Unforgotten - ITV - starts Thursday October 8th at 9pm

[sadwidow28]

ITV’s six episode thriller series Unforgotten from former ITV drama executives Laura Mackie and Sally Haynes’ fledgling indie Mainstreet Pictures will premiere on Thursday October 8th at 9pm, it has been announced.

Penned by Undeniable scribe Chris Lang, Unforgotten tells the story of an 39 year old cold investigation into the murder of a boy who was killed in 1976. The modern day investigation is run by DCI Cassie Stuart and DI Sunil ‘Sunny’ Khan, who must re-examine the evidence and investigate the key suspects – Robert Greaves, Frank Philip Cross, Lizzie Wilton and Eric Slater – in order to close the case. The series utilises a multi-stranded narrative, set in different parts of the country, which explores and connects each of the principle characters.

The six-parter is produced by Mainstreet Pictures and features a large cast that includes Sanjeev Bhaskar (The Kumars), Nicola Walker (Last Tango In Halifax), Trevor Eve (Waking The Dead), Bernard Hill (The Grid), Ruth Sheen (Our Girl), Tom Courtenay (The Dresser), Gemma Jones (Marvellous), Brian Bovell (Death in Paradise), Cherie Lunghi (Casualty), Hannah Gordon (Hustle), Claire Goose (Mount Pleasant) Tamzin Malleson (Midsomer Murders), Peter Egan (Downton Abbey), and Frances Tomelty (Catastrophe). Ripper Street helmer Andy Wilson was the director.

who has Sir Phillip arranged to be killed?

Gordon Fenwick sent photos of torture (nailing a hand onto wood) to Bella (Sir P's daughter - the lawyer). He threatened to send the photos to the police unless cash was paid. But Sir P had often paid off the Fenwicks - a final solution was needed.

Sir P asked Josh (son) to ask his Turkish contacts to get in touch with him. [Josh had asked Sir P to back his company but Sir P had rejected the offer because Josh was 'in league with criminals']

Sir P to Josh: ^Your Turkish friends, I might need you to call them for me.*

Asil arrives later and takes instructions from Sir P (nobody knows that Sir P is ordering a contract killing - Bella and Josh think he is ordering 'a warning')

But the warning doesn't seem necessary when Bella is watching the news

Bella: Dad, are you there?
Sir P: I couldn't have left your mum on her own, Belle.
Bella: Sorry?
Sir P: I mean, I couldn't let Fenwick do that to her.
Bella: What have they done? What did you tell the Turks to do?
Sir P: I only spoke to them last night. They haven't done anything yet. I'll just call them off now.
(HANGS UP)

[I have emboldened an important sentence that I think will become significant]

But Gordon Fenwick has been killed. Sir P tells Josh:

He fell asleep smoking, apparently.
Bed caught fire.
Whole house went up.
Wouldn't have known a thing.

Thank you both, makes sense now.

I have suspected Eric is a closest homosexual. Why was he outside the gay pub when he assaulted that gay man?

Eric had an unhealthy interest in Jimmy. The picture of Jimmy looking up at Eric shows his vulnerability. It makes me feel rather sad - the innocence in his eyes. He was 17.

So the motives for Jimmy could be:

Homophobia from Eric

Racism from Lizzie/Erskine

Gangland debt collecting from Frankie C/Fenwicks

Sexual jealousy from Father Rob

Or something we don't yet know.

Yy to Eric maybe being a closet homosexual, after all why would he be near gay bars to see Jimmy, Tim (?), the other man who was assaulted. Also, often people who are very Homophobia feel most threatened or perhaps Jimmy or others sensed something in Eric and he freaked out and turned on them.

I think they will all be implicated somehow.

Homophobic

sadwidow That is the bit I did not understand. Why was Sir Philip so regretful about his wife and the Fenwicks?

Because if they ruined his life & reputation they'd ruin hers too. And if he were prosecuted, she'd be alone.

Or something more sinister?

Carol is Claire's sister. I thought she had died?

Carol is in America (episode 3).

I'm not sure why we think Carol is Claire's sister. In episode 2 Claire packed a case and left the family home. She went to the house where Carol used to live and the new occupant phoned Les.

Tim: It's happened again.
Les: I'm so sorry about this, Tim.
Tim: I did invite her in but she wanted to wait outside.
Claire: I don't know where Carol is, Les.
I don't know why this man is in her house.
Les: Carol doesn't live here any more, Mum.
Shall we get you home?
Claire: Yes, I... I want to see Eric. I want Eric.
Les: Yeah, let's go and see Dad. Thanks again.

just caught up with thursdays.
fantastic.

missed seeing Jo jo, when was this?

i hope Lizzie is fished out the water too,

Just before that she screamed "I'm going to my sisters".

I do hope Carol is not in the garden. Claire may have confided in her pre-dementia. And yes, hope that's not the end of Lizzie.

I am enjoying this as much as Broadchurch series one. Very rare for me.

Butterfly

You are correct. I had forgotten that part.

Claire: '.. strangled. From behind...'
You evil f*cking pig!
Eric: W-What?
Claire: I know what you are. I know what you did!
Eric: Wh... Claire? Sweetheart, where you going?
Claire: I'm going to my sister's.
(CLAIRE SOBS) Do you think I'd stay here another second with you?
Eric: What?

NoahVale

Jo-Jo (Joanna Bridges) is visited by Cassie and Sunny half way through episode 4.

Is it possible that Claire was involved? Maybe caught Eric and Jimmy in a compromising position and lashed out. Perhaps her mental illness is brought on by the strain of years of cover-ups.

I think Eric is lying through his teeth. I know these types, they insist always it's someone else's fault.

So do we know who the skeleton is? Obviously Eric has had a problem with gay people (male).

morris Hannah Gordon should be in everything, ever.

Agree totally. Want to see more of her.

So do we know who the skeleton is?

Yes, it was revealed in episode 5. (He had been buried with his wallet and a credit card was still legible)

Cassie: We have good reason to believe that the remains are those of Nicholas Howard Whitmore, known as Nick.
He was born 12th of January, 1954, in Godstone, Surrey.
He was a son and a brother.
So, Nick was, um, last seen on December 30th, 1978, at a Clash concert at the Lyceum in the West End.
At the time of his disappearance he lived in Hammersmith and he was training to be a nurse.
But he disappeared about two and a half years after Jimmy, but, crucially, at least two years after the Slaters moved into their house.
The original investigation determined that the card was last used in a pub in Hampstead. It was called the King George.

Then, having talked to Nick's sister and father, Cassie establishes that Nick was gay.

Thanks Widow for the reminder, yes he was gay. Last seen in an area close to Eric. Who crucially, hadn't had his accident by then.

It could well be Eric's wife but that would be a lazy conclusion. Perhaps Eric had a male lover?

Now Elendon I have also been musing about the timing of Eric's accident.

Episode 3 - Cassie was musing over a picture of Arlingham House dining room. She knew it was 'upstairs' and that is the room where Jimmy and Eric went to smoke. Cassie wondered if it had a lift and asked Sunny to check.

Sunny: No, there was never a lift at Arlingham House.
So I spoke to Eric Slater.
Turns out he only went into a wheelchair in his mid-30s.
Car crash.
Cassie: What year?
Sunny: '79.
Cassie: So in '76, he was perfectly able.

'76 is a reference to Jimmy's murder.

Now we know that Nick (the skeleton in the Slater's copse) disappeared New Years Eve 1978. Was Eric Slater supposed to die in the car crash? That is, was it ordered by the Fenwick gang to get rid of a witness?

We haven't linked the Fenwicks nor Frankie C (Sir P) to Arlingham House yet, but someone suggested earlier that the hostel might have been owned/run by the Fenwicks who used the runaways as part of a prostitution ring.

Just caught up with the latest episode and I don't know what to think. Blimey.

Lizzie. Jeez. Is it too much to hope her husband and Curtis stopped her and they're out of shot till the next episode?

sadwidow
I noticed that the maths doesn't quite add up with regards to Eric . Eric Slater is 76, so would have been 40 years old when he started using a wheelchair in 1979, and not 'mid-thirties'.

I did think it odd that a wallet was found with the body. That's a bit careless, isn't it, on the part of the burier? Or was it left there for a reason?

Thanks Fiderer, that makes sense.

Somehow I think Eric is a nasty little sh*t, an abuser, etc., but not a murderer. He looks too guilty for it to be all his fault. It must be his wife who looks helpless and innocent...