Since the recent end of her 14-season run as the star of the fan favourite British detective series Vera, Brenda Blethyn has wasted no time in getting back to work.
New Idea recently spotted the 79-year-old star filming her latest TV project – A Woman of Substance.
“Brenda knows how much her fans loved Vera and were sad to see the series end,” a source tells New Idea.
“But she loves to work and couldn’t wait to move on with this exciting new project.”
The series is expected to air in the UK later this year, with no word yet as to when it will hit Australian screens, and where it will be available to watch.
Brenda is playing the ambitious maid Emma Harte, who rises out of poverty to create her own retail empire.
The show is based on the bestselling 1979 book of the same name, by the late author Barbara Taylor Bradford.
“I am overjoyed to be taking on this iconic role,” Brenda said earlier this year when her casting was first announced.
“As a fan of Barbara Taylor Bradford, it is an unmissable opportunity to play the fierce Emma Harte,” she added.
While many at Brenda’s age would be enjoying their retirement, the actress has previously admitted to New Idea that she would never turn her back on a role.
“I haven’t really been out of work since [I started working], except by choice. I consider myself really fortunate,” she told us in December 2023.
In the same interview, the star said that despite her rapid rise to fame following the premiere of Vera in 2011, she wasn’t a fan of being famous.
“I don’t court that kind of publicity,” Brenda told us candidly at the time.
We can’t wait to see her sink her teeth into this new role!
