Even cosy ITV cop drama VERA is at it now…

Funny thing I said on one of the telly addicts thread that I bet Silent Witness has a gender identity storyline as they have been squeezing every minority representation they can into each episode.

I imagined them carrying out an autopsy refering to her, then a dramatic pause, but not knowing which words would be acceptable, didn't know how to then record that they were actually carrying out the autopsy on a man.

Thanks, yes, I think it's ITV 3 I see them on.

@SinnerBoy The recent Vera's have been on ITV1 at 8pm and obviously lost out to Happy Valley. It has or was their premium sunday night series.

The problem is that since ITV went ITVx they dont allow catch up other than through that www.itv.com/watch/vera/1a7314

And to add to the confusion although this is series 12 they also showed the end of series 11 delayed by covid.

But I think the older series are shown on ITV3 which may be different

IMDb didn't even have the episode listed last night. Its TV data isn't as robust as the films'. And according to the end credits Rae was played by Mary Malone.

When I saw it I just thought I bet when she gets back to the office she makes some nearly crossing the line comment to Kenny, partly hoping to embarrass him, and to shake off her in the public personna!

The moment Rae answered the door to Con, saying no, then shut it again was enough to see that the character is a transwoman.

Which is fine. Vera's lack of reaction less likely though. I'm sure Vera would have been nice to Raes face, but there's have been a raised eyebrow afterwards!

The 'you've always been a woman' was certainly quite jarring though! I haven't seen this episode, but if she said that surely it means they were meant to be a trans woman. It just isn't someone anyone eould say to a woman.
With regards things set I the 50s and 60s with added trans characters - it's possibly part of the general push for 'trans ppl have always existed'. A very current identity category plonked in the past.

Mary malone is a character in his dark materials.
IMDB doesn't list Rae at all, under cast.

Vera's going downhill and this is the last straw.

Just watching it now.

"Ohh a lass like you shouldn't be in a mens hostel' FFS
Get in the bin. Sick of it

I got the impression in Mrs Maisel the character wasn't actually meant to be a transwoman, but they'd hired a transwoman to play a woman's role. I could be wrong.

The 'you've always been a woman' was certainly quite jarring though!

I live in a very rural part of Northumberland. Diversity is certainly not much in evidence here.

This is what impressed me about JKR's handling of it in one of the strike books. Neither Strike not Robin were directly author's voice, Robin rather more "be nice" and strike realist to the point of coming across rough. Okay so the character had just attacked him and he may be more diplomatic in a different moment. But still, it seemed in synch with their respective ages and backgrounds.

Newcastle itself is diverse but a lot of the rural areas aren’t. That I do find a bit incongruous on Vera.

yeah, I was too. I really enjoy Vera because it has quite complex plots which can be developed over 2 hrs and was always reasonably credible in terms of the relationships.

Sigh. It’s everywhere isn’t it. Was so disappointed in seeing it in Vera.

Spoiler alert re the murderer.
I think the conversation was around Rae being asked to leave a womens' hostel, not refuge, because another resident didn't feel safe. And therefore had to go to a mens' hostel where Conn looked out for Rae. Vera wanted to get more information from Rae about Conn. I was getting confused because I thought, when Rae turned up at the funeral, that Rae may have been in the army with the others. Rae was a trans woman, as is the actor.

The point that struck me was that they had a woman murderer (again?). Yes, I know it's fiction! You also know that the murderer isn't the first person who's arrested, because you've still got the best part of two hours to go.

Have I added much to the conversation?

Yes I was shouting at the telly too. It was so obviously contrived and no way would Vera have said something like that. Certainly not the Vera that Ann Cleeves writes about. I couldn't actually believe it.

The whole character felt unnecessary and the reason for the friendship seemed really implausible.

What channel is it on? I only ever see it on the rerun side.

I thought the plot lines in Vera were getting weaker. I only watched the first half last night as I wanted to watch Happy Valley. I did spot the character flouncing out of the estate agents and my immediate reaction was that they were male. I know DH will want to watch the second half tonight, but I think that will probably be the last Vera for me. (Unless I find some old episodes I’d missed). And sad that Paul Kay’s not in it anymore.

JanieAllen · Today 16:55

I am astonished about the diversity of Vera ! I visit Newcastle quite often and it seems a lot less diverse....

You've never been to Benwell - Elswick - Fenham! It was very white, when I was young, in the 70s and 80s. I was amazed when I went to high school and there was a Sikh lad in my class.

It's everywhere,like dogshit.

I am astonished about the diversity of Vera ! I visit Newcastle quite often and it seems a lot less diverse....

Vera, the show, has always been lightening fast to adopt whatever the cause of the moment is. There was one season when they had obviously been told to diversify the cast, and all of a sudden many of the old peripheral roles were gone, replaced by people who were members of identity groups.

And I think I remember at one point all smoking seemed to suddenly disappear.

Exactly, it's just degrading.

They also cast a bloke as a woman teacher in Queen's Gambit, another drama from the same 50s/60s era, so there's precedence.