Vera's Land Rover from detective show goes on display
A British TV detective's famous car has gone on display after the final episode was aired.The 1996 Land Rover Defender 90, driven by actress Brenda Blethyn in the ITV drama Vera, has found a new home at the Great British Car Journey museum, in Ambergate, Derbyshire.Det Ch Insp Vera Stanhope's light blue Land Rover Defender, which has an extra step for the 5ft 2in (157cm) tall actress, could be seen on TV screens on Sunday nights when the series ran between 2011 and 2025. Richard Usher, founder of Great British Car Journey, told the BBC it was "the holy grail of television Land Rovers".
The final episode of Vera aired in January, after it was filmed last summer. Mr Usher said: "This car was almost as big a star as Brenda herself - it featured in pretty much every episode. "To Land Rover enthusiasts, which there are many, this is the holy grail of television Land Rovers."
Describing the vehicle, he said when you open the driver's door, the first thing you see is a little step."Apparently Brenda is about 5ft 2in, so that was fitted so she could get in and out properly."He added: "Probably its little guilty secret is it has an automatic gearbox."From what I understand, Brenda only has a licence for an automatic car," he said.
Mr Usher said this model of Land Rover was not built with an automatic gearbox. "When it was decided they were going to use the Land Rover, they had to get an auto box fitted to this."She does pretend to change gear - she sort of fakes it on TV."Mr Usher said it had been parked in the museum opposite Sir Elton John's "amazing Bentley", which he said was made about the same year as the Land Rover.
He added it arrived at the end of last week, and they have had "an amazing response" since."The phones have been ringing to make sure it's on display, and our website saw twice the number of hits on Saturday, purely down to this vehicle. "Land Rovers have a huge following - quite rightly so."It is another British icon, built for well over 50 years, and over two million of them were made."It is a very significant vehicle, and this one has this great TV backstory," he said.Mr Usher added: "We have got quite a lot of vehicles with interesting backstories but this is right up there."
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