Memorable Cops Back on the Beat

Just when you thought NZ fans had been forgotten about … one of British TV’s most memorable whodunits, Unforgotten, at last returns for its sixth season on Sky.

The odd-couple detective drama will screen 8.30 Mondays from May 4 on BBC First and stream on Neon an hour later.

This time DCI Jess James (Sinéad Keenan) and DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) uncover the truth behind a dismembered body found in East London.

When it premiered more than a year ago in the UK, The Telegraph warned it would “divide opinion … if you voted Brexit, watch GB News, disagreed with lockdown or disapprove of asylum seekers coming to Britain on small boats, then you’re going to need blood pressure tablets.”

Despite its liberal bent, The Guardian thought the overtly political storyline unwise.

“This beloved cold-case drama still has a dry sense of humour, but its attempt to wade into the culture wars was not a good idea. Its tackling of politics is starting to feel very ham-fisted.”

But the reviewer added: “I have only seen the first episode, so perhaps it will do what it always does, and bring together its disparate strands into one cohesive and predictably satisfying conclusion.”

The Times was more enthusiastic. “Chris Lang’s characters are so well-drawn and the scripts so expansive, their many strands skilfully interlaced, that it sucks you in.

“Sunny and Jess have more chemistry now that her ice-queen act has thawed. True, not as much as with Cassie [who was killed off in S4], but it’s still early enough days.”

Concurred the Independent: “It’s gripping stuff, and quite distinct from the many other criminal capers clogging up the schedules.

“Unforgotten is far less silly than Death in Paradise and its killer copycats. But nor does it cosh you over the head with unrelenting misery, as tends to be the case with dramas inspired by true stories.

“Instead, it steers a middle ground between tacky and traumatising.”

Here’s the trailer.