A Woman Of Substance fans! Here are 7 overlooked Brenda Blethyn dramas

Becoming a National Treasure isn’t easy – it takes real talent and dedication, and Brenda Blethyn has definitely earned that recognition. Few would disagree she’s reached that level of esteemed status.

Brenda Blethyn is widely recognized for playing the strong-willed detective DCI Vera Stanhope in the TV series Vera, but she’s actually built an incredibly impressive career over the last fifty years.

Growing up, her parents worked as domestic staff – her mother as a maid and her father as a chauffeur. She initially learned to be a stenographer, but eventually became an actress. Here are a few of her best performances that didn’t get the recognition they deserved…

The Labours of Erica

By 1989, she was already well-known on television, but this marked her first time starring in her own series. She plays Erica, a woman who finds an old teenage to-do list – a list of things she wanted to accomplish before turning eighteen. Now approaching her fortieth birthday, she decides to finally check everything off.

The Labours of Erica is not available to watch in the UK at the moment.

Kate & Koji (ITVX)

This ITV comedy series brought Brenda back to her home county of Kent, filming in the seaside town of Herne Bay. She stars as Kate, who runs a struggling cafe, and forms an unlikely – and profitable, though illegal – partnership with Koji, an asylum seeker and out-of-work doctor, played by Jimmy Akingbola.

Dragonfly (BFI Player)

The critically acclaimed film Dragonfly from last year was originally conceived and scheduled to be made during the Covid-19 pandemic, but production was ultimately delayed until restrictions were lifted. Despite this, the film still evokes a sense of confinement. It centers on Brenda, who plays Elsie, an isolated elderly woman who forms a connection with her neighbor Andrea Riseborough – a somewhat unsettling character with a large, intimidating dog – after an incident limits Elsie’s ability to live on her own.

London River (BFI Player)

This film is a rare depiction of the aftermath of the 2005 London bombings. It centers on Elisabeth, a woman who lost her husband in the Falklands War, and Ousmane, a Muslim man from Africa. Both are searching for their missing children, who disappeared during the attacks. As they search, they uncover details about their children’s lives and face the difficult truth about what happened.

Secrets & Lies (Prime Video)

It might be inaccurate to say Brenda Blethyn’s performance went unnoticed – she received an Oscar nomination and won both a Golden Globe and a Bafta for it. In Mike Leigh’s moving family drama, she plays Cynthia, a woman unexpectedly contacted years later by her adult daughter, Hortense (played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste), whom she gave up for adoption.

When Hortense arrives, it breaks the fragile peace within Cynthia’s troubled family, forcing them to confront long-held tensions, but also highlighting the reasons they’ve remained distant for so long.

Ethel & Ernest (BBC iPlayer)

Raymond Briggs is a beloved and innovative cartoonist, famous for creating classics like The Snowman, Fungus the Bogeyman, When the Wind Blows, and Father Christmas. All of these stories have been made into films or TV shows.

This film is likely his most intimate project, telling the life story of his parents, Ethel and Ernest Briggs. It follows them from when they first met in 1928, through their marriage, struggles with money, raising a family, surviving the war, and into their retirement years in 1950s and 60s Britain. Judi Blethyn voices Ethel, and Jim Broadbent voices Ernest.

The New Adventures of Old Christine (Prime Video)

This comedy series gave Julia Louis-Dreyfus a role between her famous appearances on Seinfeld and Veep. The show centers around ‘Old Christine,’ a divorced mom who shares custody with her ex-husband – and finds it complicated by the fact that his new girlfriend has the same name!

One episode of the fourth season focused completely on Christine’s complicated relationship with her mother, a character brilliantly and disturbingly portrayed by Blethyn.

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2026-03-18 20:51