A FUNERAL director has been helping Brenda Blethyn to put his village on the map.

Ivan Cochrane, of Shotton Colliery, starred, albeit briefly, in Sunday night’s episode of Vera, the crime drama based in the North East starring Blethyn, after the show’s director “fell in love with the village”.

The spotlight fell on Shotton in the summer for filming, and again on Sunday night when the episode Black Ice was aired, and Mr Cochrane and his family funeral business appeared on screen.

Mr Cochrane, who runs Cochrane Funeral Directors, said: “I did watch it on Sunday. It was a bit strange, seeing yourself on television, but I’m so proud of Shotton. We are definitely on the map.

“Someone from ITV got in touch with us and then visited our Horden office in June. They told us they wanted to film and we suggested they come over to Shotton.

“The person who came fell in love with the place. He said it was ideal for filming. He walked around and then the director came out too and the director loved it. They had visited about 30 to 40 sites in the area and chose ours as a location.”

The film crew of 30 plus arrived for a day of filming on a Saturday in July and were welcomed by the villagers.

“The film crew was fantastic. There were wagons and equipment, they arrived at 7am and were apologetic to the neighbours and villagers after interrupting their weekend lay-in. They spoke to everyone. Brenda Blethyn was really pleasant, all the actors were so friendly and spoke about the great welcome they had had from Shotton,” said Mr Cochrane.

“Brenda took a shine to our five-year-old Patterdale terrier Molly, and every time filming stopped, she would ask for Molly.”

The following week Mr Cochrane and two of his colleagues took a hearse and limousine to Blyth to film shots for the funeral scenes featured in the episode.

He said: “We had to do about 10 or more takes for about 15 seconds of film for the screen. I think I actually appear on screen though for about four seconds.”

The village had to keep the filming under wraps until the episode was screened on Sunday night on ITV. Locations in Peterlee also featured.

Mr Cochrane said: “The whole experience has been wonderful for our family, friends, neighbours and the whole village. It was fascinating to see the filming. They even repainted our funeral parlour and then painted it back how it was, and they fed us bacon butties – the crew really looked after us all.

“But the best part is that it has really put Shotton on the map, and Peterlee. It makes us proud to come from here. Since the episode was shown on the television on Sunday, the feedback has been fantastic.

The family firm, which is also a coach operator, has been in business for 45 years. Mr Cochrane runs it with his wife Marlene, daughters Helen and Allison and son Ian.

Funds paid by ITV for use of the funeral directors and village locations has been donated to various charities in the community.

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 in 2011, and to date, seven series have aired. Blethyn plays Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope and is currently on screen in the eighth season. It is filmed on location in the North East, Newcastle and Northumberland.