New drama investigates cold case murder

Nicola Walker (Last Tango in Halifax, Babylon) and Sanjeev Bhaskar (The Kumars, The Indian Doctor) will star in ITV’s new six-part crime drama Unforgotten.

Further cast includes Trevor Eve (Kidnap and Ransom), Bernard Hill (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers), Ruth Sheen (Our Girl) and Tom Courtenay (Little Dorrit).

Produced by Mainstreet Pictures and written and created by Chris Lang (A Mother’s Son, Torn), Unforgotten 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 (Hill), Sir ‘Frank’ Philip Cross (Eve), Lizzie Wilton (Sheen), and Eric Slater (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.

Cassie and Sunny begin to unpeel the layers of the investigation of who is the murdered boy and what happened in 1976, 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.

The drama is set in different corners of the country, from the outer London suburbs, to the Essex coast, Westminster and the Fens.

Further cast includes Gemma Jones (Bridget Jones’s Diary) as Claire Slater, Brian Bovell (Death in Paradise) as Ray Wilton and Cherie Lunghi (Secret Diary of a Call Girl) as Shirley Cross. Hannah Gordon (Hustle) is cast as Grace Greaves with Claire Goose (Undeniable) and Tamzin Malleson (Midsomer Murders) playing her daughters Ellie and Caroline. Peter Egan (Downton Abbey) plays Cassie’s father Martin, and Frances Tomelty (Catastrophe) as Maureen Sullivan, the grieving mother of the murdered boy.

Unforgotten is directed by Andy Wilson (Ripper Street, Wallander, Cracker) and Executive Produced by Sally Haynes, Chris Lang and Laura Mackie.

Unforgotten will begin filming from mid March 2015 for twelve weeks.