Brenda Blethyn has admitted that she was "nervous" to be returning to work on Vera last autumn with the coronavirus pandemic still raging.
The detective drama is returning for an 11th series of six feature-length episodes, the first two of which were filmed last year and are airing on ITV this weekend and next.
Extensive health and safety protocols were in place on set - including Blethyn deciding to bubble up with co-star Kenny Doughty (Aiden Healy) - but the veteran actress was still unnerved by the unprecedented times.
"I was glad to be starting work again for lots of reasons. But at the same time I was nervous of it," she said. "We were in the middle of a global pandemic and nobody was safe really.
"But when it was explained to me about all the precautions to be set in place - and my word they were very very thorough, I became a little less nervous.
"I was quizzed on the phone by a COVID detective, and medicals were carried out to make sure I wasn't too vulnerable. Medicals are necessary anyway for any filming for insurance purposes. They really just want to know you're going to make it to the end of the shoot!"
She added: "COVID did make it more difficult to film. It lengthened the filming time of each episode by about a week.
"To start with the COVID protocol made it a little bit inhibiting but we soon got used to it. It became a sort of dance. If somebody approached you, you naturally stepped backwards. And if anyone did forget, the COVID marshals were over to you with a long stick. Not to hit you with but to make sure you were the appropriate distance apart.
"On the first day back filming I think everyone felt a huge sense of pride. That we had all come together, we were all putting our best foot forward to try and get this done."
Vera returns Sunday night at 8pm on ITV.
Neil Wilkes
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