Award-winning writer Ann Cleeves, author of the Vera series as well as the Jimmy Perez mysteries, was kind enough to answer a few questions from Acorn TV fans. Part I of Acorn’s exclusive Q&A is below; stay tuned for Part II! Series 1-6 of Vera are now streaming exclusively on Acorn TV, and you can find Ann’s books for sale here .

• What do you think about the way Vera came to life on screen?

The experience of being adapted was really positive for me. While I have no formal involvement with the show, I get on very well with the production team. It was always important to me that it should be filmed in north east England where I live and I think they capture the place beautifully – the wide sweeping beaches, the hills and the post industrial landscape. I think giving stories to a film company is a bit like handing a child over for adoption – you wouldn’t do it if you didn’t trust the adoptive parents. I trust the team behind the show.

• How different from your image of Vera that you had while writing is Brenda Blethlyn?

Brenda is much more beautiful, and in real life she’s much more glamorous! But she makes a brilliant Vera. She has wit, compassion and depth and portrays Vera’s strength and vulnerability perfectly. Anyone who saw the end of episode one in the last series (six) will understand why she’s twice been nominated for an Oscar.

• Was / is there someone in “real” life like her who inspired you?

I was born in the mid-fifties so I grew up in the UK while the effects of the war were still being felt. There were lots of formidable spinsters in the small town where I lived, women who’d lost sweethearts during the war or who’d come into their own and found confidence to take on new roles. They didn’t care at all what they looked like, but they were very competent and a little bit scary. Perhaps Vera was influenced by them.

• Do you plan to write more Vera novels?

Yes, The Moth Catcher has already been written and will be published in the US in October and I’m working on another book now.