in major college basketball history. Not just the female players — the male players too. Now that she’s in the WNBA as a rookie for the Indiana Fever, Clark is attracting the kind of fan base once reserved for male basketball stars like Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Brennan’s longtime coverage of Clark’s career makes this book a slam dunk.

Strata: Stories From Deep Time
By Laura Poppick
W. W. Norton & Co.: 288 pages, $30
(July 15)

Each stratum, or layer, of our planet tells a story. Science writer Poppick explains what those millions of strata can tell us about four instances that changed life dramatically, from oxygen entering the atmosphere all the way to the dinosaur era. Ultimately, she argues that these strata show us that when stressed, the earth reacts by changing and moving toward stability. It’s a fascinating peek into the globe’s core that might offer clues about sustainability.

The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne
By Chris Sweeney
Avid Reader Press: 320 pages, $30
(July 22)

The once-unassuming Roxie Laybourne became the world’s first forensic ornithologist in 1960, when the FAA asked the Smithsonian — where Laybourne was an avian taxidermist — to help them identify shredded feathers from a fatal airplane crash in Boston. She analyzed specimens that contributed to arrests in racial attacks, as well as in catching game poachers and preventing deaths of fighter pilots. In her way, Laybourne was a badass.

Kenny Doughty was a well-known face on ITV as he starred in Vera as DS Aiden Healy for 10 years before his exit from the show and he also had a short-lived role in Corrie

Actor Kenny Doughty, who stole hearts as DS Aiden Healy in ITV’s hit crime drama Vera alongside Brenda Blethyn’s DCI Vera Stanhope, has bid farewell to the show that made him a household name.

Having joined forces with the Northumberland and City Police back in 2014 and dedicating a whole decade to aiding on-screen crime solving, Kenny announced he would be leaving the role of Aiden.

Although he remained tight-lipped about the reasons for leaving initially, earlier this year, in an emotional revelation to The i Paper, he disclosed it was all due to his stepdad’s terminal cancer diagnosis.

Kenny paid a heartfelt tribute: “Steve was a glorious, delightful man,” expressing his deep admiration, “I was proud to refer to him as my ‘dad’, not my stepfather.”

Moreover, he fondly recalled Steve’s influence on his life, crediting him for teaching valuable lessons.

“He was a lecturer in agriculture when he met my mum, and he taught me how to be a better man,” Kenny’s final months with his stepdad were both poignant and personal, involving a hands-on project of building a wooden house together in Ireland.

“It was a no-brainer, choosing to quit work and spend those last six months with him. We built a wooden house together by their home in Ireland and he taught me about wood, joinery, carpentry,” Kenny shared, encapsulating the irreplaceable time they spent together, reports Devon Live.

Vera itself concluded with its last episode in April 2025 following Brenda Blethyn’s departure.

Kenny was born in Barnsley and raised by his single mother, who pursued education after parting ways with his father when Kenny was still young. After earning a BA in English literature, she became a successful businesswoman and provided mentorship for community members.

Kenny initiated his acting career with small parts in films such as I Want You and Elizabeth, Heartbeat and the comedy series Dinnerladies.

He has featured in numerous popular television programmes; however, his role as Sean in the Sky series Stella in 2012 brought him more fame.

Kenny’s Corrie role

Soap fans will recall Kenny as builder Jake Harman in Coronation Street back in 2009.

Jake was introduced to the cobbles when local businessman Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin) employed him to repair a roof. In a comical scene, he falls from a ladder and ends up hanging outside Michelle Connor’s (Kym Marsh) bathroom window.

After assisting Jake to safety, Michelle accidentally dropped her towel and he planted a kiss on her. A displeased Michelle dismissed him and reported Jake to the police for stalking before they briefly dated.

Kenny has also appeared in some of television’s most popular series including Heartbeat, Stella, Wire in the Blood, Casualty, and more.

In 2013, the actor played Gaz in a UK tour and the West End production of Simon Beaufoy’s stage play The Full Monty.

This year, Kenny made a comeback to prime time television in Channel 5 drama The Au Pair, where he portrayed the character Chris for four episodes.

Kenny’s famous wife

Kenny has found love again with well-known actress Ashley Jensen, 55, acclaimed for her appearances in Extras, Shetland, and Agatha Raisin. He’s taken on the role of stepfather to Ashley’s teenage lad, Frankie.

The two actors joined forces onscreen for the BBC One drama Love, Lies, and Records back in 2017.

Hailing from Scotland, Ashley portrayed Kate Dickenson in the esteemed drama series, with Kenny stepping into the shoes of the character Rick Severs.

Their budding romance blossomed a few years following the tragic passing of Ashley’s spouse, Terence Beesley, whose credits included The Bill, EastEnders, Heartbeat, and Midsomer Murders. Ashley and Terence’s decade-long marriage was blessed with a son, Francis.

In an intimate reveal to The i Paper, Kenny shared his views on parenting, saying: “I don’t see much difference between being a step-parent and a parent,” and “You’re parenting either way. You want the best for your child. I adore Frankie as if he was my son.”

Previously, Kenny was hitched to fellow actress Caroline Carver, whom he starred with both in Holby City and the poignant 2004 film The Aryan Couple.

Vera is available to watch on ITVX

Vera star Brenda Blethyn will be making an unexpected return to screens on Sunday night

Fans of ITV’s hit drama Vera can look forward to a Sunday night treat as Brenda Blethyn makes an unexpected return when the series airs a repeat.

The second episode of Vera’s twelfth series will be showcased on ITV at 8pm, with viewers set to reunite with Brenda’s character, DCI Stanhope, and her right-hand man, Aiden Healy, played by Kenny Doughty.

The storyline for this instalment centres on Lance Corporal Conn Burns, who has struggled to adjust to civilian life and ended up destitute on the streets of Newcastle, but who is determined to turn his fortunes around.

According to the episode synopsis: “Adapting to civilian life was not easy for Lance Corporal Conn Burns, and after a series of bad life choices, he found himself desolate, down and out on the streets of Newcastle.”

It continues: “Attempting to get his life back on track, Conn had recently been making moves that would see him repay old debts, rebuild relationships, and get him off the streets,” reports Wales Online.

As the tale unfolds, DCI Stanhope is brought into the investigation following the shocking discovery of Burns’ body, which leads to revelations of secrets from his past and current betrayals.

Brenda acknowledged earlier in the year that she was ready to retire her iconic hat and coat for good.

While acknowledging how hard it was to step away, Brenda shared her desire to reduce time spent apart from her loved ones.

Speaking at a Q&A, she disclosed: “It was a big decision because I love the job, I love the people I was working with, and I know they loved it too, so it was a little bit of an emotional responsibility as well because if I stop, it’s going to stop.

“I saw on the catering list one day, just on a typical day, there were 76 people, so that’s all those people. I console myself with the fact that there’s a big studio opening in Sunderland next yea,r so there will be lots of jobs available.”

She continued: “I was aware that people who would like to continue on it wouldn’t be able to and that made me feel sad but as much as I like my Newcastle family, I have a family at home and I hadn’t had a summer for 14 years and I thought, ‘Bren, go and have a summer. Go home’. So it was a difficult decision.”

Brenda’s exit was not the only one to tug at viewers’ heartstrings, as Kenny Doughty announced his own departure from the series in 2023.

In the fifth instalment of the ITV drama, Aiden stepped in to fill the shoes left by Vera’s original partner, Joe Ashworth (David Leon).

Yet, come spring 2023, he shared his “difficult decision” to depart. His heartfelt thanks were shared on Instagram: “I want to thank everyone who’s made this amazing time so joyous, ITV, Silverprint, all the brilliant cast and crew BUT of course my buddy and inspiration Brenda Blethyn. The perfect leading star who I owe so much to. I feel lucky to have you as a friend, you make me howl with laughter and have been a rock for me over the years. I can’t thank you enough. Precious times.”

He ended his touching tribute by expressing gratitude to the show’s loyal following, saying: “And finally, the Vera fans: without you and your support, I would never have made so many films. You really are the best fans in the world. Thank you so much for your loyalty and love for the show.”

After Kenny Doughty’s exit, David Leon reprised his role as Joe on Vera until the series concluded.

Vera airs at 8pm on Sunday on ITV.