Vera (TV Series) The Rising Tide (2023) User Reviews

Vera does a Die Hard.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 29 December 2023]

Television celebrity, Rick Kelsall commits suicide at a gathering with some friends, after being involved in a sex scandal, Vera is called in, but her investigations mean she ends up trodding on the toes of some people of influence.

I enjoyed it, another very watchable, enjoyable mystery, a story that seemed to have a relevance for the time.

I can see what ITV have done here, a couple of Christmas trees, a secret Santa, and it's a Christmas special, it's a Christmas set episode, rather than a Christmas themed episode, a la Die Hard.

Best thing for me, Billy, I thought he was a riot, he was even allowed out of the office. He brought out a different side of Vera, he was fun, more interesting than many of thr regulars.

Mark, Jax, Kenny, I honestly don't know why any of them exist, they serve no purpose, all they do is sit in the office, its such a waste of them.

Two faces from The Bill, Liz Crowther, and the legend that was Bob Cryer, good to see them both.

I have to disagree with one of the other reviewers here, at 77, I think Blethyn looks great, she doesn't look anywhere near her years.

We haven't got long to wait for the new series, bring it on.

8/10.

Billy

[hazangel-89910 · 8/10 · 12 January 2024]

I am just getting Vera. I have not watched all of the series yet. I started around series 10 or 11 and will work backwards. It is a very enjoyable show. Usually shows that are an hour and a half long tend to drag but I find the pacing is well done, even though it follows the same formula (pre death, death, suspects, body id, wrong suspect leading to the killer, Vera visiting the victims family).

Billy added a great deal of comedy relief and was very endearing. And he left the office more than anyone. It was nice to see a young man eager to learn the craft from a pro who could quite literally be his grandmother. Aiden is okay but he really doesn't add that much. I like Kenny the most out of the old bunch.

I look forward to watching the rest of the series. Hopefully I will learn more about Vera (or maybe not).

Rushed

[jazzyphipps-56857 · 7/10 · 27 December 2023]

I enjoy this series. However, I can't help but feel letdown on the much anticipated episode 5 of season 12. It felt rushed. The storyline wasn't allowed to develop and before you knew it, it was over. I can't but felt like I missed something. 😔 Maybe it was just me. Hopefully, the rest of the upcoming episodes will makeup for this episode. I love the characters and the actors who plays them. Great show. Looking forward to what's to come. Keep those cameras rolling. Thank you for a great show Britian. Signing off from California, USA. Gee. I don't know what else to say. I tried to wrap things up.

The usual high quality Vera

[adrianwmcrowe · 9/10 · 19 March 2024]

We now expect a complicated story with red herrings everywhere: this was a little more so.

Don't be put off by dxrfkzfb's review ... someone who doesn't know their "its" from their "it's" is in no place to pontificate about accents.

Bumbling Billy (Billington) was a little light relief, until he wasn't.

We are accustomed to seeing friction between Vera and her superiors. This episode there is a little more friction and it is wonderful to see Vera tackle the corruption head on. And win! Yes, it is only fiction, but life does sometimes imitate art.

The scenery is magnificent as always - you can almost see the shadows of the Vikings of years past.

Past it's Sell By

[dxrfkzfb · 1/10 · 26 December 2023]

Vera used to be a reasonably good show. It was easy to watch and not take too seriously. But the concept is starting to get a little comical now. The 77 year old detective huffing and puffing her way about rural Northumbria while her detectives sit in the CID office tapping computer keyboards and shuffling paper is just a little bit too silly to take remotely seriously.

The acting can on occasions be quite spotty and the North East accents are let's say a little bit off the mark. Even the plotlines are beginning to feel a bit too convoluted. This episode was particularly silly and Vera ended up breaking in a new rookie detective while locking horns with her superintendent (who looked more like a World War II SS Officer) and the new diverse police and crime commissioner.

It all got a little bit far fetched (even for Vera) and I was lost come the second lot of tv commercials. I faithfully stuck with it but by the end I co fess I was dozing off.

Time for Vera to hang up her big raincoat me thinks.

The Rising Tide

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 28 December 2023]

Although based on Ann Cleeves novel which was only published in 2022. This Christmas special (The only nod is that Vera mentions a secret Santa) has a storyline that could had been ripped out of the news headlines this year. The antics of an ITV presenter who used to present Kids tv almost 40 years ago.

Vera is called in after the apparent suicide of television personality Rick Kelsall. He was on a reunion with old school friends in a cottage on Lindisfarne.

Rick's television career had been recently destroyed due to a sex scandal. He had been planning on writing a book of an earlier reunion back in 1982. Where a death had taken place of another woman.

Rick's ex wife is also the daughter of a gangland boss back in the north east. Vera senses that Rick was murdered but the suspects range far and wide. It might also include the local Police and Crime Commissioner.

If that was not enough she also has to deal with enthusiastic but useless PC Billington who is on placement as a detective.

Well the scenery was nice as Vera drives her Land Rover across the waters to Lindisfarne also known as Holy Island.

The plot was hysterically labyrinthe. It's the usual for Vera. All the suspects lie or hold things back the first time round when they are questioned. You might as well pluck the culprit out of thin air or go for the least likely suspect.

It was puzzling when Billington disappears. The police only decide to track his mobile phone once they arrive on Lindisfarne. Not try to trace it before they left the police station.