Vera discusses murder case with DC Mark Edwards

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Earlier this year, Vera fans were treated to two episodes of series 11 as it made a return to ITV. DCI Vera Stanhope (played by Brenda Blethyn) and her right-hand man Aidan Healy (Kenny Doughty) were back to investigate another gruesome murder. However, fans quickly became distracted by character Mark Edward’s appearance. The actor who plays the police officer usually dons a head of blonde hair, however, during the new series, he decided to make the bold move in shaving his head.

In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Riley explained the reason behind his new look.

He admitted he was worried about how Vera fans would react to the dramatic change.

Discussing why he decided to shave his blonde hair off, Riley began: “It started to go thin in all honesty.

“It was on its way out and to be honest, I could have probably held on to it for maybe the next five to 10 years but I just think when it starts to go like that…”

The actor continued: “I mean each to their own, but for me personally I think I’d rather take control and rather than it growing gradually thinner and thinner, I just thought, you know what I’m just going to embrace it and take control.”

Speaking about his worries about how fans would react, Riley added: “It’s quite a different look.

“And you are worried that viewers get used to characters and they love characters a certain way.

“So there is always that kind of like worry when you change something and how it going to be received.”

Riley, who made his debut as a uniformed officer in series one, went on to add he had to have a discussion with ITV producers before he made the move of shaving his head.

He admitted he was met with a bit of “reluctance” from show bosses.

“It was a little bit of a discussion and if I just wanted to shave it for the sake of it, I think they probably would have said ‘Can you not do that because you know continuity is important,'” the actor explained.

“There are characters that people know and love and there’s always a reluctance to change that.”

“But I think because it was coming from a place of I want to do this because I’ll feel better about it,” the 33-year-old said.

“And so we kind of had that discussion and again, there was a little bit of reluctance, but I mean, it’s gonna go eventually so why not just get it done now?”

Riley shot his first-ever scene with leading lady Brenda in 2011.

During the fourth episode of series one, DCI Stanhope met PC Edwards when he discovered a woman’s body on the side of the road.

Recalling their first scene together, albeit a very brief one, Riley said: “I had that one scene and I think it was filmed at about one o’clock or two o’clock in the morning.

“We were filming the scene, and I had finished and production said ‘Great we’ll get you home.’

“It was freezing cold. It was like February or March time and I just said ‘Do you mind if I hang around and just watch?’

“They were doing the scene where the little boy is dragged out of the river and had this dummy to look like the boy and it was just all really interesting.”

Vera is available to watch on the ITV Hub.

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