1 x 90 mins ITV

7.72 million viewers

Starring BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning actress Brenda Blethyn, Ace Bhatti, Kenny Doughty, Robert Pugh, Struan Rodger, and the debut of Alexander Mardell. Written by Paul Matthew Thompson. Produced by Letitia Knight

ITV’s top-rating crime drama, based on the bestselling Inspector Stanhope books by award-winning writer Ann Cleeves. 

Synopsis - The body of a young man is discovered face down in a river, bludgeoned to death. But with no ID on the body, tracing the victim's identity proves difficult for Vera and her team. She is forced to make headway with the only clues they have: a mourning ring worn around the young man’s neck, needle marks on the body, and a drugs wrapper with a distinctive stamp – ‘Dark Angel’. Tracing the stamp draws Vera to Gateshead and into Newcastle’s criminal underbelly. But the investigation takes an unexpected turn when a witness leads Vera and DS Aiden Healy to the scene of an old crime, a remote farm in which a brutal murder took place 13 years ago.