Vera (TV series) audience of 6.53 million over four episodes, whilst the fourth series attracted a slightly smaller audience of 6.42 million over four episodes. In 2018 the ratings increased to between 8 to 9 million viewers. Vera (TV series) Vera is a British crime drama series based on novels of the same name, written by crime writer Ann Cleeves. It was first broadcast on ITV on 1 May 2011, and to date, eight series have aired. The series stars Brenda Blethyn as the principal character, Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope. Vera is a middle-aged employee of the fictional Northumberland & City Police,
Detectives Inc. follow Will Eisner's influential "A Contract with God". The Gay League's "LBGT Comics Timeline" cites the book as "featuring the first lesbian characters in mass-market comics". The books' genesis, author Don McGregor recalled, had gone back several years. "I had created "Detectives Inc." as early as 1969, as roles for Alex Simmons and myself to play in Super8 millimeter movies I was making". In the early 1970s, the two produced a crude "Detectives Inc." comic book, self-published via photocopier. In 1980, Eclipse Enterprises published "Detectives Inc.: A Remembrance of Threatening Green", the first of what would become two graphic novels