Despite Unforgotten‘s tragic season 4 finale, the crime drama is returning to ITV for a fifth season.
Though Nicola Walker will not be reprising the role of DCI Cassie Stuart, Sanjeev Bhaskar will be back as DI Sunny Khan – presumably with his trusty backpack in tow.
During a chat with RadioTimes.com, the actor discussed where season 5 will begin following the seismic events of the last run.
“The story will pick up not long after the end of the last story,” he said. “So there is a connection to that story.”
Though he couldn’t give specific details beyond that, he did say he felt “very privileged” thanks to the crime drama’s fantastic writing.
“Chris Lang, who has written all of them, has written this one,” he added. “So yeah, it’s very exciting reading the scripts, a bit weird not to see Nicola’s character there, but I saw Nicola two, three times, I suppose, in the last couple of months, over Christmas. So we keep in touch a lot anyway.”
Bhaskar added: “Given that in series 1, I and nobody else had any idea of how this would work out in terms of, you know, the castings and the writing the directing, I go into series 5 with a lot of faith in whoever’s coming in.
“And the actors that will come in, will be cast as they have in the previous four. So you know, that calibre of people is very exciting to work alongside and work opposite and work with. And it keeps me on my toes.”
Though we don’t know at this stage who these actors may be, Lang already confirmed Nicola Walker’s Unforgotten replacement would be another female detective. We just don’t know who will be playing her.
Bhaskar, who is set to narrate UKTV series Secrets of the Transport Museum when it airs next week, thinks the role will be a Bond-like challenge.
He said: “I imagine in many ways it’s the only challenge that’s bigger, for anyone coming into the series now, it’s like, how do you do the next Bond film? Not having to deal with that is probably quite a luxury.”
Additional reporting by Patrick Cremona.
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