Vera: Boxing Day special of ITV hit heads to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne

She says: “Vera’s childhood Christmases would have been pretty sparse. When her mum was there, she would have made the best of things. But ,after she died Vera would had to do most of the cooking and cleaning after a fashion.

"Her dad wasn’t always nurturing. She sort of brought herself up. Christmas is a time for family which Vera hasn’t got. Her team at work are her family now. Her colleagues.

“When we meet her again Vera is in the police CID office in the approach to Christmas and she has to organise a Secret Santa. She can’t stand any of that. But she knows her team like it so she tolerates the festivities.

"In the end she ropes DC Kenny Lockhart (Jon Morrison) into organising the Secret Santa and her contribution is restricted to bringing along a Father Christmas hat. That’s about her limit when it comes to Christmas.”

The detective series returns with a feature-length episode – its first Christmas special – titled The Rising Tide, based on the tenth novel by bestselling author Ann Cleeves.

"This new episode takes Vera on a chilling investigation as she finds herself drawn to of Lindisfarne, where a group of lifelong friends reunites every five years.

What began as a joyous tradition turns sad when one of the friends is discovered dead. It takes a disturbing turn when Vera uncovers that the victim had recently been fired amid allegations of misconduct.

Determined to unearth the truth, Vera delves into the past, questioning the events that transpired during their first reunion on Holy Island.

Long-concealed secrets begin to surface and Vera, aided by Detective Sergeant Aiden Healy (Kenny Doughty), unravels the the web of lies before another tragedy unfolds.

Actors featured alongside Brenda and Kenny include Jon Morrison, who plays DC Kenny Lockhart, Riley Jones, who plays DC Mark Edwards, Ibinabo Jack as DC Jac Williams and Sarah Kameela Impey as pathologist Dr Paula Bennett.

However, the episode marks the final appearances of Doughty and Jack.

Doughty, whose first episode was filmed in 2014 and screened the year after, has deicded to “seek new acting challenges”.

He says: “I made the decision before we started filming series 12. That was initially going to be the four films screened at the start of 2023. But then halfway through filming they said, ‘Can we do a Christmas special as well?’ So it was a long goodbye. With The Rising Tide being my last episode filmed in November and December 2022. There were lots of personal and professional reasons why I wanted to move on. I have loved doing Vera 100 per cent. It has been a life-changing job for so many reasons. Including working with Brenda Blethyn and in the North East. I feel like an honorary Geordie. There is also a real family connection to the crew who I’m still in touch with.”

He adds: “Brenda loves playing Vera and she never lets the standards drop. She has got a ridiculously high work ethic. And to do that day in, day out is phenomenal. I’m 48 and I thought the filming schedule was tough, including being away from home. But Brenda just gets on with it. I take away nothing but good memories.”

There is also a new member of Vera’s team, PC Billy Billington, (Jake Ashton-Nelson), who in a previous episode DCI Stanhope reprimanded for a mistake while on the police station front desk.

Cleeves, who lives in Northumberland, is the author of more than 35 novels, and in 2017 was awarded what is considered the highest accolade in crime writing, the CWA Diamond Dagger.

She is not only the creator of Vera Stanhope but of Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn, character also adapted for BBC One’s Shetland and ITV's The Long Call.

Blethyn says: “I think The Rising Tide is one of Ann Cleeves’ best books, and that’s saying something because they’re all fabulous. She just gets better and better.

“But as is often the case when adapting a novel for TV, there are differences between the book and Sally Abbot’s terrific adaptation.”

Vera returns to ITV from 8pm tonight.