Vera: DCI Stanhope meets the new pathologist

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Mark Edwards (played by Riley Jones) first met DCI Vera Stanhope (Brenda Blethyn) after he discovered the body of a mum at the side of the road in series one. After impressing the leading lady herself, Mark quickly became an integral part of the team. After spending 12 years in the role, Riley opened up in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk about how filming changed during the pandemic, admitting they still have safety measures in place.

Discussing what it was like filming for series 12, Riley began: “It was great because we were able to sort of… we listened to the Covid restrictions a little bit.

“So we were still filming with safety regulations in place and we were able to relax some of those things in accordance with the regulations.

“So it just meant the rest of the job was a pleasure again.

“During Covid, the tough filming of Covid which I think was series 11 was quite tricky because we couldn’t be within two metres of people and we couldn’t do any social things either.”

He continued: “Series 12 was great to get a little bit of that back again.

“We’re not quite post-Covid and have no restrictions but it did mean we were allowed to socialise outside of work, which is a massive part of the job.

“I have been doing this for 12 years and so I know a lot of these people really well and a lot are close friends.

“So not being able to spend time with them out of work, it does affect you.”

When discussing what happens on set behind the scenes, Riley admitted none of the cast breaks character.

“We have a good laugh,” the Mark Edwards star said.

“I don’t think you could do a show like this for 12 years and not have a bit of fun and a laugh between set-ups and in between scenes.

“We come in of the morning, especially in the incident room scenes, we come in and we do approach it seriously.

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“We do sit down with the script, with the scenes we are about to do and break it down with the director, the producer and the script supervisor.

“We will chat through it and we’ll make sure everyone knows what’s going on.

“That is all very serious and proper and how it should be.

“And as we’re filming it and we’re feeling more comfortable, then that’s when you can have a bit of a laugh in between takes.”

“Like I say, I don’t think you could go for this long without being able to do that,” he added.

Paying a tribute to the leading lady, the actor said: “Brenda is hilarious, she is so much fun to be around.

“It just makes going to work so much easier really.”

Vera is available to watch on ITVX and BritBox.

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