Vera - The Crow Trap

If The Shadow Line represents the current glossy urban edge of contemporary crime drama on the TV at the moment, with Exile standing as a siphon in between, then Vera represents the far reaches of crime drama 'going rural'.

With its Geordie accents and what seems like a perpetual tone of grey washed across the entire show, Vera is a thriller with a difference. It has brains, for sure, but it also has heart - though you wouldn't expect anything else from a show where the lead character drives a battered fifty year old Land Rover. It's this rustic, grim feel that defines Vera - both show and character.

Vera, played by the delightful Brenda Blethyn, is no maverick London city slicker copper. In many ways, you almost forget she is in fact a member of the law. Because she's more than that, she's a person, and this is a drama defined by persona.

Maybe it's those Geordie accents, so open and telling, or maybe it's the bleak, rainy moors of Northumbria; but there's something here that makes you just want to pour every inch of your heart into this show and immerse yourself in the richness that has clearly been lavished on its creation.

This isn't an expensive looking show, but it wears its apparel well - it feels genuine, believable - yet also tinged with a vague hint of the fantastical too. And it was this sense that was emphasised in the latest episode, The Crow Trap. The plot hinging around a quarry encroaching on old, sacred land; this story felt heaped in mystery of more than one kind.

As you'd expect from any ITV thriller, there were twists and red herrings aplenty, but there were also those achingly beautiful shots of the haunting countryside stretching away into the distance too. There were the chilling cries of crows, bringing with them the morbid tang of death.

Atmosphere. Vera is drenched in it. And standing in a two hour slot as the show does, it's given the luxury of being able to develop that atmosphere at its own pace. That extended time slot is required; without it you feel the show would struggle to establish itself either way - the pacing would collapse in a rush to satisfy both the show's plot and it's look.

Instead, we have something that we sit down to and can properly grow with - as Vera uncovers an ever increasing share of clues, we find ourselves frantically searching for our own solutions to the murder. But of course, she gets there first. Because that's who Vera is. And she's very, very good.