Vera - Telling Tales - 8:00 pm Tuesday, June 2 on ITV3

Brenda Blethyn (Actor) .. DCI Vera Stanhope

Born: February 20, 1946 in Kent

Best Known For: Secrets & Lies.

Early-life: Born Brenda Anne Bottle on February 20, 1946, in Ramsgate, Kent. She's the youngest of nine children of a parlour maid and a chauffeur. Money was tight when she was growing up. After excelling at maths at school, she worked as a secretary and bookkeeper in a bank. But she was always obsessed with films and acting and, at the age of 27, after divorcing her first husband, she gave up her day job and used her savings to fund a drama course at Guildford. She didn't tell her parents, and thought she would go back to her old career if things didn't work out.

Career: Blethyn gained early experience with two small theatre groups before joining the National Theatre in 1975. Her TV debut was in a 1979 episode of Tales of the Unexpected, and a year later she had a lead role in Mike Leigh's small-screen project Gloria. In 1990 she made her first film, The Witches, following that up with A River Runs Through It. Despite roles in Outside Edge and The Buddha of Suburbia, she didn't become a household name until her Oscar-nominated role in Leigh's Secrets & Lies. Since then she's starred in Girls' Night, Saving Grace, Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, London River, and gained another Oscar nomination for Little Voice. She returned to the small screen in 2011 playing the title role in ITV's detective series Vera.

Quote: 'I don't have ambition. My expectations are low.'

Trivia: Blethyn was awarded an OBE for services to drama in the 2003 New Year Honours List.

David Leon (Actor) .. DS Joe Ashworth

Best Known For: Vera.

Early-life: David Jeremy Leon was born in 1980 in Newcastle upon Tyne to Ann and Anthony. As a teenager, Leon was on the books of Blackburn Rovers, but they released him when he was 19. He turned to acting and successfully auditioned for the National Youth Theatre. He dropped out of drama school to shoot the film Alexander (2004) with Oliver Stone in Morocco. In 2006, he had a main role in the film These Foolish Things (2006).

Career: Leon went on to star in the miniseries The Wild West, RocknRolla (2008) and Walking with the Enemy (2013). Between 2011 and 2014, he starred alongside Brenda Blethyn in ITV drama Vera, playing DS Joe Ashworth.

Quote: 'You can't get away with enjoying acting in a working-class environment.'

Trivia: Leon's short film Orthodox was accepted into several international film festivals. He completed a feature length version of Orthodox in 2015.

Wunmi Mosaku (Actor) .. DC Holly Lawson

Born: July 31, 1986 in Zaria, Nigeria

Best Known For: Playing Gloria Taylor in Damilola, Our Loved Boy.

Early-life: Oluwunmi Olapeju Mosaku was born on July 31, 1986 in Zaria, Nigeria. She moved with her family to Manchester, England, where she was educated at Trinity Church of England High School and Xaverian Sixth Form College and sang in the Manchester Girls Choir for 11 years. Wunmi graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2007.

Career: Mosaku's professional acting career began with various roles on the stage. Some of her early TV roles include appearances in Doctors and The Bill. She was cast as Joy in the BBC Two mini-series Moses Jones and then went on to appear in such TV series as Silent Witness, The Body Farm and Vera. Mosaku also appeared in the films Philomena (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). She played Gloria Taylor in the TV film Damilola, Our Loved Boy (2016). Her other recent TV credits include Guerilla and Fearless.

Quote: 'I don't pick roles because of a strong woman - most of the time, with the good characters, there's a certain vulnerability there. I pick roles because they're good stories that are being told.'

Trivia: She won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Damilola, Our Loved Boy.

Paul Ritter (Actor) .. Billy Cartwright

Hugo Speer (Actor) .. Keith Mantel

Born: March 17, 1969 in Harrogate

Best Known For: The Full Monty.

Early-life: Hugo was born in Harrogate on March 17, 1969. He studied acting at the Arts Educational School, Tring Park. He had a minor role in the film Bhaji on the Beach (1993) and went on to have small parts in a number of TV shows, including So Haunt Me, The Bill and Woof!

Career: His big break came in 1997 when he had one of the lead roles in the hugely popular The Full Monty. From a £3million budget, the film went on to gross more than £160million worldwide. He has worked solidly on TV ever since in the likes of Hearts and Bones, Clocking Off, The Last Detective, Bleak House, Sorted, Silent Witness, Five Days, Midsomer Murders, Bedlam, Father Brown, and The Musketeers.

Quote: On the success of The Full Monty: 'It was such a huge film that people couldn't help but assume I was a himbo - nice but dim and hung like a baboon!'

Trivia: He made his directorial debut in 2010 with the short film MAM.

Amber Britton-Dyer (Actor) .. Abby Mantel

Lolita Chakrabarti (Actor) .. Caroline Fletcher

Born: June 01, 1969 in Kingston upon Hull

Best Known For: Playing WPC Jamilla Blake in The Bill.

Early-life: Born on June 1, 1969 in Kingston upon Hull and raised in Birmingham. Lolita trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and graduated in 1990. She appeared in the TV film A Masculine Ending in 1992.

Career: From 1993 to 1999, Chakrabarti played WPC Jamilla Blake in TV crime drama The Bill. She has since appeared in such TV series as Fortysomething, The Casual Vacancy, Holby City, Silent Witness, My Mad Fat Diary, Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands and Born to Kill. She is also a writer and producer. Her play Red Velvet had a sold out run in London before being transferred to Off-Broadway and later performed at the Garrick Theatre in London's West End as part of Kenneth Branagh's season in 2016. Chakrabarti also runs Lesata Production with Rosa Maggiora and they produced the short film Of Mary (2011).

Quote: 'I consider myself an actor mainly and the writing fits around that.'

Trivia: For Red Velvet, she won the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright at the 2012 Evening Standard Awards.

Elizabeth Edmonds (Actor) .. Mary Winter

Emun Elliott (Actor) .. James Bennett

Katie Foster-Barnes (Actor) .. Emma Bennett

Gary Lewis (Actor) .. Robert Winter

Jon Morrison (Actor) .. DC Kenny Lockhart

Georg Nikoloff (Actor) .. Skipper

Sarah Preston (Actor) .. Jeanie Long

Daniel Rose (Actor) .. Chris Winter

Alan Williams (Actor) .. Michael Long

Tiger Roberts (Actor) .. Lad playing football

Paul Rutman (Writer)

Peter Hoar (Director)

Elaine Collins (Producer)

Kate Evans (Editor)

Kate Bartlett (Executive producer)

Kate Lewis (Executive producer)

Vera: Telling Tales

8:00 pm - 10:00 pm, Today on ITV3 (10)

About this Broadcast

Telling Tales
Season 1, Episode 2

Cast & Crew

More Information

Did You Know..

Before / After