Sanjeev Bhaskar talks about returning as Sunny Khan in ‘Unforgotten’

Sanjeev Bhaskar and Nicola Walker. Picture: Supplied

Sanjeev Bhaskar and Nicola Walker. Picture: Supplied

Published Sep 14, 2021

Share

BAFTA nominated actors Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar reprise their roles as Cassie Stuart and Sunny Khan in the highly-anticipated fourth series of the critically acclaimed drama, Unforgotten.

Unforgotten follows a team of London detectives as they solve cold cases of disappearance and murder.

The new six-part season charts a fresh investigation into another emotionally-charged cold case murder.

The fourth series opens with the discovery of a dismembered body in a scrap metal yard, which the team believe has been stored in a domestic freezer for thirty years.

A unique Millwall Football Club tattoo leads to the victim being identified as Matthew Walsh, a young man in his mid-twenties who went missing in March 1990.

Speaking to IOL Entertainment, Bhaskar tells us more about his character in the new season.

“In the upcoming series, Sunny is back with the team, investigating another strange appearance of body parts, as we have begun with every series.

“What is different about this series is that the investigation leads them much closer to home, and it affects the way they investigate this case because the ramifications are much bigger,” he said.

Filming for the new season came to a halt two-thirds of the way, but the creation of ‘bubbles’ helped when filming resumed.

“It was really strange, we had five to six months off in between and the really good thing was how well the production was organised and managed when we came back; it was incredibly reassuring, with us being tested and then put into mini bubbles.

“How it worked was the production organised the actors into bubbles.

“So if you were in the same bubble as another actor you could be within two metres of them and if they were in a different bubble, but in the same scene, then they had to be two metres away.

“Once you were off set they encouraged us not to take the distance thing for granted and to minimise the time we were next to anyone.

“Everyone was responsible when it came to following the rules. It doesn’t need to be terrible and we all knew why we were doing it,” he said.

Known for starring in hit shows like The Kumars at No. 42 and The Indian Doctor, Bhaskar said that working on the Unforgotten had been a rare ‘lightning in a bottle’ experience.

“There are three projects that stand out in terms of TV series I have done across my career that have been really meaningful and important to me, and ’Unforgotten’ is one of them.

“For the simple reason that the writing is excellent and the people are wonderful. What is incredibly unusual and reassuring is having predominantly the same core cast and crew going into the fourth series,” said the star.

Commenting on why he thinks the show had been a success, he said it was because people connected with its compassion.

“Unforgotten focuses on historical murders, on the impact of a crime and how far the ripples from a pebble dropped in a pond go and it is something that has connected with people.

“As audiences have grown around the world, we have also discovered that it is this inherent compassion at the heart of horrible events that is something people have connected with and is something that is even more important now when the world feels more frightened and unstable.”

“Unforgotten” is available on BritBox.

Related Topics: