UNFORGOTTEN S5 - mon 9pm itv. - TV PACED. NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

I know there is an unforgotten thread going but likely that will hold spoilers for those who binge so i was asked if I would do one for tv pace aka weekly as we all know blondes doesn’t binge 😂

if you can watch weekly and went to chat about each episode and what may happen /who the killer is etc then all welcome

if you want to binge as all will be out 10pm on xitv then post on the other thread

The new investigation happens after the shocking ending of the fourth series of Unforgotten (www.whattowatch.com/watching-guides/everything-you-need-to-know-about-unforgotten-on-netflix) when DCI Cassie Stuart played by Nicola Walker (www.whattowatch.com/features/unforgotten-star-nicola-walker-teases-the-season-4-cold-case) was killed in a horrific road accident.

Not only did Cassie's sudden death leave her family emotionally shattered, her police colleagues are hurting too, not least her detective partner DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) with who
m she'd worked with on a number of baffling cold cases.

Now Sunny has a new sleuthing partner for the new six-part season 5, as Cassie has now

been replaced by DCI Jessica James played by Sinéad Keenan, (www.whattowatch.com/features/unforgottens-sanjeev-bhaskar-and-sinead-keenan-on-being-tvs-next-big-cop-duo)

Unforgotten series 5 begins just before DCI Jessica James’ first day in her new job when there's an unforeseen and devastating event involving her family life. Despite this, Jessica is determined to make a good first impression with her new colleagues, but will Jess be in the right frame of mind to fit in with and inspire the team?

The ghost of much-loved former colleague Cassie Stuart looms large over the team and Jess knows there will be big shoes for her to fill. This will need resolve, professionalism and a great spirit if she's to live up to her much-admired and respected predecessor.

The first case for Jess and her team is the discovery of human remains in a newly renovated period property in Hammersmith, West London. But it seems the body has been there a very long time — this looks like a murder dating back to the 1930s, but could the body been disposed of in more recent times?

There are baffling questions that need answering and Jess will need to be at the top of her game.

Can she work with DS Sunny Khan to work out what has happened?
Sanjeev Bhaskar explains: “A body that is found bricked into a chimney breast, stuffed up a chimney, when some renovations taking place, but they have no idea how old this body is, or who it is.

Ini8ally, Jess comes in and says, “Look, we’re not going to do these old cases unless there’s some sort of present impact, because it takes up resources.” So he has to convince her otherwise. And once again, in a similar structural way to the previous series, it is about these disparate antagonists, possible suspects.

It was utter bollocks wasn't it? Let's be honest. Really bloody disappointing 😕

It was. When Ebele was talking about the plasterboard, I thought, yeah, sure, you did that all by yourself, did you?

I did wonder whether the ending was quite a clear as implied though. Could Jay have been lying when he said he lied? Might the terrified recollections of a 14 year old watching from a distance be mistaken? Or telling Ebele (and himself?) what he thought she wanted to hear? And Ebele has been lying to people all her life. She's good at it. Probably taking it more seriously than it deserved. though, I did find it pretty disappointing.

Hmm. It felt a bit like the last (?) series of Shetland, in which a six-foot male corpse was neatly packaged into a moderately-sized wheelie case, popped into the boot of a car and then effortlessly hurled into the sea by a [spoiler redacted] murderer. HOW did she fold up the body and get it to stay up there? And, yes, what was the story to the friend. 'We've got some really aggressive pigeons nesting this spring, not as many chips as usual, down to austerity, I reckon...'?

I thought the Big Political Message ended up working against the actual detective storyline. It was so heavily signposted that there was barely any need to question the suspects.

I wondered that too about the DNA. The police had only just started using it in 1988, it wasn’t widely known about, and I don’t think private tests were available then like they are now.

Commenters on the Guardian thread are saying the 2 bullet-holes in Joe’s skull are entry and exit wounds. But wouldn’t the forensics woman have made that clear if that were the case? A bullet exit-wound isn’t exactly a ‘hole’ if I understand these things correctly, more like a big chunk missing….

I commented over on the spoilers thread (I binge watched), but IMO this series was a real disappointment. It lacked the emotional punch of the previous stories, and the subtlety. The political points were always there, but we weren’t spoonfed/clobbered over the head with it, so it was much more effective. I also seriously doubt a senior police officer like Jess would have had that rant in the interview room - that seemed incredibly unprofessional to me and the suspect’s solicitor would have been on her like a ton of bricks. The actual murder storyline was far too convoluted and confusing, and didn’t really stand up too well to scrutiny. The upskirting thing was shoehorned in and I didn’t understand the point.

@JemimaTab I am so over invested in it that I did a quick Google and apparently Alec Jeffreys commercialised the process in 1987, so it is just about possible. That said, the DNA would have to be gathered by an independent disinterested third party, you couldn't just rock up with a cup and say "Test this and tell me if it's my dad"

All the test would show is that the person who drank from the cup was Ebele's father, but where is the independent proof that Tony Hume was that person?

And I agree that the "I upskirted because austerity" thing was ridiculous

And how did Ebele know where Jay lived?
Who told her? Surely not the Police?
They hadn't even met before that had they?

And how fortuitous that he was packing ready to leave but of course she arrived just in time to see him.
Vital really or we wouldn't have had the non-credible reveal at the end.

Just all a bit clumsy and too much points-scoring from Chris Lang.
I really hope the next one is better.

Also I imagine if private DNA testing had only just become available, it would be pretty expensive. And I’m not sure ordinary people would have known about or used it (compared with today, where it’s widely known about and used - still not cheap though). Ebele talked about it as if it were a completely routine thing to do.

It was good until last night's episode . Far too much crammed into an hour , another episode would've been better .

I think the whole Karol storyline had way too much time dedicated to it for a red herring.

Agreed. Don't buy that explanation for a moment.

I think the main problem for me was that I didn't care about any of the main characters, apart from the detective team. They were OK. But all in all, it was like reading the Guardian with a bad hangover.

And surely Ebele would have some sort of charges brought against her. She constantly lied from the very start, deliberately misleading the police team and wasting a lot of police resources (it was mentioned more than once how expensive it was for the plasterboard/woodwork testing). Not to mention Sunny's wasted trip to Paris whilst his poor partner was having a miscarriage.

@LineDriedLaundry agree. Def done for perjury and time wasting

Once it’s over, and you think back on the various strands of this narrative, and how it’s “resolved”, it just all falls apart. It’s nowhere near the standard of the previous series.

Yes, I mean the supposed hero was a heroin addict seen attacking women one of whom was pregnant, leaving her in hospital so he could buy pot noodles for his horrendous addict girlfriend who then lied to stitch up a dying man for murder.

And a blackmailing alcoholic who beat up her male partner whenever she felt like it and who never seemed to take any responsibility for any of her actions just blamed it on other people.

Neither really felt like the kind of people who deserved to be cheered on if I'm honest.

Precisely.

I agree, and crucially neither character seemed redeemed to me at the end.

Glad I wasn't the only one disappointed with the ending. Just seemed far too preachy and the upskirting ex-social worker storyline was just daft! What was the point of all that business with his partner in France and the financial issues? Just filler?

Well when uou put it like that @CampervanKween 😂

But very true

Exactly.

Tho one could say due to his nurture or lack of it he turned out to be on drugs

Life could have been different for him

Yes, I did feel a bit of sympathy for the lad, but found Ebele to be a very dislikeable character. The whole series was very disappointing to me.

I think sometimes writers get a bee in their bonnet and it buzzes so loud that it's all you can hear. When Jessie did that jarringly unprofessional slow hand clap and 'fuck you, fella' to Tony Hume at the end, it felt more like Chris Lang clambering on his soap box than something a senior detective would do or say in a recorded interview. Hayley Mills' character existed mainly so Ebele could rail at her about privilege and complicity.

So weird, because the writing in previous series has been so subtle and nuanced - the viewer is slowly led to feel sympathy for flawed characters, not told to feel sorry for them because Reasons. The balance felt off. Too much mitigating circumstance was either unseen in the past or only revealed right at the end - maybe if there had been an interview with the cult leader, or someone who had witnessed the forced exorcism, it would have rounded out Ebele's character to be more sympathetic. As it was, character's personalities felt secondary to the political points they were there to make.

I hope the next series is better because there's nothing more satisfying than watching the clues slowly being pieced together by the detective team.