BRENDA Blethyn and her famous Land Rover Defender have been spotted filming outside a North East housing estate as filming for the next series ramps up.

Blethyn, who plays DCI Vera Stanhope in the hit shot, Vera, was spotted along with cast and crew at Dunston Staithes in Gateshead.

Along with Kenny Doughty, who plays DCI Stanhope's sidekick DS Aiden Healy, the all too familiar Land Rover Defender was also on the scene.

Read more: The moment Brenda Blethyn spotted filming ITV Vera outside North East church

The filming locations has been previously used in episodes gone by, but some scenes taken on Monday appeared to have been filmed at the nearby Staiths South Bank estate.

Vera fan, Nicola Johnson captured the moment she saw film crews set up shop - and the leading lady herself, shoot the scenes.

The Northern Echo: Picture: NICOLA JOHNSONPicture: NICOLA JOHNSON

The Northern Echo: Picture: NICOLA JOHNSONPicture: NICOLA JOHNSON

The Northern Echo: Picture: NICOLA JOHNSONPicture: NICOLA JOHNSON

Ms Johnson shared her excitement after managing to secure a wave from Blethyn in between filming for scenes.

More scenes of Vera, cast and crew on location across the North East is no surprise as ITV bosses last week confirmed to The Echo that filming would continue until Autumn.

Read more: When filming for ITV Vera will come to an end as bosses provide update

In recent days, the production team have been at locations across the region.

More recently, St Michael's RC Church in Elswick, Newcastle was used for scenes which appeared to be part of a military funeral.

Although no details of the upcoming series have been released, it is good news for fans as there are still two more episodes from series 11, which was filmed in 2020 and 2021.

However, ITV is yet to confirm when these episodes will be scheduled for broadcast.

The new episodes will be broadcast on ITV and on the ITV Hub 

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