Brenda Blethyn has built one of British television's most versatile careers. This week we're tracing three roles that prove it. We start with DCI Vera Stanhope, the messy Northumberland detective who made Blethyn a household name for 14 seasons. From there we head to a seaside café in Kate & Koji, the sitcom that let her flex a comic muscle she hadn't used in decades. And we close with her newest role, Emma Harte in A Woman of Substance, the rags-to-riches saga based on Barbara Taylor Bradford's bestselling novel. We'll cover the writers behind each project, what drew Blethyn to these very different women, and how her own background shaped the way she plays them.

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