‘Unforgotten’ Stars Talk Season 6: Jess & Sunny’s Relationship, New Suspects & More

It’s no mystery why a new Unforgotten case is an eagerly anticipated event. Six seasons in, Masterpiece‘s British crime drama isn’t about to mess with a formula that’s delivered riveting whodunits and an array of intriguing characters: A body (or parts of one) is found years after someone disposed of it and, over six episodes, cold case cops must determine which of four suspects is responsible.

Premiering Sunday, August 24, at 10/9c on PBS, this time human remains are discovered in the wetlands of east London — and before police detectives Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) and Jessica James (Sinéad Keenan) can catch a killer, they face the arduous task of identifying the victim. Viewers, meanwhile, are introduced to four individuals from different walks of life who have two things in common: a connection to the victim that makes each a suspect and a complex backstory.

“The intention is always to write characters that are multifaceted,” says creator and executive producer Chris Lang. “They may have done bad things, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily bad people.”

Through this quartet — London college professor Juliet Cooper (Victoria Hamilton), Afghan immigrant Asif Syed (Elham Ehsas), young autistic man Marty Baines (Maximilian Fairley), and controversial TV commentator Melinda Ricci (MyAnna Buring) — Lang, who writes every episode, also explores division within his country.

“He always has something to say in his scripts,” notes Keenan, “but he doesn’t necessarily shout about it.”

But casting an autistic actor as Marty is one thing Lang (who has an autistic son) was adamant about, and Fairley, who was new to television, impressed the creative team at his audition. To ensure the actor would feel comfortable, they brought him to the set well before shooting started.

“We wanted him to know that there was help available if he needed it,” Lang says. “But I’d never seen anyone so comfortable on set.”

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As for the detectives, Jess and Sunny’s relationship has stabilized after they got off to a rocky start working together last season.

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“Without knowing too much about each other’s lives,” says Bhaskar, “they’ve built a degree of trust with each other, which allows them to become better partners.”

And Sunny spends more time with another colleague, pathologist Leanne Balcombe (Georgia Mackenzie). Bhaskar notes that they were the last two people to see Sunny’s former partner Cassie before her untimely death two seasons ago.

“That connects them,” he says. “We see them build on a connection that is not based on Cassie — it’s based on them as people.”

Although Unforgotten has thrived on consistency, Lang admits he hasn’t hesitated to insert the occasional twist. “You have to give the audience what they love about the show, but every season I try to find one or two things that we have never done before,” he says. “We have a motto: When we do a new [season], we’ve got to make it the same but different.”

Unforgotten, Season Premiere, Sunday, August 24, 10/9c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)