Vera - Tender - 8:00 pm Wednesday, December 31 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) .. DI 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.

Jon Morrison (Actor) .. DC Kenny Lockhart

Riley Jones (Actor) .. DC Mark Edwards

Sarah Kameela Impey (Actor) .. Dr Paula Bennett

Rhiannon Clements (Actor) .. DC Steph Duncan

Shaun Dooley (Actor) .. Matthew McSwain

Best Known For: A string of roles.

Early-life: Shaun was born in Barnsley in 1974 to Ann and Denis and went on to study at the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester. He made his acting debut in the 1997 short film Groove on a Stanley Knife. In the same year, he had a recurring role on Coronation Street and guest appearances followed in Casualty, Dalziel and Pascoe, Peak Practice and the TV movies Warriors and Shackleton.

Career: Between 2001 and 2004, Dooley played the Rev Tom Stuart in EastEnders. Heavily in demand since then, he has made guest appearances in a number of TV shows, including Foyle's War, Holby City, New Tricks, Murphy's Law, Rosemary & Thyme, The Bill, Midsomer Murders, Red Riding, Hustle, Great Expectations, and South Riding. He has had recurring roles in Five Days, Married Single Other, Exile, Sugartown, Misfits, The Game, and Broadchurch. More recently, he has appeared in Ordinary Lies, This is England '90, and Cuffs. His film credits include Eden Lake (2008), The Awakening (2011) and The Woman in Black (2012).

Quote: "I don't believe anybody is inherently evil or anything like that. I think we're all made up of our circumstances and the paths that we've taken."

Trivia: Dooley attends all of Barnsley FC's home games.

Fraser James (Actor) .. Tom Rushden

Julia Sawalha (Actor) .. Helen Rushden

Born: September 09, 1968 in London

Best Known For: Playing Saffy in Absolutely Fabulous.

Early-life: Born in 1969 in London, the daughter of Roberta and Nadim Sawalha. She was named after her grandmother, a Jordanian businesswoman. She is of Jordanian, British, and French Huguenot ancestry. She was born into an acting family: her father Nadim is a well-known stage and screen actor and sister Nadia a presenter and actress. Julia became interested in acting at a young age, and landed her first break when she was chosen to star on the children's TV series Press Gang.

Career: She moved into comedy with a starring role in Absolutely Fabulous in 1992, and followed up this near-iconic role with parts in Martin Chuzzlewit, Kenneth Branagh's movie In the Bleak Midwinter and Lydia Bennet in the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. In 2000, she had the major vocal role in Nick Park's animated caper Chicken Run, and she landed another significant part when she became the female lead in Jonathan Creek. Since then, she has favoured classic roles, winning rave reviews in Cranford and Lark Rise to Candleford.

Quote: On her sister: "We have such respect for each other. If I ring her up in tears, she will give me the toughest advice, then she'll have me laughing in seconds."

Trivia: She voiced a main character in the video game Fable II.

Reece Douglas (Actor) .. Jonathon Rushden

Gillian Kearney (Actor) .. Deborah McSwain

Born: May 09, 1972 in Liverpool

Best Known For: Playing Debbie McGrath in Brookside.

Early-life: Born in 1972 in Liverpool. Her mum was a school secretary and her dad was a civil engineer. At the age of 12, she joined the Liverpool Playhouse Youth Theatre, where she was spotted two years later by the makers of Brookside. The actress was only supposed to appear in three episodes, but her character Debbie proved so popular that she stayed for a year and also appeared in the spin-off miniseries Damon and Debbie.

Career: In 1989, the 16-year-old Kearney starred in Shirley Valentine, but decided to put her career on the backburner so she could concentrate on her education. After taking her A-levels, she studied for a degree at the Rose Bruford drama school in north London. She was still in demand as an actress and her tutors marked her performance in the TV drama The Tides of Life as part of her final assessment. She has regularly acted on stage and in TV series including Liverpool One, Sex, Chips and Rock 'n' Roll, Hope and Glory and The Forsyte Saga. More recently, she has starred in Shameless, Casualty, Silent Witness and Suspects. In December 2014, it was announced that she was joining the cast of Emmerdale.

Quote: "I must have a darkness about me which makes me look really tragic. I'd love to do a comedy."

Trivia: She has appeared in the Radio 4 dramas Brief Lives and Bring Her Back.

Rachel Teate (Actor) .. Freya Rushden

Joelle Dyson (Actor) .. Rose Adeyemi

Gabrielle Green (Actor) .. Sian Jordan

Bridget Marumo (Actor) .. Fiona Rushden

Emily Kathryn (Actor) .. Gabi McSwain

Jake Lowe (Actor) .. Lee Critchley

Steven Stobbs (Actor) .. Darren Childs

Lynn Roden (Actor) .. Maia Scholes

Simmie Kaur (Actor) .. Receptionist

Euan Macnaughton (Actor) .. Jonah Green

Phil Mulryne (Writer)

Will Nicholson (Producer)

Jermain Julien (Director)

Kate Bartlett (Executive producer)

Vera: Tender

8:00 pm - 8:10 pm, Wednesday, December 31 on ITV3 (10)

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Tender
Season 13, Episode 2

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