What Is Unforgotten?

(mysterious music) - [Nicola] Cassie Stuart has worked with her partner, Sunil Khan, for five years and the police unit that they work with is facing probably one of the most interesting cases they've ever been involved with before.

Although, it doesn't seem it to begin with.

- The focus is very much on the story and the story of this cold case.

And also, you know, what happens to people who have lived with a lie for nearly half a century.

And so, this show's very much about you know, what happens when you get that knock on the door, and in what manner the skeletons fall out of the cupboard.

- It asks the viewer to imagine how they would survive a life if it's discovered that it was built on a lie.

Oh, it just keeps layering on and, you know, the idea that with a story you peel things back.

With this, it feels like it just keeps piling on, so it just gets more and more complicated.

- What it's primarily about is family, right down to the police strands, as well, 'cause that's kind of like a family and she's got her own family that she goes home to with all of its complexity.

But, actually, all of the other four stories, the reason what's happening to them is important is because it threatens the stability, the sanctity of their family unit.

- You have all these different families who appear to be completely unconnected, very different lives, and this one discovery is like a spoke at the center of a wheel, and we're on these different spokes and little by little, as more facts come to light, more history comes to light, you see these individual lives unraveling because they are all built on lies.

- There's all these links and they're layered, and each time the audience would get closer to making the decision and say, "Well, he did it.

"Oh, well, no, no, no, he did it.

"No, no, no, he did it because of this," and, "She did it."

Those problems, they're very normal, they're very identifiable.

People will probably either recognize some aspects of themselves in the story, or know someone who has very similar kind of experiences in the past.

- I mean Chris tried to deal with just about everything from racial intolerance to cronies in the House of Lords, to priests not being quite as priestly as they should.

It's about ambition, it's about dishonesty, concealment... There's not much it doesn't touch on.

- [Nicola] I just thought, "How fantastic to have these completely four different worlds all colliding because of this murder."

(mysterious music)