Vera Poster Child explained: Ann Cleeves' iconic detective faces one of her most emotionally intense cases yet in the ITV drama

Vera Poster Child is an early episode you might have forgotten, and it sees DCI Vera Stanhope tackle a case that echoes her personal life.

The latest season of Vera delivered plenty of emotional twists and turns, not least the return of DI Joe Ashworth after we saw Kenny Doughty leave Vera as DS Aiden Healy in the festive special. Now our Sunday nights are once again sadly Vera-less, though there’s light at the end of the investigative tunnel as it’s already been revealed there’ll be more episodes to make up another series of Vera. 

As we patiently await the return of DCI Stanhope and her team at some point in the future, ITV3 has been delving back into some of the no-nonsense detective’s previous cases. Vera Poster Child, season 3 episode 2, is set to air again on 12th February and delves into Vera and Joe’s camaraderie in the early days as they solve a case that strikes a chord personally for DCI Stanhope.

*Warning: Spoilers ahead*

Vera Poster Child explained: Who kidnapped Karen and Mira and why?

In recent seasons like the latest, Vera season 13, the cases have tended to be purely murder investigations, but in Vera Poster Child - the second episode of season 3 - the determined DCI must not only solve the death of an acclaimed doctor but find his kidnapped daughters. Just two days before he retired, Dr Dan Marsden was shot at his home and his children Karen and Mira were taken. Knowing that time is of the essence, Vera and her team throw themselves into investigating and it becomes clear that Mira - who was adopted from Iraq as a young child - and her past could be the key to solving both crimes.

As they look a little deeper, Vera and her team discover online chats on social media between Mira and a man called Malik Saleh from Iraq. From the chats it appears that she actually asked him to come and get her from Northumberland. In the meantime, Karen had been recovered safely after she managed to call her mum Laura Marsden and give clues that she was surrounded by plants.

Vera raced to the nearby Plastic City polytunnels area and found her, all while Malik had broken into the Marsden home. Joe had stayed behind but was locked in the kitchen powerless to help as fellow officer Barry Kelman was shot and killed after disturbing Malik who was in a room with a terrified Laura who was wounded. Karen explained to DCI Stanhope that it had been her fault as diabetic Mira had fallen ill after being without her insulin and Malik broke into her home to get supplies.

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Putting all the puzzle pieces together in Vera Poster Child, Vera and Joe finally discovered that Malik was Mira’s brother from Iraq. He’d come to the UK to find his long-lost sister and take her back to Baghdad, but hadn’t received the reception he’d expected and acted out of panic and killed Dan.

After Vera arrested the man who was planning to help Malik and Mira get out of the UK, she knew he’d be looking for a boat. He’d also been wounded by Barry Kelman when he’d gone back for the insulin and was bleeding profusely. In a heart-wrenching moment towards the very end of Vera Poster Child Malik and Mira were on an isolated beach and he told her that he’d come all this way for her and she screamed at him and he hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone.

After managing to push the boat a little way and hearing police arriving on the cliff above, Malik lay down in the boat with Mira and told her that he’d promised their late father to protect her. Mira asked what their father was like and her brother responded simply, “Always in his house. Always for his people.”

Vera season 3 episode 2 looked to have wrapped up all the mysteries, but then a small comment from Laura Marsden about Mira hating pictures where she appeared to have a fringe sparked something in Vera. She spoke gently to Karen and revealed that the profile picture of Mira’s social media account had a fringe and likely wasn’t picked by her. The detective worked out that Karen had set up the page and she had been the one who’d invited Malik to come over.

That’s why Malik had been so thrown by Mira’s distress and fear in Vera Poster Child - he’d thought she’d *wanted* him to come and get her. Karen had been jealous and considered it a “game”, believing he’d never come. She had set up the profile to try and catch her boyfriend Kyle out as she thought he was attracted to Mira and preferred her to Karen. 

What happened to Mira’s family?

Towards the end of Vera Poster Child the team uncover why Malik and Mira were separated. Malik and Mira were two of seven siblings and after their father died, Malik had raised them as his own. When their house was caught up in a bombing they were lost, except for those two and Mira had been rescued and sent to the UK for treatment where she’d been adopted by Dan and Laura.

Malik had written countless letters to the embassy and foreign office explaining what had happened and sharing his desire to be reunited with Mira but his requests were always denied. It turned out that Dan Marsden’s best friend had been behind this as he’d worked in the civil service and had interfered to stop Dan losing his daughter. Laura had known nothing about it and when she saw all Malik’s letters when she was recovering in hospital she was shocked and devastated.

Does Vera Stanhope have a sister?

The plot of Vera Poster Child with Mira discovering she had a long-lost brother was hugely significant to Vera as she’d recently discovered that her late father Hector Stanhope had another daughter she’d never known about and she had a younger half-sister. Joe had been aware of this revelation and asked her about it during a quiet moment in Vera’s beloved land rover. He asked tactfully about her “Dad’s little surprise” and asked, “Does she have a name at least?”

Irritable, Vera rebuffed him but at the end of Vera season 3 episode 2 she finally told him that her younger half-sister was called Cara” He asked her how many times they’d be having this conversation before she “pluck[ed] up the courage” to reach out to Cara, but the DCI insisted it wasn’t about bravery.

The case’s focus on long-lost siblings perfectly mirrored how she’d found out about a long-lost sibling and it was clear that investigating had made her think about it. Vera said that you have family and then you have people you trust and know - in a similar way to how Mira and Malik were sister and brother but she trusted the Marsdens who she also considered family.

“Maybe that’s enough,” Vera said, thinking about the people around her who she trusted. “Maybe that’s all you need.” 

This sentiment in Vera season 3 episode 2 is echoed in the finale of Vera season 13 too when she told Joe that she had her “people” even if she didn’t have family anymore and that her colleagues filled that place in her life.