Overview: Two-time Oscar nominee Brenda Blethyn ('Pride & Prejudice') plays Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope in this compelling mystery series inspired by Ann Cleeves’s bestselling novels. Patrolling her patch of northeast England, Vera resolutely pursues the truth in cases of murder, kidnapping, and blackmail.

DVD Verdict: In the first episode, ‘Castles In The Air,’ a young girl is shot dead when a girls weekend away goes horribly wrong. It’s as the investigation gets underway that DCI Vera Stanhope is shown for the first time in this new series. And, well, aside from the floppy always-worn hat, trailing scarf and long, seemingly drenched always-worn overcoat, she (or perhaps Brenda Blethyn herself) is definitely starting to look rather worn herself!

Regardless, her brain is still as precise, honed as ever, but the new series does show more of a loner, more of a humbled, unsure side to her than ever before. Based and shot in and around the Old Wetlands in the Humberside region of England, the scenery is bleak - much as the storyline, in truth. Who the killer is and why they did it is 100% obvious very early on - for us thriller/whodunnit hounds, anyway - but for those still not sure come the 20 minute mark another death quickly presents itself!

Linked to the first, it’s not easy to see how until Vera, her sidekick DC Joe Ashford and her work horse team back in the squad room start to turn over some old rocks. And by the time two car crashes seem to be linked into the investigation also, not to mention Joe having a secret, well, come the finale and most everything is revealed!

In the second of the four episodes, ‘Poster Child,’ a corrupt Port inspector allows a truck containing immigrants into the country and at the same time a couple of kids go missing. Yup, this one comes out of the traps and is at the races very quickly! So, the hunt is on for the kids, but this whole episode is more about a war zone story unfolding - and the harshness of memories and deeds done therein. And look out for the double twist at the end. Very well played!

In the third episode, Young Gods,’ a group of teenagers are on a camping at an Adventure Center site when they witness the death-whilst-on-fire of a stranger off a cliff top into some water below! Indeed, it’s who owns this Adventure Center (the dead man) and his weird connection to a very exclusive private school that drive the heart of this tale. Also, the pathologist has a MAJOR crush on Vera (which goes nowhere, sadly) and the real culprits in this don’t seem to get their dues either.

In the final of the four episodes, Prodigal Son,’ a man, chatting up a young girl in a pub goes outside to wait for her to join him and is stabbed to death! It’s the most stretched out tale of the four, meaning that it bounces from the same three scenes over and over with regard more questions and such. Involving family ties that run deep the whodunnit is simply just not guessable! So well done to them for that, for sure. These are all Full Screen Presentations (1:77.1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and come with the Special Features of:

Photo Gallery
Text Interviews with Brenda Blethyn and David Leon

Reviewed by: Russell A. Trunk