Hullo all, welcome back to our soggy murder mystery on Unforgotten; we ended on a chilling note last time, let’s find out what it means for us and our suspects. Rolling episode three after the break!
We found out about David Walker’s tragedy of a childhood. He’d been interfered with by his primary teacher; I’ve now come to my senses and realised there is no way Marion Kelsey (Rosie Cavaliero) is old enough to have been his teacher 26 years ago. So that’s still an unknown.
We did confirm that Professor Sara Mahmoud (Badria Timimi) had a past as a prostitute that her family is as yet unaware of; someone raised another reason for David having her address in his pager. He was a “leisure” promoter, those guys for sure know all the local talent and drug dealers. Speaking of drugs: lawyer / barrister / LEGAL PROFESSIONAL Colin Osborne (Mark Bonnar) ran quite the 80s partyhouse back in his day, hookahs and blow as far as the eye could see.
The only one we know for sure didn’t do it is David’s wife at the time, DI Tessa Nixon (Lorraine Ashbourne), if only because they’re pointing such a large bloody finger at her.
It’s Inauguration Day so Imma listen to the soothing theme song again. Join me, won’t you?
DC Jake Collier (Lewis Reeves) has sussed the same thing I did above, the abuser in David Walker’s past would be in his or her eighties, nobody we’ve seen so far. It COULD have been done by proxy, but by who? Sunny (Sanjeev Bhaskar) is unsure that a pedophile has such friends. DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) reminds everyone to keep an open mind.
Cassie brings up Colin’s work history. He quit his fancy banker job in the city about a month before David died; let’s find out if that’s a coincidence, yeah? DS Murray Boulting (Jordan Long) is on the case. DC Fran Lingley (Carolina Main) will be checking Sara Alazi / Mahmoud’s alibi of living abroad in Rome, let’s go team! Tomorrow. Sleep first!
Colin and his husband Simon (Carlie Condou) have gathered the money to pay off Tyler (Josef Atlin) so he doesn’t tell on Colin for keying some insanely homophobic aresehole’s car at the supermarket. Finally Simon says what I’ve been thinking, Why not just deny? And still, do they even know that Tyler is with Flo’s (Amy Jayne) birthmum anyway? Colin’s worried that there might be CCTV footage, but that seems like a better risk than throwing 5000 quid at some lowlife.
Simon wants to know what else Colin’s keeping from him. He knows Colin does that. Colin keeps things like the detectives investigating his past life in the 80s to himself and that must be a lonely existence for both of them. ‘Specially when you can lie this well
Paul (Douglas Hodge) wants to postpone their holiday, Tessa’s got a lot on, yeah? But she doesn’t want to delay their trip and she doesn’t want to hear him complain again about her manchild Jason (Will Brown) harassing his daughter Becca (Dominique Drew) either.
He’d been over shouting, having lost his temper about his dad being found so many years after the fact; it scared Becca that he was saying things like he wanted to hurt someone.
Paul’s concerned because big old 31-year-old Jason was screaming and getting up into 15-year-old Becca’s space. I get that. Tessa doesn’t, because she still thinks of Jason as her five year old son, who’s just misunderstood and a cuddly wuddly bear.
She stomps away, but he stops her. Is everything okay? Well, as okay as one could be, given the circumstances, but about that, isn’t she reacting in a surprising manner? Tessa are I are surprised right back; there’s a manual for this sort of thing? Some kind of a So-Your-Spouse-Was-Murdered-And-Didn’t-Leave-You-and-Your-Child For Dummies? She’s just been brittle and angry is all, is there anything she needs to tell him?
We get a quick flash of a young child with a split lip; is that her or is that someone who Jason smacked while not being a cuddly-wuddly bear? Violet and I already have our eyes on him as the murderer of his father when he was five, a single stab wound is TOTALLY possible for the Kindergarten set.
Jason himself has come to see Cassie; he’d like to know when he can visit his dad. Cassie gently suggests he might want to remember his dad as he was, not as a soggy corpse with HORRIFIC hanging skin. But the problem is that he doesn’t remember his dad, not at all.
Personal interjection: I remember three specific instances of my father, who died when I was four, so my anecdotal evidence suggests that he absolutely should remember something. SCIENCE!
It was Tessa who made that Memory Box for Jason, the smell is gone now and he’d just like to say goodbye. Cassie will get back to him on that, she’s so lovely with people, isn’t she?
Sunny is talking with David’s best mate, James Gregory (Richard Hope), following up on David’s childhood abuse, which started at 7 and ended approximately a year later. Ergh. David never shared the name of his abuser with James, just the specifics of the horror. James thought that’s what drove his lifestyle. THIS is why you need a chatty leftover best mate. David was far from being the congenial community-minded family man we’ve heard all about so far, he used drugs and alcohol regularly, had affairs and a LOT of prostitutes. That was when James and David parted ways, he wasn’t into that and it was years before they spoke again.
When they did start hanging out again in ’87, David shared the details of his abuse then and said he’d contacted the abuser as well. NAME? The teacher denied the abuse and even got abusive, hmm. My kingdom for a name!
Oooh and that’s not okay, they’ve locked DI Tessa out of the police office without even telling her, whut? Her lieutenant explains. If Tessa is seen to have any access to any of the investigative details, it could compromise the investigation.
Cassie’s in seeing OOOOHHH Marion’s mum Joy (Wendy Craig) and sister Elise (Holly Aird) because this address was written in a travel card in David’s desk. Hm. Was Marion a prostitute? She did break into the family home around then, so I’m thinking drug-related.
The lady herself is in talking to Zoe (Jodie Tyack), she told her parents about the chats with Marion at home to wind them up, of course. Marion mouths the right words, gotta keep things professional! Zoe’s off with a cheek kiss and Marion’s apologizing to her husband Tony (Nigel Lindsay – I just spent 10 minutes down a IMDb rabbithole trying to find out if he is / was married to Sally Lindsay from Ordinary Lies, did you know she’s mostly known for Coronation Street? Me either! But no, not married to Nigel, as we were) for accusing him of ratting her out. Her breezy attitude is completely at odds with the invective she was hurling at him last time, all my spidey senses are tingling.
That wasn’t why he was calling anyway. It’s about the police and a murder from 1990, and Marion swallows her tongue.
Sunny gives Cassie and us the rest of the news he got from James; it wasn’t just run of the mill “industrial level” prostitute usage; David was into some fetish stuff as well. BDSM, bondage, they’ll need to keep that info super tightly locked down.
Murray is off checking into Colin’s past, talking to Hugh Moray (woo hoo it’s Tony Gardner from Last Tango In Halifax – let’s see if I have cause to call him a wanker ever five seconds on this too!), who knew Colin from back in the day and from his banker’s job. Colin was something of a maverick, extremely intelligent and ballsy with it. Hugh can’t speak why Colin left so abruptly without legal advice, how can he get hold of Murray? Nice bum’s rush! Murray pushes back, he’ll call Hugh. And he WILL
Sara gets an unknown call in her car, it’s Sunny and she doesn’t answer. I know hijabs aren’t fashion accessories, but her scarves are always lovely.
Janet (Emma Cunnife) the social worker is doing a How’s It’s Going interview with Flo, Colin just can’t FOCUS.
Cassie’s found Marion at work, who looks as though she’s about to rabbit. She stares at David’s picture and we get a quick flash of a man leading a young woman in to a house and then a broken something that I can’t quite make out.
I LOVE the flashbacks! Has anyone ever seen a show called Seeing Things? Extremely Canadian, Louis del Grande, Janet Laine-Green? They had those! Except like, more of them. Brilliant show
Why does everyone lie!? Universally, they look at the pictures, flashback and then “no, nope, never seen him.”
Marion asks if her mum said she broke into her house? Cassie’s smile in all it’s glory
Marion was homeless and had a key, she let herself in. Cassie brings up Marion’s past, point by point, as Marion gets more and more defensive. She was arrested for and found guilty of assaulting a police officer and it’s then when Cassie has to address Marion’s growing obstreperousness. To the floor, she asks
Marion was assaulted while on a perfectly legal march (my sister is at the Women’s March on Washington today, I am hoping it goes really well), she’s made the jump to being seen as violent and storms away. Good job, Marion, no way she thinks you’ve angry or unstable!
Update the Squad Time! They’re having trouble confirming that Sara Alazi/Mahmoud was in Rome during the fateful period, inquiries continue. That and one other piece of information is all that’s new to us. They’ve pulled information about one of Marion’s addresses from that time period, 32 Smoke Lane, and come up with a Sinead Mary Quinn who was arrested in 1991 for suspected IRA activity. Everyone murmurs. but really, what would that have to do with Marion. For the record, all I know about the IRA I learned from the first three seasons of Sons of Anarchy.
Oh and Marion’s legal protesting march was associated with the IRA and with David Walker being a Tory fundraiser, they think she’s now a solid suspect.
Marion is leaving abusive messages on her aged mother’s ansaphone, they look scared.
Hassan Mahmoud (Adeel Akhtar) is home and parenting (without yelling, what?), Sara’s in the kitchen, well. I THINK it’s Sara, but she has no headscarf. What’s going on?? I can see hair and neck and I feel weird.
You can sure tell the women are the suspects this series of Unforgotten, mostly the men have been standing around saying “You all right?” and looking worried. That means it was definitely a dude.
You never ever want to have your partner say this at you, like this:
Marion’s having a drink in a pub in between enraged, paranoid phone calls to her elderly mother when Zoe walks in. Boundaries! Being crossed! Marion buys her underaged friend a drink, I mean
Elise is comparing notes with Tony about Marion’s behaviour, they’re awfully chummy, aren’t they? Elise is standing in a gorgeous, sunlit kitchen but I can’t see if there’s an AGA. 🙁
Zoe is a pretty good counselor, for a cancer-ridden teenager overstepping her lines in the pub with Marion. Marion goes HARD, calling her “just another patient, who I’ll forget about as soon as you’ve gone” and that is ice cold, Marion. You know she’s very ill and just trying to help her favourite nurse.
Sunny told Tessa their new information over the phone, was that wise? Cassie is still unsure of Tessa, wondering if her not mentioning James Gregory was a way of leaving out the part where she might have a motive. Sunny signs off with something I have said every single day for the last 8 and a half years
Marion makes it home, Tony does our standard talk for the menz on this show
One day..he won’t be here to hear her apologies.
Cassie finally just asks her dad what he was up to in Winchester. Martin (Peter Egan) will tell her, but then it shall never be spaketh of again. He was looking for the fella Cassie’s mum was having the affair with. Ohhhh. Is that wise? Cassie and I want to know why? THIS IS WHY HE DIDN’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!!
Tyler gets his money from Colin, but he won’t get any more, which Colin drives home with a terrifying threat of bodily harm. I think Colin needs a weekend away, Simon. At least Colin tells him about the murder case NOW. Oh man, he swears on Flo’s life that he didn’t know David Walker and why would you do that, Colin??? It will just make it that much worse when Simon finds out you DID know David, we saw the flashbacks! Simon is sensible, Simon is suspicious and he seems to have been able to view things rationally, from afar. Which means that he will leave.
Look, Jake shows Cassie a picture from the papers right after that sworn declaration on his almost-adopted daughter’s life
Hassan would really like to help his wife, she’s clearly upset about something but she doesn’t want to talk about it here
Cassie and Sunny run over and show Colin the photo of him standing right next to David Walker, he still maintains he knows nothing of the man even as we see him flashing back to signing a cheque. Or someone signing a cheque. There was a CHEQUE!
Colin ducks and weaves and doesn’t answer ancillary questions and seems trying to skate until Cassie hits him right between the eyes.
So there it is, they want his alibi. And he has one, a fairly ironclad one, not just that he has a penis. He had a breakdown in May of that year and was sectioned in Modsley Hospital for several months. Was this before or after he possibly murdered David? He says his internment as of May 6, 1990 was over suicidal thought and not homicidal, that will be the thing they need to confirm.
OH! Sunny’s got a date! Is that Tinder? I suppose I should find out about that kind of thing (HARD PASS), but he’ll take the train home, he’s got a hot date in the neighbourhood!
Becca’s still pretty nervous about everything Tessa and Jason. Paul tries to calm her down while I think she looks EXACTLY like a baby Suranne Jones!
Oh Sara is doing the hard work with her husband, she explains not only about the murder investigation, but also about her past as a prostitute. He walks away, but I would have expected at least ONE word.
Cassie was true to her word and got Jason a visitation with his dad’s body, just don’t, er, pull back the sheet…while Marion drives across the country to meet with… Sinead? NO! Colin and Sara??????? WHAT???? That actually shocked me, lol, I gasped and everything! It never occurred to me they might know each other! Well enough to arrange a meet no less. And we’re out.
So I was COMPLETELY off base with Marion’s possible motive last week. I guess I just found her interactions with Zoe a little creepy. Colin is proving to have unplumbed depths, as to be expected on such a series, but whats with the meetup???
Until next week!
