Unforgotten will be back on screen in just over a week(Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)
A beloved TV police drama is returning to ITV in a matter of days.
Unforgotten, which has been hailed by fans as ‘better than Line of Duty’, hasn’t been on air since 2023 but Sinéad Keenan and Sanjeev Bhasker will be back as DCI Jessica ‘Jessie’ James and DI Sunil ‘Sunny’ Khan next month.
The sixth series of Chris Lang’s award-winning series will start on ITV1 on February 9, with the second episode coming just one day later.
Jess and Sunny return after human remains are discovered in a marsh, with the duo realising the body was dismembered first.
As well as the fan-favourite duo, new characters will be introduced including an autistic man who lives with his mother, a history lecturer, an outspoken TV commentator, an Afghan man training for his UK citizenship test and more.
Despite their ‘separate lives’, all the characters are ‘intrinsically linked by their past’ as the team try to figure out the connections.
DI Sunny Khan and DCI Jessica James are returning (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)
The synopsis released last year continues: ‘When suspected human remains are discovered on Whitney Marsh, Jess and Sunny are called to the scene, ditching their respective plans for the evening much to Jess’s husband Steve’s chagrin.
‘With Dr Balcombe’s expert analysis of the human spine, it’s evident the remains are relatively recent and her guess is the body was put there already dismembered.
‘With this knowledge Jess and Sunny begin to search the area believing other body parts may not be too far away.’
Andy Wilson will continue his streak of directing every single episode of Unforgotten after helming all six in the new series.
The show hasn’t been on air since 2023 (Picture: ITV)
Creator and writer Lang previously teased a story which has been building ‘for nearly eight years, since the 23rd June 2016, when our country seemed to fracture in two’.
He added back in March: ‘The UK, and indeed the world, has today never seemed more divided, and series six attempts to try and understand how we got to where we are now, and perhaps more importantly, where we can go from here.’
In the past, viewers have heaped praise on Unforgotten for its character work, and even placed it above iconic BBC drama Line of Duty.
Fans think the show is even better than Line of Duty (Picture: BBC)
‘Another recommendation for Unforgotten – better characters than Line of Duty,’ @ruskin147 previously wrote on X.
After the Bafta nominations were released in 2022, @heidraab said: ‘Line of Duty should have been nominated. LOD Season 6 was not as great as previous seasons But much better than Vigil.
‘I thought Unforgotten was the best of them all for the year.’
‘I think, taken as a whole “Unforgotten” is a better series than “Line of Duty,”‘ suggested @bazlyons in 2021, while @alifoxy81 added: ‘I loved Unforgotten I thought it was better than Line of Duty x.’
Unforgotten returns to ITV1 at 9pm on February 9.
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