It has been slightly more than a year since Unforgotten series 6 dropped, which is…right about time for me to jump on it! There was once a time when I was right on top of things and Sanjeev Bhaskar, yes, THE Sanjeev Bhaskar read a recap…but that is not today, my friend. Rolling into my recap of Unforgotten Series 6 episode 1 like THE Sanjeev is reading it after the break!

We open in Cafe Murano with DI Sunil “Sunny” Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) surrounded by young people getting their drink on, but alone, reading a letter and trying in vain to order half a bottle of Malbec.

A call from DS Fran Lingely (Carolina Main) interrupts his attempt at a solo repast, and he is off chasing suspected human remains in Whitney Marsh.

Cut to DCI Jess James (Sinéad Keenan), whom we last saw dealing with her husband cheating on her with her…sister. Yes. And apparently he’s back in the house, with a suspiciously long reddish hair attached to his jacket.

**I’m not one of the people who believe that infidelity can’t be grown out of and worked through and all that hard stuff, but it looks as though this is the same old story again.

Said hubby Steve James (Andrew Lancel) has made a lovely dinner for two to share with Jess while the children presumably already dined, I’m sure that has nothing to do with a guilty conscience. Sunny’s call draws her away.

We’re at Whitney Marsh in east London staring at a muddy ribcage that I legit thought was a set of tusks. Dr. Leanne Balcombe (Georgia Mackenzie) can’t narrow down gender, but a scolosis aid on what’s left of the spine suggests the torso is fairly recent. Ish, 50 years or so. There are also cut marks at the top of the spine that indicate dismemberment, so it’s definitely sitting firmly in Sunny and Jess’ cold case homicide wheelhouse.

Jess and Sunny ponder the marsh; her mind is elsewhere on the seabass cooked by her philandering fella. Who has never cooked anything for her before. 100 percent a red flag, as you were.

They brainstorm your ‘basic dismemberment” and come up with a search radius, to be started forthwith.

I will never not love the gentle wit Sunny brings to Unforgotten.

Jess gets home to find her portion of seabass resting in the dog (or cat?)’s bowl, and the PIN changed on Steve’s phone. I wish I knew how to do emojis, but I feel like we’ve lost count of the red flags by now, even without the pictograms.

We’re off to the impossibly beautiful County Cork in Ireland, you know all us Canadians will be flooding the joint now that the US doesn’t want us any more. A short conversation about a minor between Melinda Ricci (MyAnna Buring) and TV producer Gabriel (Oliver Lansley) has Melinda sorted as a good person and Oliver not.

Over in Deal, Kent, a man with tics in headphones walks to and on the pier while people stare. He is Marty Baines (Maximilian Farley).

Doing trivia via Bluetooth while driving nearby is Asif Syed (Elham Ehsas), headed to Dover. 

Literally no explanation given for either inclusion yet.

Central London University introduces us to Juliet Cooper (Victoria Hamilton – I know her from Mansfield Park and Doctor Foster!!) who is fighting for a ‘special’ student to stay in school. Buxton (Jane Jeffery) cannot ignore this third incident and the student is suspended.

Marty from above tosses roses into the water off the pier in Deal, Kent, with a ‘Sorry, Dad, and happy birthday.’

Melinda rolls up to physical rehab to cheer on Patrick (Emmett J Scanlan – who is instantly recognisable but I just can’t think of where from…maybe Snatch? Or The Fall? I haven’t see Peaky Blinders, so it’s not there for me), who was able to walk almost all the way over for a kiss. Bit of a long look between the resident Dr. Clacy (Paul McQuaid) and Melinda, though…

We’ve got human traffickers afoot, with a group of men playing poker in a storage locker at sea. Brothers Hassan (Ahmad Sakhi) and Abdul (Samir Arrian) watch UK football (soccer!) and dream of watching it live.

Marty queues up for ice cream at the shore, making a woman in line ahead of him uncomfortable with his direct questions and lack of response to ‘normal’ social cues. I think we can assume Marty, with his tics, direct language and lack of awareness of social cues, is meant to be somewhere on the spectrum. His mum calls; he’s missed his appointment at the clinic and he runs off.

The trafficked gentlemen are dropped off in the middle of nowhere, oh, wait, Hassan and Abdul are brothers in religion only, and Hassan is meeting up with Asif above in Dover!

Sunny has managed to narrow down the window of time for the body to be placed in the marsh, it seems it was drained and empty for a period of time and we are looking after 2011. That’s only 15 years to look into!

**Omigosh how is that 15 years ago. So old.

Jess lies to Sunny about the state of her marriage vis a vis the fish she didn’t get to eat. He isn’t fooled. He’s also at loose ends these days.

Lecturer Juliet packs up her desk before going to collect her wayward ward Taylor (Pixie Davies) who has just been suspended, but she will be fighting battles on two fronts. Her boss Paul Merrick (Adrian Rawlins) stops her on the way out and insists she stops by for a chat later that day. Small problem with the union and one of her students.

Marty is too late to see his doctor at the clinic today, but the lovely and understanding Claire (Jennifer Aries) fixes him up with another appointment two days hence.

The police fan out in the marsh and search for body parts, finding a leg wrapped in plastic. It is determined to be most likely male, and all the hair on it means maybe DNA! No, okay, we’re not going that way, but we do find out, eventually, that the femoral artery was cut before death, and is in fact most likely the cause of death. Hmm. So maybe not murder? An accidental death caused by rupturing the femoral artery? I do know of someone that happened to, just a small bump from a jetski, and that was it. ANYWAY.

Juliet picks up young Taylor at school while schoolmates whisper and stare; Taylor blames her attacking some random girl on a comment made about Juliet’s husband and Taylor’s father killing himself because Juliet was gross. Or something. Which is pretty awful. Slightly behind that is Taylor as bratty teenager refusing therapy or any sort of help, and then insinuating Juliet DID have something to do with her father’s death. Interesting.

We go back to the hospital with Melinda and Patrick, I guess they’re getting married? He wants to walk into a church unassisted, and you wouldn’t dream about that for a regular old Sunday, would you? She had that long look with the doctor, though, so we know it’s not likely.

Asif and Hassan drive and discuss someone named Chullam, who escaped from Afghanistan after the Americans left but came back to take care of his mother, only to be sacrificed by his brother for the price on his head. Chullam had been a translator and was executed as a traitor when the British didn’t take him with them and offer citizenship as they had promised.

At Central London University, Juliet learns that Liz Jones, a student, has made a complaint against her, for providing what must be a controversial choice by a writer of colour. The student mentioned that the reading list was super white; Juliet gave her a couple of her own books and one of them is a problem.

What’s more interesting is Juliet blowing up in between this chat and saying she ‘didn’t want to be drawn. For obvious reasons.’ Paul does not understand, nor why Juliet says they’re all ‘f**king terrified of them.’ Them WHO? Students? Students of colour? People of colour in general? I mean. Nothing good comes from that sentence.

It only gets more confusing; Liz Jones was traumatized by a book called the N-word, written by a woman of colour, writing about her life. Liz Jones did not feel she was properly prepared to see a book called the N-word, even though Liz herself would likely never be called the n-word in a derogatory fashion, given that she’s super white.

Juliet is to apologize to Liz, and then the union would like her to attend a microagression session, which Juliet profanely declines.

So…this white student thinks the reading list is too white…and requests more diverse literature…but then when one of the books includes a word used by Black people amongst themselves…she is traumatized. On behalf of? In place of? How can that make sense.

Marty gets home to make a sandwich for his mum, who appears to be trapped under…everything. This is a hoarder’s house for sure, which doesn’t seem to affect his mood at all.

Something affecting my mood: Jess gets home to find her husband has zipped out again without notice and her mum Kate (Kate Robbins) in place lecturing her about not ruining family gatherings with her ridiculous feelings about HER HUSBAND AND SISTER HAVING AN AFFAIR. Why hasn’t Jess gotten over it? Put on a face so people can have cake without feeling bad about it. OKAY.

We learn more about Melinda, she isn’t just a hopeful fiancée crying over bridal magazines, she’s a feature reporter on a far right TV show. Think Fox News with posher accents. The young person she was trying not to sacrifice earlier falls under the wheels of her ‘Mel’s Minute’, the childbride of a terrorist being held in a violent refugee camp, and now in court. There were all kinds of helpful dog whistles to figure out the bent of the program, from the use of ‘libt*rd’, ‘trans pets’ and to rants about being old enough for sex and all sorts of things.

Asif cooks while we get a little more insight into refugee life in the UK; Asif lives with Omar (Sharif Dorani who has been in everything!), a cardiologist from Kandahar working as a delivery driver. Hassan has also qualified as a doctor, but has not yet had a chance to practice. Hassan would like to go the legal route, he’s another of the Afghani who worked for the British in Afghanistan. Asif says Hassan can do whatever he likes, but the memory of being thrown in jail while pursuing that same route haunts him.

Dr. Clacy tells Melina the best possible scenario for what that look between them could have meant; Melinda’s fiancé Patrick will most likely never walk again. I mean, he’s not dying! This is good news given how terrible his reported injuries were.

Marty has a robust online life, shocker, chatting with some bros on an incel website (it’s literally called ***incelbrate***), sharing conspiracy theories when Marty says someone ‘needs r**ing’ and who does? Did that sound like Lil Nas? What is going on.

Sunny rushes through the station during the last moment of the show; they’ve got a match for the DNA for the body parts found in the Whitney Marsh: it’s Gerard Cooper, of the Juliet and Taylor Cooper family. Taylor just agreed to go to therapy with her mum.

Gerard Cooper was presumed dead after jumping in the Thames; that must have been who Marty was dropping flowers for. But. How is Marty part of the family? Gerard was 58 when he died two years previous, Taylor is a teenager, but Juliet is also of advanced years. Was Marty given up for adoption?

AND. The person in charge of the investigation for Gerard’s death was none other than Ram Sidhu ( Phaldut Sharma) who we know from Unforgotten Series 4! He was one of the bad guys, spoiler alert! And currently resides in jail. I liked Ram, he was a complicated and engaging character.

We see our suspects in the closing seconds:

– Asif: smoking and contemplative

– Juliet: drinking and contemplative

– Marty: playing loud murdery video games

– Melinda: praying

Until next time, everyone! Cheers!