Mark Bonnar attending the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2014 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.
Delighted to announce Mark Bonnar has been Bafta Scotland nominated as best actor for his portrayal of Colin in Unforgotten series two. The winner will be announced at a ceremony on November 5th at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow. To apply for tickets & tables click here.
Bafta Scotland – the British Academy Scotland Awards – honours the very best talent in film, television and games produced in Scotland over the last year.
Convicted of murdering his wife Tara, David Collins has served seven years in prison. He’s lost everything he held dear: his wife, his two children and even the house he owned. He’s always protested his innocence and faces the rest of his life behind bars. His situation couldn’t be more desperate.
Despised by his wife’s family and friends, his only support has been his faithful brother Phil (Daniel Ryan) who has stood by him, sacrificing his own career and livelihood to mount a tireless campaign to prove his brother’s innocence.
Convinced of his guilt, Tara’s childless sister Alice and her husband Rob are now parents to David’s children and thanks to the proceeds of David’s estate enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. For Alice there’s no doubt of his guilt and she’s utterly devastated by the prospect of David’s appeal and re-trial.
DCI William Beech who led the original investigation into Tara’s murder has a lot to lose if David’s conviction is rendered unsafe, and could see him professionally humiliated and even suspended.
To David’s astonishment he is acquitted on a technicality and although suspicion still hangs heavy , he is free to walk from court and to begin rebuilding his life . But at what cost to him personally and those around him? Will David win a custody battle to reclaim his children as he seeks to establish his absolute innocence?
Innocent is a new four-part contemporary drama series written by acclaimed writers Chris Lang and Matt Arlidge starring Hermione Norris and Lee Ingleby and produced by TXTV.
Praise for “Innocent”
Appointment to view…instantly absorbing…remarkably satisfying. –Radio Times
The TV drama that has got the whole nation watching….fantastically intense…a spellbinding whodunit. –The Express
Instantly gripping. –Mirror
Compellingly acted with both Ingleby and Norris on fine, emotionally intense form – Sunday Telegraph
A masterfully hard to read performance from Ingleby. –Mail on Sunday
Chris Lang’s vice like thriller should keep viewers enthralled – ‘i’
I guarantee you’ll be gripped by this riveting four parter – TV Times
A cracking drama – Sunday Mirror
Whodunnits don’t get much more gripping – Sunday People
I will keep watching every day of the week, which is as good a recommendation as any – The Times
Submerged secrets, meltdown level performances, and a propulsive pace. – The Guardian
Cast:
Lee Ingleby
Hermione Norris
Angel Coulby
Dan Ryan
Nigel Lindsay
Written and created by: Chris Lang and Matt Arlidge
Directed by: Richard Clark
Produced by: Jeremy Gwilt
Executive producers: Chris Lang, Matt Arlidge and Jeremy Gwilt.
Chris Lang has just signed a deal with Netflix International, to develop a ten part romantic comedy. The series, entitled, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love‘, will be co produced by Chris and long term collaborator Francois Florentiny.
Following the huge success of ‘Tu Es Mon Fils‘ and ‘Entre Deux Mères‘, the remakes of Chris’s shows ‘A Mother’s Son‘ and ‘Torn‘, and the successful completion of filming on the remake of ‘Undeniable‘ – ‘Quand Je Serai Grande‘ – TF1 have now green lit a new adaptation of Chris’s 2010 hit thriller ‘The Reckoning.
The film will be produced by Arnaud Figueret at Paris production house Capa, and has been adapted by Chris and Julien Tessiere.
Pre-production is scheduled to begin in September.
On March 2, ITV confirmed the highly praised drama, Unforgotten, will return for a third series.
Created and written by screenwriter Chris Lang and produced by Mainstreet Pictures, series two of the compelling cold case crime drama gripped both viewers and critics alike. Amongst its stellar reviews, the series garnered the following accolades: “Perfectly realised” (The Observer), “Crime drama of the highest class” (The Guardian), “brilliantly and realistically complex” (TV Times), “an exhilarating mental workout” (Daily Mail) and “the detective drama of the decade” (Daily Telegraph).
Drawing on complex and current issues, the emotional drama questions everyday morality and analyses the very human stories behind crime as lead characters DCI Cassie Stuart and DI Sunil ‘Sunny’ Khan, played by Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar, unravel the truth behind historic murders. The Guardian complimented the portrayal of Cassie and Sunny referring to them as “credible, real and refreshing” characters that love what they do.
The new six-part series will be written once again by Chris Lang and will see Cassie and Sunny delve into another intricate historical investigation, revealing a fresh web of long-buried secrets. (read more at ITV Press Centre)
Are you bored of serial killers? Have you had your fill of tortured detectives with messy personal lives? Do you worry about TV drama’s unnatural obsession with sexual sadism aimed at attractive women? I am, I have and I do, and that’s why Unforgotten, ITV’s cold case thriller, currently running on Thursday nights, is such a brilliant antidote to the most depressing of TV trends.
There are many accomplished examples of the genre from the UK and across the globe – Luther, The Fall, The Bridge, Dexter, River, True Detective, Happy Valley – but all – even the justifiably lauded Happy Valley – suffer in comparison to Chris Lang’s drama, now in its second series.
Unforgotten has a placid and unfrenzied air that could almost be described as old-fashioned. In an era where mainstream TV drama is constantly being forced to adhere to a cinematic, often hyper-real aesthetic (see almost all of the above examples), Unforgotten is rooted in social realism. It deals with the discovery of a man’s remains in the River Lea in East London who, it turns out, is David Walker, a Conservative Party consultant who disappeared in 1990.
With an almost Dickensian eye for the state of the nation, Lang weaves together a large cast of characters connected to his death – a gay barrister (played by Mark Bonnar) in the middle of adopting a child with his husband in Brighton; a Muslim secondary school teacher (Badria Timimi), happily married and living in Salisbury but who once worked as a prostitute; a dedicated NHS nurse (Rosie Cavaliero) who has a difficult relationship with her well-heeled Hampstead family on account of her past as a political agitator.
These are fascinating characters, but crucially they are not extreme ones. Lang depicts them as ordinary people, good-hearted and stable, who may (or may not) have done something terrible earlier in their lives and are now being forced to confront the past at a time when they are growing comfortable in middle age.
Lang has explained that the inspiration for this series came, in part, from watching the case of Stuart Hall, the former presenter of It’s a Knockout who, having previously pleaded not guilty to 14 historic cases of indecent assault, suddenly switched his suit. Lang carefully addresses that gap between the person we think we know and the reality, the pain that comes with readdressing who someone really is.
But perhaps the most oddly subversive thing about Unforgotten is the way in which it portrays the police. DCI Cassie Stuart and DS Sunny Khan (played by Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar) are nice people who are good at their jobs and care for their colleagues and the people enmeshed in the David Walker case.
They are not flawed geniuses (like Idris Elba’s Luther), nor do they have some sort of mental disorder (like Gillian Anderson’s Stella Gibson in The Fall), nor are they mavericks who get results against the odds (pretty much every TV detective of the past 30 years).
In their unremarkable, unquestioning dedication, Stuart and Khan resemble Helen Mirren’s Jane Tennison in her earliest incarnation – before the producers of Prime Suspect decided to give Tennison a drink problem, a move which prompted series creator Lynda La Plante to disown the show.
The idea of Stuart and Khan going home after a long day’s graft and cooking a lasagne hardly sounds like a recipe for gripping drama, yet these characters are never dull. Much of this is down to Walker and Bhaskar who both give sensitive, emotionally smart performances.
But there is also something endearing about their essential niceness which Chris Lang paints in subtle shades – notably Khan’s disastrous attempts at online dating and Stuart’s gently fractious relationship with her father (who has a few secrets of his own, and is played, rather disarmingly by Peter Egan, best known for cuddly sitcom roles).
These and indeed the rest of Unforgotten’s serpentine sprawl of characters are sympathetic because they are real: not because they are the grand guignol constructs of some show-off writer determined to impress TV executives with the darkness of his imagination.
I hope that Unforgotten will start a new trend in TV detective drama – one that puts character first, unpeels intelligent layers of plotting, and remains resolutely resistant to extreme personality traits. The serial killer thriller has had its day.
Nicola Walker chats about the return of detective drama Unforgotten, the phenomenon that was Spooks, and how she got her big acting break in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Lorraine, ITV every weekday on ITV at 8.30am.
Sanjeev Bhaskar on Steve Wright BBC Radio 2
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“Me, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin – all on stage” Sanjeev talks to Steve Wright about series two of Unforgotten and a special show with two of the Pythons.
Nicola Walker on Graham Norton
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Nicola Walker chatting about ITV’s Unforgotten on BBC Radio 2 with Graham Norton
Sanjeev Bhaskar on Loose Ends
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Clive Anderson talks to Sanjeev Bhaskar about his career and about Season Two of “Unforgotten” on Loose Ends.
‘A beautifully weighted tale of betrayal and lies, Nicola Walker is outstanding. Highly recommended.’ Observer
‘As fine a cop show as I’ve ever come across’ Daily Express
‘It’s quite superb.’ Guardian Online
‘The unfailingly stylish Unforgotten… uniformly compelling.’ Financial Times
‘Chris Lang’s understated masterly drama. I watched the first two rapt and absorbed. Nicola Walker is just brilliant. It’s such a great story, a pantheon of terrific actors.’ Radio Times
‘Nicola Walker is absolutely terrific, it was amazing.’ BBC Front Row
‘Utterly brilliant and dramatic… Nicola Walker is outstanding… unmissable.’ TV Times
‘Recalls the best Scandi-noir. The sombre mood and mounting tension rivet your attention and never let go… a brilliant cast. Stylish, intelligent, masterly.’ Financial Times
‘One of the best dramas I’ve seen in a long time.’ Radio Times
‘The first episode made an indelible mark, it’s extremely good storytelling, carefully paced, beautifully acted, a reminder how good TV crime drama can be.’ Daily Express
‘One of ITV’s best crime dramas…a stroke of genius…TV Gold’ Sunday Express
‘It takes actors of this power to do justice to the depth of the story..superb…next weeks climax will be unmissable’ Daily Mail
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‘What a distinguished piece of work “Unforgotten” has been.’
The Times
‘Exceptionally intriguing, utterly riveting. A brilliant format… outstanding and original.’ Daily Mail
‘Superb…just remember to breathe’ Sunday Mirror
‘I would like to declare this the year of Nicola Walker, she is the beating heart of this superlative crime series, her subtle performance anchoring an increasingly complex web of lies.’ Observer
‘Much has been made of this detective drama’s heavy weight cast but Chris Lang’s multi layered script is pretty impressive too.’ Saturday Telegraph
‘Outstanding drama…the performances have been brilliant throughout’ The Guardian
‘Oh – it’s really good.’ The Star
‘Top class acting and a series of twists lift this classy taut thriller above the raft of other crime procedurals. If you’ve been craving a big autumn whodunit look no further than this offering from writer Chris Lang who was behind last years brilliant Undeniable. Criminally good.’ The Sun
Convicted of murdering his wife Tara, David Collins has served seven years in prison. He’s lost everything he held dear: his wife, his two children and even the house he owned. He’s always protested his innocence and faces the rest of his life behind bars. His situation couldn’t be more desperate.
“Unforgotten” has featured in a number of roundups of the best television programmes of 2015, garnering praise and plaudits from: