Vera star Kenny Doughty explains motivation for quitting show after 7 years
Kenny Doughty has opened up about the real reason for his exit from Vera after seven years.
The actor has played DS Aiden Healy for seven years, but he will be departing the role after the Christmas special. He will exit his role in The Rising Tide, which will be on ITV this Christmas with Brenda Blethyn playing the titular role of DCI Vera Stanhope.
Speaking in length about his exit, he said: "I made the decision before we started filming series 12. That was initially going to be the four films screened at the start of 2023. But then halfway through filming they said, ‘Can we do a Christmas special as well?’ So it was a long goodbye. With The Rising Tide being my last episode filmed in November and December 2022.
"There were lots of personal and professional reasons why I wanted to move on. I have loved doing Vera 100 per cent. It has been a life-changing job for so many reasons. Including working with Brenda Blethyn and in the North East. I feel like an honorary Geordie. There is also a real family connection to the crew who I’m still in touch with."
Vera is back for a Christmas special (ITV)Admitting it has been nine years since he first set foot on the set, he was adamant he wanted to go out on a high.
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"It has been nine years since I filmed my first episode in 2014, which was screened in 2015. I just wanted to leave while I was still happy with everything. It was a really difficult decision to leave. Because I loved doing that job and I loved working with everybody on the Vera team. But a little part of me, for whatever reason, the little inner self, said to me, ‘You should probably call it a day while you’re still enjoying it.’ To step away and seek new acting challenges," he added.
"Brenda loves playing Vera and she never lets the standards drop. She has got a ridiculously high work ethic. And to do that day in, day out is phenomenal. I’m 48 and I thought the filming schedule was tough, including being away from home. But Brenda just gets on with it. I take away nothing but good memories."
He feels it is apt to leave on the Christmas special, which is titled The Rising Tide, as his first show was called Changing Tides.
He said: "My first Vera film was series five, episode one called ‘Changing Tides’. While this story is called The Rising Tide. So it feels appropriate to come in on one tide and go out on another. Having made 35 episodes with Brenda, that first film is probably, for me, the most memorable one. There was such an overlap between Aiden and me. I was coming in to a show that was successful. While Aiden was joining Vera’s police team and trying to find his feet. You had to find the rhythm and the look of the character. We were still playing with things in terms of Aiden at the start. I think that’s why most new characters need at least two series just to find where they are. And eventually we settled in to what we now know as Aiden. But in that first series it’s almost like Aiden’s younger brother!"
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