Unforgotten: episode recapsUnforgottenUnforgotten series 3, episode 1 recap – murder on the motorway
Things were going splendidly for Sunny as this season opened, but the discovery of a corpse was a welcome distraction from reality for his colleague Cassie
Another year, another bag of bones to pick over. Unforgotten returns with one more cold case to give you the chills. Surpassing the brilliant and harrowing series two is a big ask, but let’s see what we’ve got so far.
On the surface, nothing much has changed with Cassie and Sunny – although Sunny appears to be on the up and up. It’s now Detective Inspector Khan, while there’s a new lady in his life, who seems to be getting on swimmingly with his daughters. Cassie, though, doesn’t seem her best self. Her son Adam is living in New York and her dad is gallivanting around with his girlfriend. She wakes stupidly early every morning, almost as if she let someone get away with murder last year. When it shows up, the obligatory human skeleton is a welcome distraction.
The victim
Hayley Reid, aged 16, was last seen early on New Year’s Day in 2000. We open on her remains being unearthed on the central reservation of the M1 in Hendon. Police suspected her boyfriend, Adrian Mullery, had a hand in the murder, but with no body a conviction was always unlikely. Following a grisly round of phone calls to relatives of missing children, Hayley is finally identified by a metal plate she had fitted on a fracture while on holiday with her family in Cyprus. Her mother and her sister, Jessica, finally know her location, but closure is some way off.
Chris Lowe
He may be living out of a camper van with only tinned food and a scraggly mutt for company, but Chris Lowe has plans. His paintings are proving popular with Bristol’s art lovers and he figures now is the perfect time to drop four grand on an engagement ring for his friend Jamila. That she doesn’t immediately file a restraining order is impressive and it seems that she could even be giving the proposal serious consideration. He may stink of sardines, butane and despair, but his heart is in the right place and he gets on terrifically well with her son, Asif, apparently traumatised by dreams of gas in some far-off war zone. Life is not a Richard Curtis script, though, and you can’t imagine his connection to a 16-year-old’s murder improving his romantic prospects.
Dr Tim Finch
Celebrating 10 years with his second wife, Carol, Hampshire GP Tim Finch enjoys a warm relationship with his two grownup daughters and the respect of everyone in the local community. No one believes the allegations from that ridiculous Alison Pinion woman that Tim called her dying mother a “tiresome old bitch” and considered sticking her full of morphine. Whether they will remain supportive once the police come sniffing is anyone’s guess. Although we don’t see her, his estranged wife from his first marriage sounds like she might be a handful. Count on her disrupting the beloved-local-GP narrative.
Peter Carr
“Find the need, sell the want,” is the mantra of Norfolk salesman Pete, but over the years he has become adept at finding neither. To support his wife, Maria, and their two young boys, urgently requires a cash injection from somewhere. His flatlining sales patter is unlikely to provide it and his dicey kitchen boiler is operating solely as a metaphor for his broken life. When he asks his boss, Mark, for new leads, he levels with him: “I can’t make you a better salesman.”
But that cheque for £3,000 won’t write itself. Fortunately for Pete, he has just enough game to trick a vulnerable pensioner, Mr Salthouse, into leaving the name field blank on the cheque so he can fill in his own. When it comes to grabbing unethically sourced low-hanging fruit, Pete always be closing.
James Hollis
On the surface, things look good for James. The popular presenter of some kind of impenetrable Numberwang gameshow, he boasts a fancy London pad with his second wife, Amy. When Elliot, his troublesome son from his first marriage, goes missing, though, he has to team up with his hated ex-wife, Melissa. Following a trail of deadbeats and junkies through dive bars and sink estates takes its toll on the former lovers and they mutually empathise on the burden of parenthood. When James finally catches up with him, we discover that Elliott is actually a trans woman, one who doesn’t seem too keen on catching up with her pops. What Elliott is running from and whether it has anything to do with Hayley Reid is yet to be established.
Notes and observations
- James leaves a message on Pete’s phone, organising a meet-up with Tim and Chris, so we have confirmation that the four know each other.
- Unforgotten excels at humanising moments with the suspects – Pete on the beach with his kids, Chris painting with Asif, James fretting over Elliott and Tim counselling a grieving widower. These will form a necessary counterbalance when whatever terrible decisions they made in the past are unearthed.
- “Having a father like you would stress the fuck out of anyone.” Elliott’s flatmate quickly identifies the family dynamic.
- As I always say to people new to Unforgotten, don’t be alarmed if you are finding it a little slow. This is by design. The pace and the intrigue pick up over the six episodes. It’s worth it.
What are your early theories on the four suspects’ connection to Hayley? Please let me know below.
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