Unforgotten series 4: release date, guest cast, story

Here’s all the news around on the next series of ITV crime drama Unforgotten…

Created by Chris Lang, ITV’s Unforgotten pairs Nicola Walker’s DCI Cassie Stuart with Sanjeev Bhaskar’s DI Sunil Khan. Along with their team, those two investigate decades-old murder cases, piecing together events that transpired many years ago to deliver justice and closure to the victim and their relatives.

Series one saw the duo called to investigate the remains of a man long-buried under the foundations of a London home, while series two began with the discovery of a skeleton dredged up from the River Lea. Series three was the distressing story of a missing teenager whose body was discovered under the central reservation of a motorway.

Series four, which starts with the discovery of a body stored for decades in a domestic freezer, will star New Tricks’ Sheila Hancock, Killing Eve’s Susan Lynch, Wanderlust’s Andy Nyman and more. See below for the full cast and plot details.

Unforgotten series 4 – The Geek Lowdown

How many series are there? Three with one on the way

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Renewed or cancelled? Was renewed for series four in September 2018

Next series air date confirmed? Yes, Monday 22nd of February at 9pm.

Where to watch? ITV1

Created by: Chris Lang (read our in-depth series 3 creator interview here)

What happened last time: here’s a series 1-2 recap, and more on series 3.

Unforgotten series 4 story: the ‘most challenging case to date’ promises Lang

The discovery of a dismembered body in a scrap metal yard, believed to have been stored in a domestic freezer for decades, is the starting point of series four, as reported here.

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A unique tattoo on the corpse leads to the discovery of a 1990 crime involving four people now spread around the country. Ram Sidhu and his wife Anna live in London, with Liz Baildon and her fiancée Janet in Cambridge, Fiona Grayson and her partner Geoff in the Peak District, and Dean Barton and his wife Marnie living in Rochester. The investigation threatens to shatter their reputations, family relationships and lives.

Cassie’s retirement from the police force at the end of last series doesn’t go to plan, while her father’s illness worsens and her son returns to live at home.

Unforgotten series 4 cast: Killing Eve and Save Me’s Susan Lynch join cast

Leads Sanjeev Bhaskar and Nicola Walker are joined by fellow returning castmembers Peter Egan (Cassie’s dad Martin), Alastair Mackenzie (as retired DCI John Bentley), Carolina Main (as DC Fran Lingley), Lewis Reeves (DC Jake Collier) and Jordan Long (DS Murray Boulting).

That lot have also been joined by a cracking guest cast, including Sheila Hancock, Killing Eve‘s Susan Lynch, Phaldut Sharma, Liz White, Andy Nyman, Claire Calbraith and Lucy Speed, who finished filming her scenes in late February.

To jog your memories, previous series welcomed Tom Courtenay, Trevor Eve and Bernard Hill (series one), Mark Bonnar, Rosie Cavaliero and Adeel Akhtar (series two) and Alex Jennings, James Fleet, Kevin McNally and Neil Morrissey (series three).

Unforgotten series 4 episodes: producers kept in dark about the killer

Speaking at the BFI Radio Times Television Festival in April 2019, showrunner Chris Lang confirmed that even Unforgotten‘s producers didn’t yet know who the murderer was in series four.

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It’s a new approach for the show. In previous series, producers Laura Mackie and Sally Haynes have always been told the killer’s identity right from the off, but this time around, Mackie told the crowd at the BFI Unforgotten Q&A that being kept in the dark about the resolution during script development has enabled them to be objective about each episode. “You’re not bringing any baggage to it,” she explained.

Series three was another triumph for the show, delving not only into the historical hurts of another cold case, but also registering the toll Cassie’s decades of work in the police service took on her personally, a thread that will be revisited in series four as her retirement plans are put off and her father’s dementia worsens.

Unforgotten series 4 release date: February 2021

Unforgotten was officially announced as returning for series four back in September 2018. The cast readthrough took place on Monday the 13th of January 2020, as recorded by creator Chris Lang on Twitter below, and filming began shortly afterwards. After a Covid-19-related delay, it’s now confirmed to start airing weekly from Monday the 22nd of February at 9pm on ITV1.