New boss

Sinéad Keenan replaces Nicola Walker as Sanjeev Bhaskar's crime-solving partner as the cold-case drama returns

- TESS LAMACRAFT 

NEW CRIME DRAMA
Unforgotten
Monday, 9 pm, ITV1 (box set, ITVX)

There's a new boss, a new gruesome crime to solve and another batch of interlinked suspects as ITV1's crime drama Unforgotten returns this week for a fifth series.

Viewers were left shocked when, at the end of the last run, the show's much-loved lead character of DCI Cassie Stuart, played by Nicola Walker, died from injuries she sustained in a car accident. The new series picks up nine months after that fateful day and heralds the arrival of Cassie's replacement, DCI Jessica 'Jess' James, played by award-winning Little Boy Blue and Showtrial actor Sinéad Keenan.

However, Jess fails to make a good impression on her colleagues, including Cassie's sidekick, DI Sunil 'Sunny' Khan, played by Sanjeev Bhaskar. And when the two meet to investigate the grim discovery of human remains hidden inside the chimney breast of a Victorian house in London, the tension is palpable. It continues to simmer as they set about identifying the victim, establishing the cause of death and working out how long the body has been there.

Here, Bhaskar, 59 and Keenan, 45, reveal more...

Sinéad, how has it been joining the cast of Unforgotten?

Keenan What I was most nervous about was following Nicola Walker, because who wants to do that? [Laughing.] When my agent first told me I was one of three actors they were sending the script to, I initially whispered, 'No, thanks. But then I read it, and it was so compelling, it was a no-brainer that I would want to do it.

And Sanjeev, what state of mind do we find Sunny in?