Vera is back! Cast, preview and spoilers from the new series tonight

ITV’s top-rating crime drama Vera continues with its eighth series tonight with a four-part run in 2018.

Based on the bestselling Inspector Stanhope books by award-winning writer Ann Cleeves, Vera and her team are drawn into four more compelling mysteries, including the body of a police officer discovered in an abattoir incinerator, a mysterious car crash, a suburban back-garden murder and the circumstances that led to the death of a teenage boy.

Set around Newcastle and the stunning Northumberland countryside, Vera features complex and intriguing cases, atmospherically-shot landscapes and captivating performances, led by BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning actress Brenda Blethyn as the unorthodox but brilliant DCI Vera Stanhope.

Brenda is reunited with co-stars Kenny Doughty, Jon Morrison, Noof McEwan, Christopher Colquhoun, Lisa Hammond and Riley Jones.

Other actors joining them across four new stand-alone films include Ben Batt, Vincent Regan, Ben Crompton, Ian Puleston-Davies, Steve Evets and Rita Tushingham.

In tonight’s fourth episode, Darkwater, DCI Vera Stanhope (Brenda Blethyn) is confronted with a tragic mystery when the dead body of teenager Ethan Dewley is found floating in a reservoir.

Vera and her team discover that Ethan had been missing for three days prior to his death. Centred around a rural timber community, Vera and Aiden (Kenny Doughty) look to the locals for answers. But, few are willing to step out of line.

The deeper they dig, the more complex the relationships between Ethan’s friends and family appear. Vera and her team must push their enquiry further to understand which of the underlying secrets will lead to his killer.

Vera airs tonight, January 28, at 8PM on ITV.