Unforgotten
GenreCrime drama
CreatorChris Lang
WriterChris Lang
DirectorAndy Wilson
Starring
Open theme"All We Do" by Oh Wonder
ComposerMichael Price
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Num series6
Num episodes36
Executive producer
  • Sally Haynes
  • Chris Lang
  • Laura Mackie
ProducerTim Bradley
EditorAdam Trotman
Runtime45 minutes
CompanyMainstreet Pictures
ChannelITV
First aired8 October 2015
Last airedpresent

Unforgotten is a British crime drama television series, which initially aired on ITV on 8 October 2015. It was created and written by Chris Lang and directed by Andy Wilson. The programme follows a team of London detectives led by DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) (Series 1–4), DCI Jessie James (Sinéad Keenan) (Series 5–6) and DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) as they solve cold cases of disappearance and murder.[1][2]

Each series consists of six episodes. Series 1 to 4 were broadcast in the UK in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2021. For Series 5, which premiered on ITV in February 2023, Sinéad Keenan replaced Walker as Bhaskar's new partner, DCI Jessica "Jessie" James.[3] Series 6 aired starting 9 February 2025. In February 2025, ITV renewed the crime drama for a seventh series.

Each series deals with a new case, introducing seemingly unconnected characters who are gradually revealed to have some relationship with the victim. As the murder mystery unfolds, the emotional ramifications of the crime on the lives of those affected are also explored.[2]

Unforgotten has received critical acclaim. Tom Courtenay won the 2016 BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actor for the first series and Mark Bonnar won the 2017 BAFTA Scotland for Best Actor in Television for the second series.[4][5]

Plot

Series 1 to 4 include the story of DCI Cassie Stuart's personal life: of the typical but growing conflicts in her immediate family, of her spartan arms-length relationships with individuals who like her, of her drive to solve cases and of her coping both successfully and unsuccessfully with the relentless strain of her job. During the historical cold cases, Cassie verbalizes her driving motives: find the truth of what happened, provide closure to the living and possibly bring a criminal to justice. An inner motive surfaces when she says she hopes solving a current case will help "... [me] move on... If we can do this right, if we can ignore who they are and do it by the book, then all the questions [and faces] might all go away. And I might be able to sleep at night."[6]

Series 1 focuses on the murder of James "Jimmy" Sullivan (Harley Alexander-Sule), a 17-year-old who disappeared in 1976. His remains are discovered during the demolition of a house in north London.[7]

Series 2 follows the murder of David Walker (Daniel Gosling), a Conservative Party consultant who went missing in 1990. His saponified remains are found in a suitcase in the River Lea in north-east London.[8]

Series 3 investigates the murder of schoolgirl Hayley Reid (Bronagh Waugh), who disappeared from a seaside resort town on New Year's Eve 1999. Her skeleton is discovered by workmen repairing the central reservation of the M1 motorway in London.[9]

Series 4 follows the discovery in 2020 of Matthew Walsh's headless and handless corpse, found inside an old freezer removed during a house clearance in north London. His body had apparently been frozen since his disappearance in 1990 when he encountered five police trainees celebrating their Passing Out from the academy.[10]

Series 5 investigates the murder of Precious Falade, whose body is found in the chimney of a house undergoing renovation. While DCI James tries to deal with the revelation that her husband has been having an affair with her sister, she and the team assemble the circumstances surrounding the death, including the troubled lives of the dead woman's mother, son and key social worker.

Series 6 follows the discovery of body parts belonging to a man called Gerry Cooper, in a London marsh. DCI James resumes contact with her sister, but finds it difficult. Sunny and pathologist Leanne Balcombe begin dating.

Cast

Series 1 (2015) cast

Series 2 (2017) cast

Series 3 (2018) cast

Series 4 (2021) cast

Series 5 (2023) cast

Series 6 (2025) cast

Production

The series was originally developed, by Lang, as a serial titled 27 Arlington Crescent.[11] Filming for the first series began in March 2015 and lasted for twelve weeks. Locations included Liverpool, the London suburbs, Kingston upon Thames, the Essex coast, Westminster and the Fens.[12]

After the unexpected success of the initial series, ITV commissioned a second series, with Lang returning as writer and Wilson as director.[13] It was shot on location by the River Lea, in the Cotswolds, and along the promenade in Brighton.[14]

A third series order was announced on 2 March 2017, following strong viewing figures.[15] Scenes were set in Lymington, Hampshire (which substituted for the fictional Middenham and its estuary), Uxbridge, Middlesex, Amersham in Buckinghamshire, Clifton in Bristol, Ealing in West London, and King's Lynn and Hunstanton in Norfolk. An empty mansion at Bulstrode Park near Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire provided the setting for the police station and lab.[9] Only seven weeks after filming wrapped, the third series began broadcasting in the UK on 15 July 2018.[citation needed]

A fourth series was scheduled to be made in autumn 2019; however, ITV only confirmed in January 2020 that filming had commenced, with the planned broadcasting timeframe having been delayed. In September 2020, it was announced that filming had recommenced and the series planned on being screened in 2021, with actors Walker, Bhaskar, Reeves and Egan all reprising their roles.[16][17] The new series eventually began screening in February 2021.

Filming for the fifth series began on 14 March 2022, with the airing of the series beginning on 27 February 2023.[18]

In April 2023, ITV renewed the crime drama for a sixth series, which was launched on ITV1 on 9 February 2025.[19]

The opening and closing credits are accompanied by the song "All We Do", written and performed by the English duo Oh Wonder (Ant West and Josephine Vander Gucht).[20]

Episodes

Series 1 (2015)

Episodes 1 – 5's ratings are based on 28-day data from BARB for ITV and ITV+1 and 7-day data for ITV HD. Episode 6's ratings are based on 28-day data from BARB for ITV, ITV+1 and ITV HD.

International broadcast

Prior to the UK broadcast of the third series, the first series premiered on 8 April 2018 in the United States, as part of PBS Masterpiece Mystery. After two back-to-back episodes were aired each week, the second series was similarly broadcast as three weekly parts from 29 April 2018 to 13 May 2018.[21] Series 3 premiered on 7 April 2019. Series 4 premiered on 11 July 2021. Series 5 Premiered on 9 September 2023.

Home media

The first three series have been released on Region 2 DVD individually. A box-set release of the first two series was made available shortly after the broadcast of the second series. A further box-set release of the first three series came out shortly after the broadcast of the third series. The fourth series has also been released on Region 2 DVD on its own. The first five series have been made available on Amazon Prime in some countries.

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNomineeResultRef
2016British Academy Television AwardsBest Supporting ActorTom Courtenay[22]
Royal Television Society Programme AwardsBest Actor – MaleTom Courtenay[23]
Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) AwardsBest ActressNicola Walker[24]
C21 International Drama AwardsBest English-Language Drama SeriesUnforgotten[25]
Best Casting of a Drama SeriesUnforgotten[25]
2017London Screenwriters' Festival – British Screenwriters’ AwardsBest Crime Writing on Television (Series/Single Drama)Chris Lang[26]
British Academy Scotland AwardsBest Actor in TelevisionMark Bonnar[5]
2018Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) AwardsBest ActorMark Bonnar[27]
2019British Academy Television AwardsBest Supporting ActorAlex Jennings[28]
2022Best Drama SeriesUnforgotten

Remake

In 2017, it was reported that a remake was in development for ABC in the United States, with Josh Berman, Sony Pictures Television and BBC Worldwide Productions producing. Retitled Suspects, it was to feature a new cast and crew.[29] Chris Lang would not be involved in the United States version,[30] and Nicola Walker would not make an appearance.[31]

References

  1. ^ "Unforgotten – UK TV Premiere Date Information". GeekTown. 11 February 2021.
  2. ^ Whitelaw, Paul (18 November 2015). "UNFORGOTTEN – Series One". Frame Rated
  3. ^ Bray, Abbie (15 March 2022). "Unforgotten season 5: ITV confirms Nicola Walker's replacement". Express. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  4. ^ McLennan, Cindy (2 March 2017). "Unforgotten: Season Three Renewal for ITV Series". TV Series Finale
  5. ^ "British Academy Scotland Awards: Winners in 2017". BAFTA Scotland. 5 November 2017.
  6. ^ Chris Lang (10 January 2020), "Unforgotten - Series 4 - Episode 2 - Script, Pink/10JAN2020", retrieved 25 July 2021
  7. ^ "Unforgotten". Mainstreet Pictures
  8. ^ "Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar lead an all-star cast in two seasons of a gripping new mystery series on Masterpiece". WOUB Digital. 2 April 2018.
  9. ^ Griffiths, Eleanor Bley. "When is ITV's Unforgotten series 3 on TV?". Radio Times
  10. ^ Jeffries, Stuart (22 February 2021). "Unforgotten series four review – the coldest of cold cases". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  11. ^ "Pitches & Storylines". 7 December 2018.
  12. ^ Eames, Tom (9 March 2015). "Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar to lead ITV crime drama Unforgotten". Digital Spy. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  13. ^ "ITV commissions a second series of Unforgotten". ITV Press Centre. 12 November 2015.
  14. ^ Travis, Ben (5 January 2017). "Unforgotten, Series 2: cast, locations and three other things to know as the ITV crime drama returns". London Evening Standard
  15. ^ "ITV commissions third series of critically acclaimed Unforgotten". ITV Press Centre. 2 March 2017.
  16. ^ Bley Griffiths, Eleanor (September 2019). "When is Unforgotten series four on TV?". Radio Times. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  17. ^ "Unforgotten series 4: ITV's cold-case drama returns in February". BT.com
  18. ^ "Unforgotten season 5: Cold case drama returns in January 2023". BT
  19. ^ Cormack, Morgan (5 February 2025). "Unforgotten season 6 release date, plot, trailer and latest news". Radio Times. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  20. ^ Carr, Flora (9 March 2021). "Song lyrics, title sequence meaning and clues". Radio Times. Archived 10 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  21. ^ "Unforgotten • Masterpiece Official Site". PBS
  22. ^ "Television in 2016". BAFTA
  23. ^ "RTS Programme Awards 2016". Royal Television Society. 22 March 2016.
  24. ^ Bulkley, Kate (11 February 2016). "BPG Awards 2016 – Television nominations". Broadcasting Press Guild
  25. ^ "Finalists named in C21 drama awards". C21Media. 11 March 2016.
  26. ^ Holmes, Leilani (17 September 2017). "The British Screenwriters' Awards 2017". London Screenwriters' Festival
  27. ^ Clover, Julian (16 March 2018). "Awards 2018". Broadcasting Press Guild
  28. ^ "Television in 2019". BAFTA. 28 March 2019.
  29. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (5 October 2017). "ABC Developing 'Suspects' Crime Drama Based On British Format With Josh Berman". Deadline Hollywood
  30. ^ White, Peter (31 July 2018). "British Writer Chris Lang On Crime Dramas 'Unforgotten' & 'Innocent' & Why He's Moving into Romantic Comedy". Deadline Hollywood
  31. ^ Jeffery, Morgan (12 February 2018). "Nicola Walker reveals when Unforgotten series 3 starts filming – and whether she'll appear in the US remake". Digital Spy
  1. ^ Listed in the credits in the first three series as DS and sometimes also referred to as such in dialogue; more commonly referred to in dialogue as DI and, in series 3, this rank is shown on his warrant card.
  2. ^ Credited as DS in series 4, but still referred to as DC in dialogue.