Vera

Vera Stanhope is the chief inspector of the fictional Northumberland & City Police in northeast England, and she is nearly retired. She is a woman obsessed with her work, with a disheveled look and a sour temper, but with a calculating mind that lets her spot the small flaws in her colleagues' reasoning. Her right-hand man is Sergeant Joe Ashworth, whom she treats almost like a son, and together they approach every case with enthusiasm and professionalism. Despite her bad temper, Vera truly cares about her team and what they do. The series follows her investigations across Northumberland, where each crime forces her to unravel what lies behind the facts. Created by novelist Ann Cleeves and starring Brenda Blethyn, it airs on ITV.