Leg surgery? It can wait, ma’am! Vera cop Jon Morrison opts not to stop for op

VERA star Jon Morrison battled through the pain barrier for the latest series of ITV’s hit cop drama.

Glaswegian Jon needed a leg operation but fought through to complete shooting.

The show is so close to his heart that he was actually happy to speak to iN10 from his hospital bed soon after the op before heading home to recuperate.

“There were a few cancelled appointments which made it all a very long process,” said Jon. “It was painful when I was filming but I managed to get through it and ITV were very understanding.

“As soon as I finished Vera I was straight in for the surgery to have a diseased artery replaced. I’ve got a scar from my groin to my ankle and I’ll be resting up until February, I reckon.”

Vera, based on the books by Ann Cleeves, is back for its eighth series with Brenda Blethyn once again playing the no-nonsense north east of England copper Vera Stanhope.

And Jon’s dogged DC Kenny Lockhart, usually the butt of Vera’s withering putdowns, has been at her side all the way through.

“We’ve done 32 and I’ve been in 31, I only didn’t appear in the pilot episode,” said Jon. “It’s quite an achievement and I’m eternally grateful to Brenda and to ITV, who like my character.”

Brenda’s now 71 but John says her energy is unbelievable.

“She leaves me in her wake. In fact, she leaves everybody in her wake to be honest.

“She’s a real powerhouse and she has become a great friend. She leads from the front and she pays attention to every detail.

“She makes sure we don’t do it unless it’s right.”

The series has put the north east right on the map, from city scenes shot in Newcastle to much that’s filmed in the wilds of Northumberland.

Jon admits it was a part of the country he pretty much used to pass straight by on his way up and down to London.

But he’s such a regular there through seven years of filming that he has his own suite in a Newcastle hotel and he’s fallen in love with the whole area.

“I think the scenery plays a huge part,” he says. “We go to some quite obscure places, like the Kielder Forest.

“You can get lost in them – I have twice! We shoot in remote quarries and parts of the moors and then there’s the dramatic coastline.

“We use all of it. And it’s such a happy programme to be involved with.

“Everyone who comes on it has a good time and I’ll often see Brenda and Kenny Doughty (who plays DS Aiden Healy) sitting in the Land Rover giggling away.”

Jon has been back in his native Glasgow for the past decade after spending the best part of 30 years in London.

He says that just as he has fallen in love with the north east, he fell out of love with the English capital.

“It just wasn’t the same place any more and the fun of living there had gone,” said Jon, who moved home after a relationship breakdown and is now happily settled with new partner Bev.

“Glasgow is a much more open city these days and the culture scene has taken huge leaps forward. It still has the old sectarian nonsense but it’s not as in your face as it used to be.”

Jon had his real breakthrough in controversial 1975 Play For Today Just Another Saturday, which focused on the Orange Walk scene in Glasgow.

It propelled him into steady work for the next decade and he shared a screen with then-novice actor Billy Connolly.

“Billy really was the Big Yin, the man at the time and it was great to work with him on that and The Elephants’ Graveyard.

“I don’t think acting really came that naturally as he was more a musician and comedian then.

“Acting was a third string to his bow and I don’t think he always appreciated that it was my first string and he thought I was trying to outdo him, which wasn’t the case at all.”

Vera, ITV, tonight, 8pm.