The plot has thickened on Unforgotten series 3, we have confirmed that all four of our suspects (and their plus ones) were on the spot when our young victim disappeared, let’s find out what other skeletons are hanging in their closets. Rolling S3:E03 after the break.
We open with DCI Cassie Stuart (our beloved Nicola Walker) rushing in to take a burning pot of porridge off the stove. Her dad Martin (Peter Egan – hey, I’ve just realised she and her dad have different last names, what happened to Cassie’s hubs?) apparently left it on, being the only person in the house. He denies it credibly, seemingly mystified, is he dealing with early-onset dementia?
James Hollis (Kevin McCarty) is checking all the usual spots for his son Eliot (Tom Rhys Harries) but Kevin Dale (John Scougall) hasn’t seen him, guvnor.
Other suspect Dr. Tim Finch (Alex Jennings) wraps up his court case satisfactorily with a finding of no basis in the claim against him. Complainant Alison Pinion (Gabrielle Glaister) is furious, she knows what she heard!
I do believe that Tim dropped his Good Doctor manner and threatened her mum’s life; I just can’t work out why I like him better for thinking that.
Cassie researches early signs of dementia while I hurt my elbow patting myself on the back.
The hounds are baying at Peter Carr’s (Neil Morrissey – from Line of Duty!) door, they’ve sorted that he stole the $3,000 quid* he was supposed to invest for the elderly Mr. Salthouse.
*I don’t actually know what quid means but someone laughed at me when I used “pounds” and dollars didn’t sound right, so here we are
Jessica Reid (Bronagh Waugh), twin of the found girl, comes to check on her mum Suzanne (Brid Brennan), who’s sitting exhausted on a couch across from the computer. The trolls have been at work on Hayley’s memorial page, accusing the parents of murdering their daughter and everything else inflammatory.
As he requested, James Hollis has been brought in for official questioning, Cassie and DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) take him back to the holiday season of 1999. Ahhhh see, he and the other three suspects (Tim, Peter, Chris Lowe) were there alone first, the wives and kids came after.
It started as a (murdery?) golf outing, the lads all knew each other from school (I thought that TOO! Hurt other elbow). Now this is strange, innit, Tim, James and Chris have all since divorced the women they were married to at the time. Peter wasn’t married and so dodged that bullet. Sunny and I think that’s worth an extra blink.
Cassie passes over a picture of Hayley around the time she was murdered, does he know her? Yes (we get a flash of a hand covered in blood) and Cassie carefully asks for his movements on the fateful evening. Sounds pretty tame for the Millennium, dinner and TV then early to bed.
Almost as a throwaway, Cassie asks which school they all went to? And everyone lived around there? Cheers! James looks worried that he gave something away then, let’s call Finchley School! Or
That roving rude paparazzo captures James coming out of the police station, whoops!
Chris Lowe (James Fleet) is looking at a lovely flat with love interest Jamila Faruk (Sasha Behar) but before things go any further…she needs to know why he’s an off-the-grid hermit.
Blogger Sandra Rayworth (Tori Allen-Martin) checks out the likes on her post “I Blame The Parents” about the Reids, yay clickbait. She starts another post in the same vein.
John Bentley (Alistair MacKenzie), the original detective on Hayley’s case, briefs everyone on the lay of the land and walks them through the witness evidence of the night.
Beware the black car with tow bar!
There was DNA evidence recovered, let’s get our four lads in for a cheek swab.
Cassie takes over and directs her team, DC Fran Lingely (Carolina Main) will be checking the timeline, DS Murray Boulting (Jordan Long) is on the Car of Doom, Jake (Lewis Reeves) will be talking to Suzanne Reid, she and Sunny will be tacking our suspects head on.
Hmmmm I know we’re in a murder investigation but usually when we find out a hunky former detective is divorced and has two boys the same age as Cassie’s kiddos, we’re meant to take notice.
And we did! Sunny seals the deal, inviting John out for a drink after.
James calls Tim so they can get their stories straight, delivering his version with heavy emphasis. “WE JUST STAYED IN THE HOUSE AND HAD SUPPER, RIGHT??” which is how older white English guys of a certain social standing say they need to get their stories straight. He calls Peter next, I have to assume whatever they were doing it was NOT eating supper at the house. Perhaps driving erratically in a black car with tow bar?
Oh hey, while Peter has you on the phone…
Chris explains his past to Jamila, he did divorce right after the millennium, I’m confused as to how Eliot ties in. What problems did Chris have? Gambling or another type of addiction led to 7 years of homelessness ahhh, he has bi-polar disorder and was self-medicating.
Pete got that money from James in the nick of time, his boss Mark (Finlay Robertson) is at his house visiting with his missus Maria (Indra Ové). Pete hands over a packet of cash with a not-awesome explanation, Mark isn’t impressed. He knows from cowboys riding the investor market in Hong Kong.
Pete apologizes to Maria, but she wants a divorce. This isn’t what she thought she was buying.
It never is, love.
Cassie and Sunny descend on Dr. Tim in slow-mo, will we see that hidden temper flare?
Adrian Mullery (Gerald Kyd) gets called in for a meeting at the same time with his superior, he looks exactly as excited as Tim.
Tim tells them the same story as James, Sunny asks about his car (silver, boooo) and then his marriage. His ended in 2001, everyone else around the same time. Was there some kind of satanic orgy all the wives walked in on??
I do like how he says that they need to be prepared if they talk to his ex-wife, she “has a number of issues” which is how older white English guys of a certain standing say “betch be cray.”
Tim agrees to a DNA test, leading Cassie and Sunny to think they’re barking up the wrong tree. Look! They all say they were together eating supper, it’s fine! It’s not weird that they called each other to make sure they REMEMBERED THE SAME EXACT THING, that’s totally normal!
James is growing more and more agitated about not being able to reach Eliot, his current wife Amy (Emma Fielding) doesn’t understand why he’s so wound up this time. He’s driving himself mental trying to figure out which of his choices have ruined his child’s life.
Eliot passes out listening to his dad’s messages; he is very high and his makeup is a mess.
There’s another woman of a certain age at Sunny’s house when he gets home, I think his daughters are playing matchmaker. Gemma (Aasiya Shah) invited Usha (Shoba Kapoor) ’round, do they not like his adorable girlfriend Sal (Michelle Bonnard)?
Supper with Cassie, her dad and his girlfriend Jenny (Janet Dibley) who is very different from Cassie’s mum. How do I know that? She thinks having kids are a lot of bother, and hey, wouldn’t you like to see them grow up? You have to stay around for that and that would have interfered with Jenny’s career. Was there a shot in there about Cassie working?
You know, I used to say shite like that, as though people couldn’t WAIT to get away from their hooligans, as though it was a choice made without economic bearing. I was kind of an arsehole, but I’m glad I did get the time I did with my kids, it’s just that I also very much like my time back at work, too.
Martin is taking Jenny to Venice, first class as Cassie points out, Martin shams a bit that he’d forgotten and Cassie forgets to breathe. Great joke, Dad!
The barmaid Sarah Bradley (Leanne Jones) changes the timeline a bit for Fran, it’s Guy Halford (Pete Lee-Wilson) she’ll want to talk to.
Cassie finds Chris at the beach in his caravan while Sunny approaches Peter in slowmo. I thought Pete was going to turn tail and run.
Chris’s flashback at Hayley’s picture (truly my favourite part, I MISS YOU “SEEING THINGS”) involves a credit card and a gas pump, no blood as with James. Chris grows increasingly agitated over the questions, but Cassie and I were mostly surprised that Chris’s wife drove a Maserati? How rich was this guy?
Pete is the first to admit to seeing Hayley the night she disappeared at the house, Sunny and I just stare. Obviously he wasn’t the murderer then! He remembered her cleaning the rental, he didn’t realise it was a big deal, he didn’t even tell the rest of the gang about it.
Chris is extremely agitated, not answering questions any more and now Cassie has the DNA swab kit out. Pete agrees to his but looks queasy.
Jake approaches Adrian Mullery, who’s just been put on involuntarily leave “until things calm down”, nope, he does not want to talk to Jake and he has a whole prepared speech about it. He thinks the police are bollocks, basically, and even worse: stupid. “Thin-witted mediocrity” isn’t the sort of thing you come up with one the fly, is it? Adrian really REALLY hates the police.
Cassie and Sunny get caught up back at the station, he thought Pete was flaky because of looking like “he shat himself” over the DNA swab. They looked into Chris’s background, too, he used to be quite the muckety-muck, I suppose that explains the Maserati!
Mel Hollis (Sara Stewart) calls just then, I bet the detectives are going to get an earful of a completely different kind.
And they do; Chris had a bi-polar episode that evening, he left after a bit and it seems there were other party favours on offer.
Hahahah I love Sara Stewart, delivering the perfect line that you know without knowing is a sendup of her ex-husband.
All four of the suspects were out of the house that night, including Tim and James chasing after Chris and Pete at the bar trying his luck. Cassie holds her breath and asks if anyone went out after 12:30, she did not get the answer she wanted.
That was glorious.
Cassie is still frustrated in the car, how could the timeline work if Hayley was seen after? She knows the guys are hinky now, every one of them lied in concert.
Ohhhhh but maybe not! Guy Halford has completely mis-remembered who he saw in the pub and now the last confirmed sighting of Hayley was 11! At or around the same time all of our suspects were on the loose. And we’re out.
Dun dun DUN! Until next time! Cheers
