ITV have today released promotional pictures for new drama Unforgotten.
Unforgotten, written and created by Chris Lang (Undeniable, A Mother’s Son, Torn), focuses on a ‘cold’ murder case of 39 years ago, when the bones of a young man are found beneath the footings of a demolished house. An investigation begins that will unravel the lives of four people who have been waiting for this moment for nearly forty years, as they discover that the past can’t, and won’t, stay buried for ever.
Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar take the lead roles as DCI Cassie Stuart and DS Sunil ‘Sunny’ Khan, the modern day police team who gradually unravel deep-rooted and long-forgotten secrets, which will have a dramatic impact on their investigation and the lives of four potential suspects – Father Robert Greaves (Bernard Hill), Sir ‘Frank’ Philip Cross (Trevor Eve), Lizzie Wilton (Ruth Sheen), and Eric Slater (Tom Courtenay). The slow revelation of these secrets as Cassie and Sunny hunt for the killer will alter the dynamic of the families and their loved ones forever.
But who is the murdered boy and what happened in 1976, which was the catalyst for his murder? Who did he come into contact with who eventually bludgeoned him to death? And what of his family? The pain and despair of his bereft, inconsolable mother, grieving for a lost child as she still searches for answers nearly 40 years later.
Cassie and Sunny begin to unpeel the layers of the investigation only to discover each of the potential suspects has a past they’d sooner stay buried. Reputations could be lost, relationships fractured irrevocably and beliefs and opinions challenged.
Unforgotten asks difficult questions about our changing society, about how well families ever really know one another, and whether justice can ever be too cold to serve.
The drama is set in different corners of the country, from the outer London suburbs, to the Essex coast, Westminster and the Fens. With each of the characters’ stories running parallel, the multi-stranded narrative weaves suspicion and curiosity, connecting each of the principle characters.
The focus of the police investigation will be the red-bricked Victorian Arlingham House, a multipurpose property, formerly a private home, British Rail records office, flats, a hostel for homeless young men and women and DHSS office.
Nicola Walker (Last Tango in Halifax, Babylon, Scott & Bailey) and Sanjeev Bhaskar (The Kumars, The Indian Doctor, Goodness Gracious Me) join forces to star in Unforgotten, a brand new, six-part crime drama from Mainstreet Pictures.
Further cast includes Gemma Jones (Marvellous, Lucan, Bridget Jones’s Diary) as Claire Slater, Brian Bovell (Death in Paradise, Holby City) as Ray Wilton and Cherie Lunghi (Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Casualty) as Shirley Cross. Hannah Gordon (Hustle, Moving On, Doctor Who: Shada) is cast as Grace Greaves with Claire Goose (Undeniable, Mount Pleasant, Waking the Dead) and Tamzin Malleson (Midsomer Murders, Boy Meets Girl, Teachers) playing her daughters Ellie and Caroline. Peter Egan (Downton Abbey, Grantchester) plays Cassie’s father Martin, and Frances Tomelty (Catastrophe, The White Queen) as Maureen Sullivan, the grieving mother of the murdered boy.
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With thanks to ITV. Unforgotten premiers on ITV 1 later in September.
The Consulting Detective 
I am really looking forward to this – it has such wonderful actors in it.