ITV Drama Vera
Play filmA very tricky shoot at the Tees Barrage
This was a very tricky shoot filmed at the Tees Barrage. It required keeping the drone square on to the Archimedes screws which pump water around the White Water Centre.
As the drone rose it revealed “Vera”, aka Brenda Blethyn, walking across a metal gangway to inspect a murder victim with the police scenes of crime team.
Once again we used the DJI Inspire 2 for all the drone filming on this shoot.
Brenda Blethyn and the team were a joy to work for and we look forward to many more filming days in the future.
A murder scene revealed from the air
One slow, rising drone shot: the huge turning screws of the white water course filling the frame, then DCI Vera Stanhope crossing the gangway above them to the body below.
The location was the star. At the Tees Barrage International White Water Centre four giant Archimedes screws lift water from the bottom pool back to the top of the course, and for a crime drama they make an unforgettable place to find a body.
The shot had to start tight and symmetrical on the screws, with the aircraft dead square to the machinery, and then climb straight up to reveal the gangway, the scenes of crime officers in their white suits and Vera arriving to take charge.
Any drift, yaw or wobble shows immediately against hard, straight lines of steel and concrete, so it had to be flown precisely, take after take, in the confined space between the structure, the water and the film crew.
It was flown as a two-man drone crew, with me, Phil Fearnley, piloting the aircraft. Working over water and close to cast and crew, every flight was planned with the production and the centre’s own team before the Inspire left the ground.
The Archimedes screws, the gangway and the crime scene
What Vera is all about
A battered mac, a floppy hat, an old Land Rover and one of the sharpest minds in British crime drama.
Vera is the ITV crime drama based on the novels of Ann Cleeves. Brenda Blethyn plays Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope of the fictional Northumberland & City Police: dishevelled, irascible and obsessive about her work, but fiercely loyal to her team and never fooled for long.
Each feature-length episode is a single murder investigation, and each is rooted in the landscape of North East England: the Northumberland coast and hills, Newcastle and the Tyne, County Durham and Teesside.
The series began on ITV in 2011 and ran for 14 series and 56 episodes, ending in January 2025. It became one of the most-watched and best-loved dramas on British television and is shown all over the world.
DJI Inspire 2 and a two-man drone crew
Once again we used the DJI Inspire 2 for all the drone filming on this shoot. It is a professional cinema drone that gives a drama the image quality it needs to cut seamlessly with the main unit cameras.
We worked as a two-man drone crew, and I flew the drone. On a drama set that matters: there is a full film crew, cast, police vehicles and a lot of expensive equipment in a small space, and the drone has to fit into the day without holding anybody up.
The Inspire 2 is stable enough to hold a precise, symmetrical frame against hard architecture, and powerful enough to climb smoothly through the shot. It is also quick to reset, so when the director asks to go again, we go again.
The Inspire 2, the cast and the police cars
Tees Barrage, Stockton-on-Tees
The Tees Barrage International White Water Centre sits on the River Tees between Stockton-on-Tees and Thornaby, in the heart of Teesside.
The white water course opened in 1995 and was rebuilt between 2010 and 2011, when the four Archimedes screws were installed to pump water back up the course so that it can run whatever the tide is doing. The Queen reopened it in 2012.
It is a working water sports centre for canoeing, kayaking and rafting, and it has become a popular filming location in its own right. As well as Vera, the centre has appeared in Emmerdale and in the feature film 1917.
Vera was filmed all over the North East, from Newcastle, Gateshead and the Northumberland coast to County Durham, Hartlepool and Teesside. We are a short drive away in Yorkshire and regularly fly for film and television productions across Teesside, County Durham, Tyneside and Northumberland.
If you are planning a drama, documentary or commercial in the North East and need a drone crew used to working on busy sets, we would love to hear from you.
With the ITV film crew at the Tees Barrage
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