Vera star Brenda Blethyn lives separately from her husband for this reason

ITV fans will know Brenda Blethyn well, as she shot her final ever series of the crime drama Vera. The 79-year-old actress, who tied the knot with Michael Mayhew in 2010, admitted it was a "hard decision" to step back from her 14-year run as the titular role in the ITV detective series. However, away from the celebrated series, the TV star has an unusual living situation with her husband. To others, it might seem rather strange for a married couple, but Brenda told The Telegraph that it "works brilliantly" for them.

She said: "My husband lives upstairs. We moved into this very nice flat in Ramsgate. And I'd be saying, 'Can I open a window, it's very hot in here?' And he'd say, 'No, it's freezing.' And after a while, I said, 'Is that flat downstairs still vacant?'"

"So I moved downstairs," she continued. "It works brilliantly. We eat together. We go out together. We live together, but in different apartments."

Speaking about leaving her role in Vera, she told Woman's Weekly magazine: "'It was a hard decision because I love 'Vera'. Come March, when I would normally be getting ready to go back up to Northumberland, I'll probably cry.

"It's just that I've been working on it for 14 years. But as much as I loved all that, I've got a family at home and I realised I hadn't had a summer for all that time with my family. I won't miss being away from home for six months of the year."

In the series, based on Ann Cleeves' books, Vera drove her trademark Land Rover as she investigated crimes in the North East. However, Brenda recalled an incident on set when she forgot to engage the handbrake.

She said: "I had to drive it across moorland quite quickly and stop six feet in front of the camera. I was accurate and stopped and then did everything I had to do, like turning off the motor, handbrake on, taking my seat belt off. They said, 'Brenda, you've got to get out quicker!'

"So I do it again and I get out fast this time, but as I'm walking away from the Land Rover it starts rolling! The crew are holding it, trying to push it back!"

Episodes of Vera can be streamed on ITVX.