Making TV drama is a slow business. From conception to transmission is rarely less than two years, often three. Which is why, when I decided what I wanted to write about in series 6 back in late 2022, I was a little concerned that by the time we broadcast, it might not feel so relevant.
I needn’t have worried – series six is about a divided UK, and as we approach broadcast, it is clear our country seems more polarised than ever on all the key issues that affect the way we live today. From immigration, to ‘woke’, to the environment, Brexit, the handling of the pandemic, the media (the list could go on) we seem furiously entrenched in our positions, and profoundly reluctant to engage with contrary views.
Indeed how we discuss these key issues has become a big part of the problem. Debate has become something to win, an opportunity to humiliate and destroy those you disagree with, rather than a tool to explore potential solutions to the increasingly complex issues affecting the way our society is organised. So it is the unique sense of frustration, betrayal, and ultimately of course, rage, this divide has created, that provides the backdrop for Unforgotten 6.