Vera (TV Series) Telling Tales (2011) User Reviews

strong story

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 22 January 2014]

When a young female prisoner en route to a doctor's appointment escapes, she commits suicide by backing into a bus after a row with her father.

The woman, Jennie Long, was 11 years into a life sentence for killing Abby Mantel, her lover Keith's daughter. When her death hits the news, someone contacts the police with an alibi for the night of the murder that he had originally reported to the police. However, the police never contacted him again, and he had moved to America.

Vera and her team re-open the case. But then there's another murder - was the second murdered victim the killer? Or had he been a witness to Abby's murder 11 years ago? Then Abby's father is attacked. Vera has opened a hornet's nest. The original murderer is still out there.

Excellent story with the depressing aura that seems prevalent in the Vera series. The stark locations are one reason; the weathered character of Vera, brilliantly played by Brenda Blethyn, is another. She's a multilayered character who has recently lost her father, to whom she was devoted. She has moved into his house which is in the middle of nowhere. She's gruff, hiding a vulnerability she shows no one, and a woman used to being alone.

Blethyn's portrayal dominates the series, and she makes it well worth seeing.

Another very engrossing "Vera" tale

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 2 July 2013]

Having been sentenced to life for killing her boyfriend's teenage daughter 11 years ago, Jeannie escapes during being transferred to a hospital and runs to her family home. When her father rejects her, desperate Jeannie commits suicide right in front of his eyes. But when new evidence turns up suggesting that she was innocent all along, DCI Vera Stanhope and her team reopen the old case - and things get even more complicated when another man, who might have known the original victim intimately, also gets murdered.

A very engrossing mystery tale, which touches on such subjects as deep dark secrets, guilt, and the dilemmas of family loyalty. The solution is both quite tragic and fairly mind-blowing. The only problem I had with the story was accepting the shoddiness of the original investigation, which overlooked a perfectly good alibi and sent an innocent girl to prison for life. *** out of 4.

The probation officer, his wife, their son and Abby

[safenoe · 8/10 · 10 December 2016]

Telling Tales is one to watch on DVD, because as reviewer winopaul accurately stated, the episode is like a huge Russian saga with interweaving character links across the whole of Northumbria.

I had to rewind after 39 minutes, and to see how the probation officer was linked to the story, and also his son (who got off the boat after traveling the world for a decade). Then things got clearer thankfully. I was very surprised by who the murder was (actually two) at the end. I never would have spotted it. All credit to the production team for capturing the scenery around Northumbria. It's good to see a British detective drama series outside of London.

One thing that maybe didn't ring true...when Jeannie (who was convicted of murder) was taken to the hospital for an appointment. I was surprised Jeannie wasn't taken in a high security van or something like that. Instead she was seated in the back of an ordinary car, and she just got out and ran away to confront her distraught father.

A quality mystery.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 18 November 2017]

Jeannie Long escapes Police custody and heads straight for her father, serving a sentence for the daughter of her former lover, Jeannie is not welcomed with open arms, and shockingly steps into a truck, killing herself. Vera and Joe are called in to investigate, Vera comes up against Caroline Fletcher, the former head of the investigation, no longer on the force, but still informed by Kenny. A murder at a Charity event held by Abby's father Keith convinces Vera that the same killer was responsible for Abby's death also.

This is another excellent episode, continuing the very high standard. A somewhat bleak story once again, which is pretty bleak from start to finish, but lightened by touches from Vera herself. I thought the unravelling of the case and subsequent conclusion was fantastic, excellent performances from Lolita Chakrabarti, Elizabeth Edmonds and especially the ever wonderful Gary Lewis.

It's no wonder this series has run and run, these fantastic early episodes laid the foundations.

Excellent, 9/10

Vera's Ordeal By Innocence

[footy-58199 · 10/10 · 25 March 2015]

The vote is for the performances and setting, all wonderful. However, this episode is quite similar in plot to Agatha Christie's Ordeal By Innocence, wherein a stranger appears at the door of the family home of a man whom he had picked up hitchhiking a year before. The stranger had been away and for the year prior, had not known that the very hitchhiker he'd picked up had been convicted of murder. The stranger, having now learned of the hiker's fate, returns to provide the alibi that would prove the convicted man innocent.

Blethyn is terrific in her role and her sidekick Leon plays extremely well off her character. The filming is lovely and the acting top notch.

Amazing acting here.

[dmihic-1 · 19 September 2019]

The whole episode is filled with great acting but Elizabeth Edmonds' performance in one particular season was positively moving. Bravo 👏🏻

Telling Tales

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 18 June 2017]

Jeanie Long has escaped from jail and gone to see her father who is not pleased to see her. He tells her that she has been a nightmare and she responds by telling that he can wake up now and walks into the path of an oncoming bus.

Eleven years earlier Jeanie was convicted of murdering teenager Abigail Mantel, she was the daughter of the man she was going out with.

Conveniently after a death a man who went abroad tells the authorities that he had provided an alibi to the police at the time of the murder and that Jeanie could not had done it.

Vera re-investigates the case and the suspects seem to be a group of older men in a close knit community. Vera is still affected by her father's death she is driving around in his car. She seems to make a good team with Joe but other officers also try to impress her but Vera comes across as a hard person to please.

I did find the motives a bit murky and some of the plot hard to follow.

It's a "no" for me

[xbatgirl-30029 · 1/10 · 29 January 2023]

I'm obviously in the minority, but about 2/3 through this episode I realized that I absolutely did not like a single character, most especially Vera. I finished the episode just to have some closure but was then in a terrible mood for the rest of the night. This series is just not for me.

Perhaps it gets better in later seasons but after 2 episodes it felt extremely lacking in any originality. When it gets down to it, just how original is any character or story, but somehow, there are so many other shows that still manage to feel fresh and which I'd rather be watching. It's like "oh look, Vera's dad just died and she inherited his place - just like Wallender" or "hey, she drinks a lot and is prickly - just like Jane Tennison." She's yet another detective who is a hot mess but she gets to stay around because she's so brilliant. Except she's not really? In two episodes she comes off like nothing special as a detective, all while showing up looking like a slob, telling off all those working under her, and at one point actually throws things at one in her command. Sure he was blabbing to a suspect, but that makes it ok for her to act deranged? Are we supposed to be impressed that she's a woman acting just like male detectives have on other shows? Maybe if it were 1985. Snooze.

The other cops have next to no personality besides the one who finds his marriage boring after his wife had his third kid and the baby keeps him awake. Wow. I don't feel like the world is so lacking in quality content that "well the acting is good" is enough of a reason to watch. The actual plot of the mystery, especially in this episode, just could not keep my attention. I kept finding myself looking at my phone or some other distraction.

I all around hated this.