User Reviews

Vera investigates the death of a teacher, a teacher who had concerns for one of her pupils.

First off, I need to make the point, ITV please stop fiddling around with the scheduling, they are starting to treat Vera like Midsomer Murders, giving us the odd episode, and taking it off, we need our Vera fix.

I thought this was an excellent episode, an engaging story, better paced than last week's, and featured one of the best casts I've ever seen on an episode of the show. I did have to watch the ending twice just to fully try to understand the outcome, was worth doing.

Many familiar faces, how good was it to see the wonderful Craig Parkinson on the show, he naturally did not disappoint, Simone Lahbib and Jaye Griffiths shone also. The word Gary was used a few times, and I remembered that great episode of Only fools and horses, great to see him also.

The scenery once again looks breathtaking, this show must have some wonders for the Tourist industry in the area.

I hope it's not too long before we get the remaining two episodes, I'm sure this beats The Good Karma Hospital.

Loved it, 9/10.

I adore Vera, it's far and away the best crime show on TV. However I haven't given this one ten out of ten because something in it doesn't quite gel - I'm not sure if the shoot was rushed, if the screenwriter got sick, or what, but there's a slight unaccustomed awkwardness to the later scenes. The opening scenes though, are magnificent, just the woman running and walking in the rain, her face riven by anguish, soaking wet, and the splendid cinematography which is a hallmark of this series. The North Sea breaking violently on the cliffs is so evocative! Marvellous editing too. And by the way, Paul Kaye as Malcolm the pathologist is priceless! The twin themes of brushing unpleasant things under the carpet, and the hidden family conflict, are important ones, yet somehow the fractured family in this episode doesn't seem convincing. Perhaps it's because we never see them all gathered in one place, or because some details are missing from the script. Normally I love the spareness of Vera scripts, but still it's possible to leave out too much. There's definitely some unevenness in the quality of the acting in this episode: at the positive end of the scale, Nabil Elouahabi was outstanding as the father of the little boy; while Craig Parkinson as the husband of the victim was very effective too. On the lower end, Grace Hogg-Robinson as the younger of the two daughters didn't convince me. Poor old Aidan (played by Kenny Doughty) had almost nothing to do except follow Vera around, and looked well pissed off.

Vera back to her best, tight plot, lack of sentiment, well acted with a difficult subject. Scenery of the North East of England is superb, a great night in front of the television.

I was blown away by this episode. Such an incredible story. A very clever plot and the characters individual stories kept pulling me in (I can't say too much, incase of spoilers). Absolutely loved it. The writing was to perfection and the acting was also perfect. Well done to all! 10 stars!

Goodness what a yawn fest series 11 is..boring, lazy and uninspiring writing, I've usually dozed off before the culprit is found. Episode 5 is a woman who goes out in the evening to end up not returning to her husband and moody teenage daughter. Episode 6 is also a woman who goes out in the evening to not return to her husband and moody teenage daughter. Of course both couples are mixed racial marriages because that's the norm in the UK TV-land diversity check-box. They haven't ticked the LGBTQ box lately, maybe old Kenny will come out of the closet. Dull as dishwater storylines and depressing suburban sets. Not a patch on earlier Vera series with interesting storylines and stunning rural locations ie The Crow Trap (s01e03), The Deer Hunters (0403), Changing Tides (0501), Natural Selection (0701) to name a few. Slowly over the seasons Vera has moved away from rural landscapes to grey suburbia. Perhaps this is a budget issue, but there is no excuse for the writing as the UK churns out some of the best writers in the world. The actors are wonderful of course, no complaints there but they are let down by the lazy and unimaginative scripts/storylines. Boot the writers and get Ann Cleeves back in to write.