Review by C.J. Bunce
For a series that featured a triumphant lead for three seasons, and built a sharp supporting cast, the BBC series Unforgotten betrayed the audience in its fourth season, changing everything about its once strong and smart lead, played by Nicola Walker (Collateral, Law & Order: UK, Luther), unthinkably killing her off. The series should have ended there. This year BBC (and PBS Mystery) aired the fifth season, six episodes of bad drama and poor writing that illustrate precisely how not to make a crime drama. Inexplicably the series has been renewed for a sixth season, coming in 2024.
The series only had one director and one writer, and they couldn’t keep up the quality beyond its initial success. More players–more input–might have solved so many of the show’s obvious poor choices.
Walker played compassionate cop Detective Chief Inspector Cassie Stuart as a warrior fed up with humanity–fed up with the criminals that have gotten away with murder literally for decades and to a lesser extent the antics of her family at home. Her drive was making sure the victims behind the cold cases presented weren’t forgotten, as promised by the title.
We reviewed the first season of the BBC’s Unforgotten here at borg and the next the next two seasons here. The fourth season didn’t merit a review so we skipped it. Neither does the fifth, but viewers may want to know this was a good series–and still a good series worth streaming, IF you stop with Season 3. You’ll be happy you did.
Stuart as a character was as real as it gets, a smart, conscientious worker doing her job, out of balance between her home and work. But she was replaced by the opposite type as lead this season–an ineffective department head too busy with personal issues to show up for work, the glaringly stupidly named Jess James, after American bank robber Jesse James, played by Sinéad Keenan (Being Human). It’s a boring, bland stunt that gets discussed far more than it should. Is Keenan a good actor? She never gets a chance. The script never attempts to make her character appealing, never for a second paints her as someone viewers should cheer for. She spars with every co-worker all season. No chemistry or camaraderie ever develops. As a cop she is ineffective, she can’t get along with anyone, and her method of interrogation reflects someone who must know little about British criminal law. And there were way too many painfully slow interrogation scenes this season. Most never pushed the story forward. These are rudimentary writing problems.
If you’ve ever been in a workplace where a single toxic co-worker ruins the lives of all the employees, but is of a high rank so nobody can do anything effectively about it, then you can experience that in this show. Or don’t, because most of us come to television for entertainment, not to watch the dramatized boring days of boring workplaces across the world.
Series co-star Sanjeev Bhaskar’s (The Indian Doctor, Doctor Who, Arthur Christmas) DS (or DI, the writer Lang doesn’t seem to keep titles straight) Sunny Khan returns, but the production made an unforgivable mistake–instead of making him the series lead, they write him against his original type (sharp, savvy, smart) and he refuses a promotion. Bhaskar is a strong actor, and was very likeable in the lead role of The Indian Doctor. Not taking the opportunity to give an Indian character the top spot is simply cringeworthy. Worse, the writers make him so uncaring that when he knocks up his girlfriend, he doesn’t show any concern or even come to be with her at the hospital. Lang essentially turned the character from hero to unwatchable, a pathetic pile of goo because he can’t get over his co-worker’s death all these months later–like Lang was intentionally trying to tank the series. He seemed to never know what to do with his character, once even making him a potential love interest for Stuart (thankfully only briefly). With not even a miniscule amount of collegial chemistry with his co-lead, Bhaskar was wasted in this new role.
And this wasn’t just another lower-tier series. Director Andy Wilson and writer Chris Lang just couldn’t keep up the momentum beyond three seasons and should have enlisted some help. The show previously featured stand-out and award winning performances, including roles for the likes of Liz White (Life on Mars, Doctor Who), Guilt and Shetland’s brilliant Mark Bonnar, and Pirates of the Caribbean, Life on Mars, and Supernatural’s Kevin McNally. This year guest stars included Ian McElhinney. Known internationally now most for his success in the comedy Derry Girls, here he was stuck in a melodramatic role as the requisite bad politician. I had high hopes for classic favorite Disney actress Hayley Mills playing his wife, but after fulfilling some skimpy red herring duties she was left to fade into the background.
A recurring problem in British dramas, especially short six-episode seasons, is having one crime last the entire season. If the players are boring, unlikeable, and difficult to sympathize with, your season is dead in the water. Shows like Annika, starring none other than Nicola Walker, illustrate how new crimes to solve every week are much more exciting and fun for the viewers.
To cap it off, the series has one of the worst opening credits and theme songs.
By the last episode you won’t care whodunnit. Director Andy Wilson and writer Chris Lang just couldn’t keep the series strong, particularly after Nicola Walker left the show for better things. Take our advice and stick with those solid first three seasons. The first four seasons of Unforgotten are streaming in the States on Prime Video, with the fifth available on PBS Passport (or purchasable on Prime Video), and the sixth season is expected next year.
