New series of Vera: The North East locations featuring in tonight's episode

Brenda Blethyn in a scene in tonight's instalment of Vera.

The launch of the new series is just hours away – and this is where will feature in the first instalment of Vera.

The hour-long ITV show will be screened from 8pm today, Sunday, January 12, as Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope and her colleagues work to find out who killed self-style entrepreneur Freddie Gill.

It is the first of four episodes of the North East-set programme.

The 10th series of the crime drama will begin by Blood Will Tell, is written by Paul Gray, and will follow Brenda Blethyn’s lead character work out the circumstances surrounding his death, which discovered when bailiffs try to repossess his home.

The cast of Vera, which is now in its 10th series.

Freddie was estranged from his wife and son - Jade and Riley Gill - who are now living back at her family’s beloved pub with her formidable mother Tina Tripp, volatile brother Lee and taciturn uncle Donnie.

Matters are further complicated when Vera finds out Jade’s father Arthur, having recently succumbed to terminal illness, had secretly been keeping ties with Freddie despite him having been ejected from the family.

Vera soon discovers Freddie’s professional life is just as turbulent when she learns the used-car sales company he runs with business partner and lifelong friend Nasir Ali, is failing and it is targeted by an arson attack.

Vera must uncover whether the motive behind Freddie’s death comes from the trouble at the heart of his family, his desperate financial crises or his glances with organised crime.

Brenda Blethyn as Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope.

The programme’s makers have revealed the locations to appear include the 17th century Tan Hill Inn, the highest pub in Britain, Gateshead Snooker Club, in the town’s Durham Road, Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital and Retro bar in Newgate Street, Neptune Service Station in Walker, a short distance away from the River Tyne, Mister Ridley’s Ice Cream and Coffee shop in Ridley Park in Blyth and Tanfield School in Tanfield Lea, Stanley.

Other locations due to feature later in the series include Orchard House in Alnwick, Port of Sunderland and the city centre, The University Hospital of Hartlepool and Marsden Grotto in South Shields.