Unforgotten

*Unforgotten*
Unforgotten
	Series 1 DVD cover
Genre	Crime drama
Created by	Chris Lang
Written by	Chris Lang
Directed by	Andy Wilson
Starring	Nicola Walker; Sanjeev Bhaskar; Sinéad Keenan; Peter Egan; Lewis Reeves; Pippa Nixon; Carolina Main;
Opening theme	"All We Do" by Oh Wonder
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	6
No. of episodes	36
Production
Executive producers	Sally Haynes; Chris Lang; Laura Mackie;
Producer	Tim Bradley
Editor	Adam Trotman
Running time	45 minutes
Production company	Mainstreet Pictures
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	8 October 2015 –; present

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]

Quick facts Genre, Created by ...

Each series consists of six episodes. Series 1 to 4 were broadcast in the UK in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2021. On 30 March 2021 a fifth series was announced, scheduled for release in 2023,^[3] and it was confirmed that Sanjeev Bhaskar would reprise his role.^[4]^[5] A year later it was confirmed that Sinéad Keenan would replace Walker as Bhaskar's new partner, DCI Jessica "Jessie" James.^[6] Filming for the fifth series began on 14 March 2022.^[7] The first episode of series 5 premiered on ITV in February 2023. In April 2023, ITV renewed the crime drama for a sixth series. The sixth series 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.^[8]^[9]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

Series	Episodes	Originally released		Avg UK viewership (millions)
Series	Episodes	First released	Last released	Avg UK viewership (millions)
1	6	8 October 2015 (2015-10-08)	12 November 2015 (2015-11-12)	6.44
2	6	5 January 2017 (2017-01-05)	9 February 2017 (2017-02-09)	6.91
3	6	15 July 2018 (2018-07-15)	19 August 2018 (2018-08-19)	6.85
4	6	22 February 2021 (2021-02-22)	29 March 2021 (2021-03-29)	9.49
5	6	27 February 2023 (2023-02-27)	3 April 2023 (2023-04-03)	8.25
6	6	9 February 2025 (2025-02-09)	24 February 2025 (2025-02-24)	7.64

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	UK viewers (millions) ^[25]
1	1	"Episode 1"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	8 October 2015 (2015-10-08)	7.35
A skeleton found in the cellar of a building being demolished prompts an investigation from DCI Cassie Stuart and her colleague DI Sunny Khan into the death of a young man that could potentially date back more than one hundred years. Discovery of a car key near the body not only dates it to within the last 65 years but also leads them on a trail that could help identify the victim. At the end of the trail is a diary belonging to Jimmy Sullivan, a young man missing since 1976, who appears to be the victim. The final pages of the diary contain several names and phone numbers: amongst them are Beth, Father Rob, Frankie C and Mr Slater, four seemingly unconnected people living separate lives. It is now down to Cassie and Sunny to find out what happened to Jimmy and to finally get him home.
2	2	"Episode 2"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	15 October 2015 (2015-10-15)	6.41
Cassie travels to Liverpool to see Jimmy's mother, Maureen, and get a sense of who Jimmy was, as well as a DNA sample to confirm his identity. She meets a woman who is relieved that she might find out what happened to her son 39 years after he went missing. With confirmation that the body in the cellar is Jimmy Sullivan, the search for his murderer begins. The team starts by identifying the names featured in Jimmy's diary. 'Frankie C' is Sir Phillip Cross, the government's recently appointed entrepreneurial czar, who emphatically denies ever having met Jimmy. 'Beth' is identified as Lizzie Wilton, now living in Croydon and married to Ray, a second-generation Jamaican man. Lizzie also denies remembering Jimmy but is clearly a different person from who she was in the mid 1970s, when she was a skinhead member of a racist organization. 'Father Rob' is Robert Greaves, who at the time of Jimmy's death, was working in the local church close to the building where Jimmy's body was found, then a hostel called Arlingham House where Jimmy was living. 'Mr Slater' is Eric Slater, a wheelchair user and a retired bookkeeper living in Cambridgeshire with his wife Claire, who has dementia .
3	3	"Episode 3"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	22 October 2015 (2015-10-22)	6.29
The investigation into Jimmy's death continues. Cassie and Sunny visit Father Robert Greaves, who remembers Jimmy fondly. He says he cannot identify the mysterious 'JoJo', who gave Jimmy the diary. However, he previously was seen leaving a phone message for JoJo and clearly reacts to hearing her name. Lizzy admits her racist past to Ray, but maintains that she did not know Jimmy. Sir Phillip tells his daughter Bella, a lawyer, of his questioning and admits knowing Jimmy and having done work for the Fenwick crime family. Cassie and Sunny meet Eric Slater, the former bookkeeper to Arlingham House, who remembers Jimmy well. He also remembers JoJo and says he found her having sex with Father Robert at the hostel. When Cassie and Sunny revisit Father Robert, he admits the relationship with JoJo, but says he wasn't aware of her also seeing Jimmy. He denies being in touch with her in recent years. When a tabloid paper gets the story of Sir Phillip's work for the Fenwicks, it puts both his business and political careers in jeopardy.
4	4	"Episode 4"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	29 October 2015 (2015-10-29)	6.61
The forensic team discovers marks on Jimmy's bones consistent with known gangland torture methods. With this in mind, Cassie and Sunny question Sir Phillip about his involvement with the Fenwick family. Did the he or any of the shady associates of his youth have anything to do with Jimmy's disappearance or murder? Eric Slater's only previous contact with the police was an altercation outside a pub a year before Jimmy's death. Eric says he and the other man were drunk and fighting over their football teams. But when the sister of the other man, now deceased, is interviewed, she insists that Eric waited for her brother outside a gay pub and violently attacked him. Phone records lead to the identification of JoJo as Joanna Bridges, who admits having relationships with both Jimmy and Father Robert. Based on information from someone who knew the residents of Arlingham House, Lizzie is brought in for questioning. She admits she and her then-boyfriend attacked and robbed Jimmy, but claims that neither were involved in the murder. Ray returns home to find Lizzie gone, "racist scum" spray painted on the house, broken glass where a brick was thrown through a window, and a note with the word "Sorry" on it. On their way back to the station Cassie and Sunny are notified that there may be a second murder victim.
5	5	"Episode 5"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	5 November 2015 (2015-11-05)	5.95
Based on a phone call to the station from Les Slater and his mother Claire, Cassie and Sunny gatecrash the Slaters' 45th anniversary party and begin searching for a second body. After extensive search they find one buried on the property, as Claire said it would be. Eric Slater is arrested but denies any knowledge of the body or involvement in Jimmy's murder. The second victim is identified as Nicholas Whitmore, who disappeared in 1978. After some initial reluctance, Curtis – a young man on Ray's football team who Lizzie was encouraging in his academic pursuits – agrees to help Ray search for Lizzie. Father Robert confesses to his family and then to the police that he stole money from the church and the community center, that JoJo became pregnant from their affair, and he has been using the money to support his illegitimate child. Before the news breaks of Eric Slater's arrest, Sir Phillip Cross had made a deal with his son's Turkish contacts, and before he is able to stop it, Gordon Fenwick is killed in a house fire, made to look like an accident. Evidence found in Eric Slater's home links him to the last known whereabouts of the Nick Whitmore, a gay bar, and following the revelation that Jimmy had been selling himself for sex to repay the debt he owed to the Fenwicks, Cassie and Sunny finally realise that the connection between both murders may be Eric Slater's hidden hatred for homosexuals. Despite his denials, Eric is charged with both murders.
6	6	"Episode 6"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	12 November 2015 (2015-11-12)	6.01
Father Robert's revelations prove to have lasting repercussions, especially for his daughter Caroline who goes into premature labour. Bella and Josh Cross deliberate over the best way to deal with their father's criminality. Eric asks to talk with Cassie, saying he can tell her who committed the murders. But he asks to be moved to another prison and to see a doctor before he will tell her. Sir Phillip's Turkish contact asks for £2 million to keep the arsonist, who has been arrested, from revealing Cross's name. Roy and Curtis keep searching for Lizzie until they are told she jumped into the river. However, a passerby pulled her out, and she was hospitalized. After being told his requests will be honoured, Eric tells Cassie and Sunny that Claire committed the murders. He admits unwillingly being attracted to men and having relationships with both Jimmy and Nicholas. Claire, who appears to have suffered from post-partum psychosis, attacked and killed the young men after finding each of them with her husband. Two weeks after Nicholas's death, Eric drove his car into a tree, resulting in his paraplegia. Josh Cross turns in his father, who admits paying for the death of Gordon Fenwick. Lizzie is released from the hospital, returns home with Roy, and is welcomed back by Curtis and tne other members of Roy's football team. Since Claire's dementia makes her unfit to be tried, she is admitted to a care facility. Sir Phillip hangs himself in his jail cell. With the identity of her son's killer revealed, Maureen is finally able to lay Jimmy to rest.

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	UK viewers (millions) ^[25]
7	1	"Episode 1"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	5 January 2017 (2017-01-05)	7.29
Workers dredging the River Lea in London discover a body in a suitcase that may have been in the water for a long time. Cassie and Sunny are assigned the case and try to identify the victim through his watch and pager. Meanwhile, in Brighton, criminal barrister Colin Osborne (Mark Bonnar) and his husband, Simon (Charlie Condou), are adopting a six-year old girl, Flora. Colin is being blackmailed by Tyler, the partner of the girl's birth mother, who witnessed him keying the car of a homophobe. In London, Marion Kelsey (Rosie Cavaliero) works as a nurse on a children's cancer ward and is struggling to balance supporting her patients, her marriage and dealing with her family. In Salisbury, teacher Sara Mahmoud (Badira Timini) attends an interview for a headmistress position. In the Cotswolds, Jason Walker who struggles to maintain relationships with women, is visited on his birthday by his mother Tessa Nixon (Lorraine Ashbourne), a detective inspector in Oxford. Sunny identifies the watch's owner as David Walker, who disappeared in May 1990. Cassie and Sunny notify Tessa, who is his widow and has remarried.
8	2	"Episode 2"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	12 January 2017 (2017-01-12)	7.08
As the investigation into David Walker's murder continues, the team try to decipher a series of messages found on the victim's pager. One message appears to be an address in King's Cross, which is discovered to have been a brothel at the time of Walker's death. Cassie and Sunny interrogate Sara Mahmoud, who was found to have worked as a prostitute from that address at the time. She denies knowing Walker, although she admits he could have been a client, and claims that she was living in Italy at the time of his murder. A telephone number in the victim's diary, found among evidence collected at the time of his disappearance, leads Cassie and Sunny to Colin Osborne, who also denies ever having known Walker. Colin tells his husband Simon about the blackmail and continues to feel pressure from Tyler. Marion becomes very upset when her supervisor tells her to discontinue personal phone calls with Zoe, one of the patients she cares for. Walker's best friend tells DC Fran that David had been sexually abused as a child.
9	3	"Episode 3"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	19 January 2017 (2017-01-19)	7.04
The discovery that Walker was sexually abused when in primary school leads the team to suspect that the perpetrator, if still alive, would be in his early 80s. Sunny interviews Walker's best friend, James Gregory (Richard Hope), who claims that in the days leading up to his death, Walker confronted the abuser, who denied any such abuse. He also thinks Walker's experience was behind his affairs and substance abuse. Tessa Nixon's boss, Detective Superintendent Gill (Nathalie Armin), asks her to take restricted duties while the investigation takes its course, which she refuses to do, as she has not been named as a suspect in her husband's death. Cassie visits the address found on the back of a card from Walker's desk, where she interviews Marion's mother and sister, Joy and Elise. They claim that Marion was the only one living at the house at the time of Walker's death and would be the only person to have given out the address. Checks on Marion's history reveal she was arrested in 1988 for assaulting a police officer during a protest march and that she was living at an address with a known IRA conspirator. Meanwhile, Sara is forced to tell her husband, Hassan, about her past life, and Colin reveals to Cassie and Sunny that he had a mental breakdown and was sectioned just days before Walker disappeared.
10	4	"Episode 4"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	26 January 2017 (2017-01-26)	6.52
Sara's life begins to fall apart when her youngest son overhears details from her secret past and shares the information with a friend, who passes it on. Meanwhile, DC Murray is told that Colin was sacked from his City job in 1989 for sexually assaulting a female temporary worker during an office party, but Cassie believes that he was framed. Flora's birth mother encounters Colin and demands an additional blackmail payment. When he storms off, leaving his phone behind, she pockets it. Meanwhile, Marion is suspended from work after her patient Zoe absconds from her parents' care. As the investigation into Walker's past continues, DS Jake receives an allegation that Walker sexually abused a 12-year-old girl, and Sunny discovers that he was heavily into S&M and sexually attacked at least one of his sexual partners. Concerns that his private fantasies spilled over into his charity work are confirmed when Ellen Price, a resident at a care home where he volunteered, comes forward to tell that Walker interfered with her and other children at the home. Some children were taken to 'parties' featuring drink, drugs and further sexual abuse. Tyler increases his blackmail demands on Colin, leading Simon to make a drastic decision. Tessa's second husband Paul fears that Jason may have inherited his father's tendencies and leaves with his 15-year-old daughter.
11	5	"Episode 5"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	2 February 2017 (2017-02-02)	6.77
Colin is shocked to discover that the rape allegation made against him was concocted by David Walker, who paid the supposed victim £5,000 to get him drunk and then give a false story. Ellen Price shows Cassie the location where Walker and his friends used to hold 'parties'. Tessa's denying knowledge of David's activities is called into question when Ellen recalls a woman she believed to be Walker's wife turning up outside the house and having a 'screaming' row with him before taking Ellen back to her care home. When shown photos of Marion, Sara and Colin as teens, Ellen thinks she recognize Sara from one of the parties. As Marion's home life continues to spiral, she tries to make things up with Zoe, who has been found and is back at the hospital. While Sara denies every possibility put to her by Cassie, her estranged father - who she had claimed was dead - turns up without warning and gives her husband a completely different picture of Sara's life, leading to her leaving home at age 13. Sara's husband uncovers evidence which confirms she was in Italy at the time of the murder. Simon makes the heartbreaking decision to pause the adoption unless Colin can convince Tyler to back off. With the three possible suspects having either solid alibis or unclear motives for Walker's death, Cassie and Sunny are stumped as to who the killer might be until Cassie has an idea that could mean there are more victims.
12	6	"Episode 6"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	9 February 2017 (2017-02-09)	6.77
Cassie and Sunny try to assemble the pieces and discover who actually killed David Walker 25 years earlier. Though Sara has provided reliable evidence that she was in Italy when the murder took place, Cassie suspects it was put together by someone who knew that one day she would need an alibi. The team wonder whether the case is part of a wider revenge plan. The notion is that each one killed the abuser of another, not their own abuser. Cassie travels to Scotland to talk with Colin's father, who describes how his son's behavior changed when he was about 9. She finds that the leader of a scout-type group to which Colin belonged was later imprisoned for assaulting boys in another group. That man had disappeared while sailing and was thought to have killed himself. When Sunny talks to Marion's sister and mother, he learns that Marion had told her mother about being abused by her father from the age of 12 but was not believed. Marion's father ended up hanging himself. A review of health service records reveals that Colin and Sara were both inpatients in the psychiatric ward of a London hospital and that Marion lived in the same neighborhood at that time, suggesting that they all may have known each other. Cassie follows Marion, who appears to have reconciled with her sister, to a pub and finds her in the back room with Colin and Sara. Cassie speaks alone with Colin, who tells her the details of his abuse at the hands of the group leader she had previously identified and how the experience changed him forever. He tells her that "what happened to Sara and Marion was much worse." Each of the three return home and tell their spouses of their abuse. Cassie consults with Sunny and decides that, as all three have suffered all their lives and work in jobs of high value to society, there seems to be no value in pursuing prison for them. There is also insufficient data for a solid court case, especially as one of the bodies was never found and the other death has been recorded as suicide.

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	UK viewers (millions) ^[25]
13	1	"Episode 1"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	15 July 2018 (2018-07-15)	6.80
When workmen carrying out carriageway repairs on M1 uncover human remains in the central reservation, Cassie and the team investigate. Despite suspicions the remains could be archaeological, forensic analysis reveals the victim was a young female who could not have been buried before 1991. The only clue is a titanium surgical plate that appears foreign and has no serial number. Sunny identifies the plate as having been manufactured by a Greek Cypriot company in the mid-1990s, and working on the assumption that the victim may have broken her wrist on holiday, the team begin to trawl through hundreds of missing persons files in the hope of finding an identity. They discover Hayley Reid, a 16-year-old who disappeared on New Year's Day in 2000, and her twin sister, Jessica, confirms she broke her wrist while on holiday in Cyprus in 1995 and had a plate inserted.
14	2	"Episode 2"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	22 July 2018 (2018-07-22)	6.64
Cassie and Sunny visit Hayley's family in Middenham, Hampshire, and break the news that it appears Hayley was strangled. Jessica warns Cassie that reopening the investigation could potentially bring a swarm of negative press back to the town, which wiped out the town's tourism trade for years after Hayley's disappearance. Cassie and Sunny meet with former local DCI John Bentley, second in command for the original investigation into Hayley's disappearance, who describes his regret that the police initially dismissed Hayley as a runaway. The police had investigated Hayley's boyfriend, Adrian Mullery, but he was never charged. After DNA confirms the remains were Hayley, one of her friends informs Cassie and Sunny that two days before her disappearance, Hayley subbed for her cleaning a holiday rental. This information aligns with Cassie's theory that the killer could have been a Londoner staying in a holiday rental. News of the discovery reaches four potential suspects in the investigation. Cassie and Sunny go to see Jamie Hollis, who hosts a television quiz show and organized rental of the house Hayley cleaned. He declines to speak to them without his lawyer and calls his son Eliot after the police leave. Clearly shaken, he tells Eliot "They’ve come – the police – about her.”
15	3	"Episode 3"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	29 July 2018 (2018-07-29)	6.74
Cassie and Sunny learn from Jamie that he and three friends shared the holiday rental with their families before the New Year and that they spent a quiet New Year's Eve at the house before leaving on 2 January. The detectives note the friends attended school close to where Hayley was buried, and three who were married at the time divorced shortly afterward. All four are troubled: Jamie is struggling to deal with his ex-wife and with his son Eliot, who is addicted to drugs and has gender dysphoria; artist Chris Lowe has bipolar disorder and lives in a van off-the-grid; Pete Carr is a failed salesman who attempted to steal money from a client; and GP Tim Finch was recently investigated for verbally abusing an elderly patient. Pete sees the circumstances as a solution to his financial problems and tells the police he saw Hayley cleaning the rental house. He claims he knew nothing of her disappearance, as he had returned to Hong Kong, where he was living at the time, shortly after. The rest of the team look at timelines and leads from the original investigation, including a burglary at a local church and a report of a black sedan driving erratically. In contrast to Jamie's description, his ex-wife Melissa reveals that the New Year's Eve at the holiday rental was "a train wreck." All the adults were drinking, some of the men were using cocaine, and Chris had a mental breakdown and ran out into the rain. While Jamie and Tim went out after him – Pete previously had gone out to a pub – all four men were back by midnight. While it had been believed that Hayley didn't leave her job at a local pub until around 12:10, DI Fran finds the that last confirmed sighting of Hayley was actually around 11, meaning that she could have encountered one or more of the men from the holiday rental.
16	4	"Episode 4"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	5 August 2018 (2018-08-05)	6.84
The detectives investigate why the four men not only lied about staying in on New Year's Eve 1999 but also colluded in that lie. Jamie is besieged by journalists after a blogger, Sandra Rayworth, exposes his connection to the Hayley case. Pete, who served time in a Hong Kong prison for defrauding a disability charity, admits to the church robbery after DNA evidence ties him to the scene. Tim's ex-wife, Derran, says he is a controlling and manipulative man, who abused her physically, mentally and sexually. Chris's daughter says her parents' marriage and his business were destroyed because he was arrested for child porn, but police cannot find any record of this. Melissa, now an author, gives an interview discussing her experience as the wife of a perpetually unfaithful man, resulting in multiple emails from women who had sexual liaisons with Jamie, one who mentions his liking rape fantasies. Pete tries to blackmail Jamie, saying he "knows things" about Jamie's son the night of Hayley's murder. Police investigate Eliot after discovering he had already been arrested several times, including for stealing his father's car. After Cassie accidentally leaves his file in a café and his past is exposed online, Pete is stabbed by an unknown assailant.
17	5	"Episode 5"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	12 August 2018 (2018-08-12)	6.81
After barely surviving the stabbing, Pete dies of a heart attack, putting Cassie's career in jeopardy. Tim tells the police that prior to the attack, Pete told him that on New Year's Eve 1999, he saw Eliot sneaking into the house after 2 am. DC Fran believes that Hayley's diary uses code words to describe drug use and sex and that she was looking to buy drugs for a New Year's Eve party. Chris states that despite his arrest, he was not the one who visited child porn websites. Investigators were able to prove his credit card info had been stolen, leading to all charges being dropped, but his life had been destroyed. Jamie's former car matches the one seen driving erratically, and Melissa claims that her husband had told her he hit a deer that weekend. Jamie tells police he believed his son accidentally killed Hayley while driving drunk and that her body fell into the nearby river and washed out to sea. After Pete's death, Sandra is arrested for inciting the vigilantism that ultimately killed him. Police arrest Tim after discovering he was pulled over for speeding outside Middenham on 3 January 2000 – the day after he'd returned to London.
18	6	"Episode 6"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	19 August 2018 (2018-08-19)	7.31
Tim claims that the scrunchie, woman's knickers and a cross necklace found in a lockbox in his cellar were purchased at a fete for his daughters, but DNA results prove they belonged to Alison Baldwin, a 14-year-old from Earlridge, Cambridgeshire, found raped and strangled in 1997. Tim denies involvement, but after it's revealed he was staying in Earlridge for a medical conference when Alison was abducted from an area near the hotel where he was staying, he confesses to being a serial rapist and murderer of young girls. Without any remorse, Tim nonchalantly explains how he abducted, raped and strangled Hayley while coming across her by chance on New Year's Eve and later takes them to the remains of another, more recent one of his victims. He confesses to there being many more but does not give their details. Chris reconciles with his fiancée, Jamila, who confirmed his story that he had not visited the child porn websites. Cassie visits her father, who encourages her to take time off from work. Several months later, Cassie and Sunny bring flowers to a memorial garden for Hayley.

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	UK viewers (millions) ^[26]
19	1	"Episode 1"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	22 February 2021 (2021-02-22)	9.49^[26]
In 2020 DI Sunny Khan and DC Fran Lingley are called in to investigate a headless and handless body found in a freezer on a scrap heap. A chocolate bar wrapper, a tattoo and a missing persons report help identify the victim as Matthew Walsh. Rob Fogerty who owned the freezer is recently deceased and had a drink driving arrest in March 1990. DCI Cassie Stuart's request to retire early on medical grounds is denied, so she returns to work for three more months in order to qualify for a full pension. Ram Sidhu visits his family to wish his mother a happy birthday. Later he joins his partner Anna for the first ultrasound of her pregnancy. Therapist Fiona Grayson enters a Family Counselling Centre after she, her partner Geoff and two young children leave their country home. In Cambridge, Liz Baildon visits her angry home-bound mother and speaks with the home care worker, who tells her she needs a pay increase. Later on Liz meets with her same-sex fiancée. Dean Barton signs papers and contracts in his home office and at his business. Later on he returns a call from "Felix," who asks him for a favour. Dean says "I don't do that anymore" but then asks "How much are we even talking about?" Cassie and Sunny find the last sighting of Matthew Walsh was 10:55 pm on March 30, 1990. Rob Fogerty's drink driving arrest was 40 minutes later, less than a mile from where Matthew was last seen. Sunny notes a line in the police report stating there were four other people in the car. The arresting officer remembers the arrest well because, when arrested, Fogerty began to cry "like a child," and that "All five of them were newly qualified coppers" celebrating their passing out.
20	2	"Episode 2"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	1 March 2021 (2021-03-01)	9.40^[26]
Cassie wants to review the complete file on Fogarty's arrest to see if any of the four passengers are still serving police officers. Fiona drives to a cemetery and lays flowers at the grave of her parents. The gravestone says "[He] was a copper's copper." Ram, who is a DCI, has been accused of misconduct for the second time – this time sexual harassment – and claims it is racially motivated. Liz, who is a DCC, is interviewed by an official panel regarding her candidacy for chief constable. DS Murray finds that Matthew's parents are now dead but his brother Clive could be alive somewhere. Matthew's girlfriend was pregnant, gave birth to a boy named Jerome, and died from an overdose. Cassie meets with Jerome, who doesn't feel any connection to his father but might be able to put her in touch with Clive. The search of the remaining belongings from Fogarty's home turns up a key ring with faded writing on the labels. Liz's mother says to her carer, "I could tell you a thing or two about our Elizabeth that would make your hair turn gray."^[27] Dean takes a ferry to France and a taxi to a parking lot, where he picks up a van. He counts the cash in an envelope and drives the van onto a ferry. After arriving back in England, he calls Felix, tells him where the van is parked and warns him against asking for any more favors. Ram learns his accuser is filing a complaint and then uses another officer's computer to search for information about her. Fiona and her partner sign a contract for a new counselling office. Sunny finds the hand-written notebook of the officer who stopped Fogarty. There are four first names: Ram, Fiona, Dean and Liz. The personnel department identifies a class of 20 that had their passing ceremony on March 30, 1990 and included officers with those four names: two – Ram and Liz – are still-serving police officers, while Dean and Fiona left the police. Cassie and Sunny decide to release to the media information about the discovery of Matthew's body, including that it may have been kept in a freezer. All four suspects see the request for help during the late news on TV.
21	3	"Episode 3"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	9 March 2021 (2021-03-09)	9.26^[26]
The morning after the TV announcement, Ram sneaks out of the house. Dean carries on. Liz receives a call telling her, unofficially, that she has been promoted to CC. Fiona calls in sick and then calls her solicitor, asking if there is any way to stop the deposit payment for the new office. Ram waits for his accuser at her home, stops her from closing the door with his foot, and says, "I have a financial proposition." Later he walks into his supervisor's office, provides a plausible motive for her accusation, plays a recording of her using a racial slur, and says, "It's over." Cassie interviews Liz, who gives qualified answers with no more information than what she is asked. She says she does not remember Fogarty until Cassie mentions the drink driving arrest. Liz does remember that and ends the conversation with, "No recollection of anyone getting out to load a dead body into the boot if that's what you mean."^[28] Sunny interviews Fiona, who says she remembers Fogarty and Ram but not Liz and Dean. She admits she became a cop entirely for her dad but hated it. On the night of the ceremony she poured "anything I could find down my throat" and does not remember what happened. Later Fiona tells her partner's brother there is something in her past that the mortgage company could discover. She asks if her last name on the application could be changed to her partners' and eventually admits having a criminal conviction. Cassie briefly interviews Dean who had tried to avoid her. He says he does not remember much about the night and admits, "We'd all had a few, so I can't swear."^[28] Sunny interviews Ram, who refuses to answer any questions without his solicitor present. Fiona walks up to Liz outside a police station. Liz says, "Are you insane?" and arranges to meet Fiona the next day. DC Fran interviews a witness who says he saw Walsh being chased on that night by two men, one Asian and one unusually tall. DC Jake finds one of the keys from Fogarty's possessions opens a storage unit containing a small freezer that holds Walsh's head and hands.
22	4	"Episode 4"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	15 March 2021 (2021-03-15)	9.68^[26]
Fiona and Liz meet in a park where Liz frisks Fiona for a wire. Liz asks, "You remember the truth like we agreed?" and they go over Fiona's story. Liz says "They won't find out about the pub," but Fiona is afraid they might "find out what you did for me". DS Murray reports that, three weeks before Matthew disappeared, he was cautioned for serious assault in a pub frequented by probationers. The report deliberately minimized the event to keep the brawl and the probationers' names out of court. It turns out that Matthew had sexually assaulted Fiona, and Ram intervened and got the worst of it. Dean and Ram meet in a forest, and Ram agrees to keep an eye on the historical case. Dean thanks Ram for the short-notice help with Calais, and both agree it was a "one off." Matthew's brother Clive says he was with his brother that night. He was relieving himself in the bushes when he heard "Oi Walshy boy!" He saw an Asian man get out of a car and chase Matthew. Then the tall driver and a third man got out and followed, and finally two women got out from the back seat and also followed. Clive "never saw them or my brother again." He says everyone thought Matthew was lying low, but he was afraid Matthew had died and never said anything because he was ashamed of not intervening. The team now knows all five are suspects because they all got out of the car and followed the victim. A search of their background records does not find a birth certificate or pre-1991 census records for Dean. In response to her question about the police interview, Dean says to his wife, "They can't connect us to that now." Cassie and Sunny interview Ram at the station. He says he remembers leaving the celebration with Rob and Liz because of Rob's arrest and Liz taking them home. He is confronted with Matthew's photograph, the witness accounts, and the pub report, to which he responds that the evidence is weak and may be racially motivated. He says "You have nothing here," and leaves. Fiona reveals to her partner Geoff her 1993 conviction for dangerous driving, which killed a child in the other car. DC Kaz reports on Fiona's arrest, noting that a blood sample was taken due to the smell of alcohol but went missing from the police station. Liz worked at that station at the time, and a couple of years before the arrest, Fiona and Liz lived at the same address. An x-ray of Matthew's skull reveals a long slender object stuck into his brain, potentially the murder weapon.
23	5	"Episode 5"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	22 March 2021 (2021-03-22)	9.61^[26]
The team learns that Dean Barton changed his surname from Quinn three months before applying to the academy and that the Quinns were a criminal family. The former landlady of the pub tells DS Murray about the incident. Among the probationers was a girl who drank too much and arrived with "Busy Lizzy." Matthew grabbed the drunk girl in the alley behind the pub, Ram intervened, and Matthew "made a mess" of Ram's face. Fiona tells Geoff that, while her therapeutic training and her PhD are real, she bought the counselling license for a hundred quid online because of her criminal conviction. Mobile phone data shows Dean and Ram were close to each other three days after the police announced discovering Matthew's body. Cassie and Sunny agree it is likely that one of the suspects killed Matthew and the others agreed to cover it up. Posters asking for information are hung on a fence near where they believe the murder occurred. An elderly man testifies he remembers seeing two people carrying something wrapped in a tarp. There may have been another who opened the boot, but he definitely remembers a woman and man arguing. Liz asks her mother, "How long have you known . . . what I told Dad?" Her mother insults her, and Liz demands respect and threatens to suffocate her mother. Dean's mother tells Cassie and Sunny that, when he announced he was joining the police force, he was barred from the local pub and beaten by two of his brothers while his father watched. DC Jake reports that Liz was on duty the night the blood sample went missing and had volunteered for overtime. Liz is meeting with her superior when she sees DCs Jake and Murray coming for her. She tells him she is withdrawing her candidacy for CC.^[29] Fiona is emotionally unravelling while explaining her past to her family. She tells them how she hated being a cop, began drinking too much and says "I killed a child in a car crash!" which is overheard by DC Fran, who has come into the room. Fiona says to her, "You've come about the body, haven't you?" Cassie interviews Liz, confronting her with the eyewitness testimony. Liz is evasive about having lived with Fiona. Sunny asks her about the day of Fiona's accident, and Liz denies losing the blood test results. Cassie tells her that they don't know the specifics about how Matthew died, but they do know his death had something to do with the five in the car, and they colluded to hide the body, to which Liz responds, "No comment." The pathologist reports that the object in Matthew's skull is a gold-tipped fountain pen that probably was not inserted post mortem. Cassie interviews Fiona and details what they know about the pub incident, her relationship with Liz and the accident, speculating that Liz lost the blood test results because of what Fiona knew about the 1990 incident. She tells Fiona that Matthew appears to have died from a stab wound to the head. Fiona sincerely responds that Matthew was never stabbed, and that Ram told them it was an accident.^[29] She talks non-stop for a long time, telling all that she knows in the sequence it happened. She indicates that all five eventually gathered around the unconscious Matthew and realized he was dead. Rob was so upset after they loaded the body into the car that Ram gave him a few swallows of whiskey, which is why he was over the limit when he was stopped afterwards. Cassie meets with the pathologist who identifies the probable brand of the pen, which may have a serial number that could identify the purchaser. The exhausted Cassie is driving home, looks down at her phone before proceeding from a stop, and her car is violently broadsided.
24	6	"Episode 6"	Andy Wilson	Chris Lang	29 March 2021 (2021-03-29)	9.50^[26]
Sunny and Cassie's family gather at the hospital, where she has brain surgery. Sunny takes over the team. DC Fran reports that Dean's older brother Stephen was killed in 1989 and that Stephen was "not like the other brothers." DS Murray reports large sums of money transferred between accounts controlled by Dean and by Ram. The latter is arrested and confronted with the growing evidence of his involvement in Matthew's murder and Dean's drug importation. Ram admits that he and Rob chased Matthew because of the tussle in the pub. After several untruthful answers, he finally says, "I didn't kill him. I found him on the ground, bleeding from the head, next to a wall. I tried to save him. Ask the others, they were there, I gave him CPR."^[30] Dean is arrested and interviewed. He initially says he remembers falling asleep in Rob's car. Sunny confronts him with the data about the money transfers between his and Ram's accounts, tells him that a customs officer has been arrested and is being cooperative, and asks what leverage he had to corrupt Ram into smuggling drugs? Dean repeatedly says, "No comment," to that question and others directly asking about Ram's involvement in the murder. Reviewing the information with the team, Sunny deduces the missing connection. Confronted by the fact that the pen used to kill Matthew had been purchased for Dean by his brother Stephen, Dean confesses to murdering Matthew, who had killed Stephen the year before. Dean says he found the fallen and unconscious Matthew before the others and shoved the pen into the wound. He left, circled back, and saw Ram giving him CPR. Dean emotionally expresses remorse over the murder and his failure to remove himself from his roots in the violent Quinn family. Dean is charged with murder, and the other three with preventing a lawful burial. Dean and Ram also are charged for their cocaine smuggling operation. Liz is suspended and charged over the blood samples which she has admitted losing. Fiona is charged with practising psychology without a license. The car that hit Cassie's was driven by a young car thief who had no connection with any of the suspects. Cassie dies without regaining consciousness, and Sunny delivers a moving eulogy at her funeral. Final appearance of Nicola Walker as DCI Cassie Stuart.

Unforgotten

Plot

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

Episodes

Series overview

Series 1 (2015)

Series 2 (2017)

Series 3 (2018)

Series 4 (2021)

Series 5 (2023)

Series 6 (2025)

International broadcast

Home media

Awards and nominations

Remake

Notes

References

External links

Wikiwand - on