After 14 years Brenda Blethyn hung up DCI Vera Stanhope’s famous mac and bucket hat at the beginning of Janaury. She made the decision to step away from the ITV show to spend more time with her husband Michael Mayhew, the former head of graphic design at the National Theatre.
Although only married since 2010 the couple actually met in 1975, two years after Brenda’s first marriage to graphic designer Alan James Blethyn ended after nine years.
Now together for half a century, filming for Vera kept Brenda and Michael apart for six months of the year and it was a deciding factor in her quitting the role. She explained the programme required her to spend six months of the year away from home.
“I’ve got a family at home and I realised I hadn’t had a summer for 14 years with my family,” she said.
Speaking to Saga magazine she confessed her husband was delighted by the decision – although he would not have forced her to make it.
Brenda Blethyn and Michael Mayhew married in 2010 (Image: Getty)
“Michael’s face lit up when I told him [I was going to quit]. I could tell he was kind of pleased I might be around a bit more, though he wouldn’t have imposed that on me,” she said.
The couple live Brenda’s hometown of Ramsgate in Kent and own a second property in London. However while filming Vera, Brenda would have to travel to the north east, as the show was shot around Newcastle upon Tyne and throughout Northumberland.
Asked for the secret to their long and happy relationship, Brenda , who turns 79 today, quipped: “Two bathrooms.”
She added: “Two different rooms with a television too, so you can watch whatever you want. No arguments. You don’t want someone rabbiting on while you’re engrossed in an episode of Vera do you?
Brenda Blethyn played Vera for 14 years before bowing out of the role (Image: ITV)
Giving an insight into their home life she said: “We have a place on the coast in my hometown of Ramsgate in Kent, and even when we’re there we sit in separate rooms, Michael with his music in one, me with my crossword in another.
“We have so little in common but the relationship obviously works. Michael makes me laugh like nobody else does, and I think he likes me for my honesty and my kindness.”
The couple share an adorable cockapoo named Jack. They never had any children but Brenda says she doesn’t regret that choice. “Once in a blue moon I’ve wished I had but it’s been so fleeting that it’s not been a bother to me.
“The things I wish I had done I’ve done, wherever possible,” she said in an interview with the Daily Mail.
