Spoiler alert: this blog covers details of episode five of the ITV drama Unforgotten. Catch up with last week’s recap here.
Unforgotten writer Chris Lang clearly has a thing for cold cases. His powerful two-parter Undeniable last year dealt with the pain caused by reopening a 23-year-old unsolved murder, and Unforgotten develops similar themes. The tension expertly built up ever since the discovery of Jimmy’s remains comes to a head brilliantly tonight, with our core four suspects mercilessly put through the wringer in the most emotionally wrought episode of the series to date. Lang’s stated intention with Unforgotten was to explore the “emotional anomaly” of sympathy for someone who has an unforgivable past. Mission accomplished on that one, I think.
A gold star to Devongirl4 for correctly predicting the woods behind Eric’s house as the latest burial place in the comments last week. Tuityfruity, meanwhile, thinks we should be keeping an eye on Sir Philip’s wife and typernotfighter sees several hands pushing Jimmy towards an early grave. Thanks too to IanPoliceAd for helping us understand the plausibility of Lizzie’s charge and prosecution.
Eric Slater
Cassie is a major party pooper, breaking up events just as Eric and Claire get down to Dancing Queen. Claire’s claim that Eric buried a body in the woodland at the bottom of the garden in 1978 seems a shaky premise for a full-blown search, particularly when three circuits of the house reveal nothing. Eventually, though, Lulu the sniffer dog is the heroine as she sniffs out the remains in the woods.
The trouble for Cassie is that Eric is not confessing to anything and Claire is a bad witness, set to deteriorate further by the time of any trial. Fortunately, the excavation throws up a credit card belonging to one Nicholas Whitmore, last seen attending a Clash concert at the Lyceum, 30 December 1978. Whitmore’s card was last used in a Hampstead gay bar, 31 December 1978.
A follow-up meeting with previous witness Mackie proves crucial. He tells them that Jimmy worked as a rent boy when he first came to London and that Eric saw him turning tricks in an alleyway. This establishes a homophobic link between Jimmy’s death and Eric’s assault on Paul West in Kentish Town a year earlier. The clincher really comes from Eric’s own records, which show him withdrawing cash near the Hampstead bar the night Whitmore’s card was used. He is swiftly charged, and the last we see of him is demanding to see Cassie to tell her he knows who killed Whitmore.
Sir Philip Cross
As the suspect with the most to lose, Sir Philip was always the most likely to do whatever it takes to cover up the past. When Josh’s Turkish friend Asil pays a visit to his lordship, it’s clear that his instructions are not to enquire after Gordon Fenwick’s health. Once the news of Eric’s arrest comes through, though, there is a desperate rush to call it off. But Sir Philip’s actions are in vain and Fenwick is killed by a fire at his home. Josh, in particular, takes the news badly.
“He’s paid for a man to be murdered, Bella. Our father. It’s not ever going to be OK.”
Robert Greaves
Happily, Robert doesn’t kill Sheila, although she looks like she wishes he had. After confessing to the community hall heist and long-term embezzlement, he hunkers down at the church with a bottle of communion wine. When Geoff from the diocese catches up with him, he is more baffled than anything. Tens of thousands have gone missing over the years. Robert’s: “I may look old and doddery but I could still snap you in two,” makes poor old Geoff wonder exactly how long his Directioner friend has been living the thug life.
The full story comes out in a fraught sitdown with the family. Robert tells them how JoJo got pregnant, and how he has been supporting her and his secret daughter Thea all these years with funds stolen from the church. Grace takes the new revelations with the stoicism you would expect from a clergyman’s wife. Robert is not so lucky with Caroline, who wails on her father, getting in a few good licks before she is pulled off. It’s quite the relief when he reaches the police station to continue his confession there unmolested.
Lizzie Wilton
Ray looks everywhere for Lizzie and all he gets are a lot of dead ends, her voicemail and a headbutt from Brandon for his troubles. Lizzie, meanwhile, downs a bottle of cheap vodka and returns to her rough-sleeping roots under a railway bridge. Lizzie is no deep thinker, no modern-day Raskolnikov, but she knows a thing or two about your actions having a price.
“The police never came. There was no trial, no prison sentence, but you were punished,” she tells an unconscious rough sleeper next to her.
Ray’s search gets a boost when he finally persuades Curtis to help. He tips off Ray about some homeless people she often spoke to, and they head down there together. It looks as if they may well arrive too late, as Lizzie throws herself off Southwark Bridge into the Thames.
Notes and queries
- Jimmy’s mum wants to know every detail of his final hours, no matter how awful. I doubt Eric will be able to help her there. I don’t think he’s the killer, at least not for that death.
- Not to quibble, but records indicate The Clash played the Lyceum on 29 December 1978, the day before Cassie has it.
- Reg Varney really was the first user of the world’s first cash dispenser, however, so no tripping up Cassie on that one.
- Dancing Queen was released in the long, hot summer of 1976, the time of Jim’s murder. We can assume that is not an accident.
- Even tough guy Sir Philip breaks down this week, tearfully apologising to his wife for all his sins. She has got his back but I would worry more about Josh, seeing his father clearly for the very first time.
- Have this week’s revelations changed anything? Please place all fevered speculation below the line.
