As the episode begins, we see a poster asking for help regarding the death of Matthew Walsh. Seconds later, DI Sunil Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) lets DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) know that Murray has found their landlady. Monty is alive and Murray will be seeing her in the morning. When Cassie tries to leave, she is stopped by Karen Willetts (Pippa Nixon) who tells her that Dean Barton changed his surname about three months before he applied to Hendon. He changed it by deed poll and his real name is Dean Quinn. Karen agrees to run that name through PNC to see what it tells them. Cassie returns home while Anna (Clare Calbraith) asks Ram Sidhu (Phaldut Sharma) if he changed his mind because he might be going to jail on a murder charge.

Ram says he didn’t do anything, but Anna isn’t sure since he looks scared. He says it was three decades ago and they don’t have any evidence. Plus, he reminds her that he didn’t do anything before explaining it was a small-time drug dealer. She knows about the story. Ram says there is a connection between the victim and a car he was in. She wants to know more so Ram confesses that detectives think the body was in the back of the car. Anna begins freaking out while Ram denies having anything to do with the murder. However, he admits he is scared because he is a problem for them and he thinks they’ll use this to get rid of him for good. Anna says it is one more thing to cope with during the hardest moment of her entire life.

Cassie gets a call from Karen who admits she found nothing for Dean Quinn, but lots for Peter Quinn. Peter was born in 1949 and had four sons with one of them being named Dean. She goes on to say that Peter was arrested lots for drugs, prostitution, extortion, and violent acts. He spent a lot of time inside and two of Dean’s brothers have lengthy records as well. Karen says it was a family business before the call ends. Cassie tries to get inside but Jenny (Janet Dibley) won’t let her because she is in a bad mood. She gets angry when Jenny won’t let her inside before Martin (Peter Egan) arrives. Martin says Jenny is trying to protect him because he finds all of this incredibly upsetting. Jenny steps away before Martin says it is hard enough losing himself so he doesn’t want to lose his daughter. He wonders what has happened to her.

He encourages her to ask John, Adam, and her work colleagues if they think she has turned into an arsehole because he does. When she finally gets home, she calls John (Alastair Mackenzie) who admits he doesn’t think she is angry about the will or Jen. Instead, John believes she is angry because she is losing her father and he doesn’t think that anger is helping her sleep at night. He believes it is making matters worse and not helping Martin. He offers to buy a house down there without her pension money before she admits he is right and says she’ll talk to her father in the morning. As for the job, she says she has to stay now. She offers to tell him about it someday but says she has to see the case through. The next day, Murray (Jordan Long) talks to Suzie Montgomery who admits she remembers Ram because everyone fancied him.

Suzie says Walsh made a mess of his face and she called the police that night. She can’t remember the girl’s name, but she had to keep barring her because she was drinking too much. She says the girl was there with Busy Lizzie who was always moving at 100 miles an hour. She believes it was more than making a pass at the girl because there was an alley to the ladies outside and he grabbed her there. She goes on to say they call it sexual assault today. Ram interrupted it and just went for him, but he bit off more than he could chew. Cassie tries to get in touch with her father but he doesn’t answer it. Then, Geoff (Daniel Flynn) confronts Fiona (Liz White) to ask her what year she was convicted. She says it was 1993 and she became a therapist in 2004. He is surprised that the regulatory body didn’t have a problem with that.

When he pushes her, she admits she has been using a fake license she bought online for a hundred quid. Her degree and PhD are real but she never applied for an actual license since she didn’t think she’d get one. She always expected to be found out but ended up practicing fraudulently for 16 years. He finds out that Mark doesn’t know and he is concerned because they have a commercial loan which they’ve agreed to pay back. However, she isn’t legally licensed to practice. Meanwhile, an older gentleman walking his dog notices the poster appealing for information about Walsh’s death. He approaches one of the coppers. Seconds later, Sunny and Cassie look at the cellphone data and confirm that Dean and Ram were within a mile of each other 40 miles outside of London three days after they found Walsh’s body.

Sunny says it was at a wood just outside Guildford before telling her about the old gentleman who saw the board. Then, he decides to tell her about the conversation with Monty. Liz Baildon (Susan Lynch) gives Eugenia (Mina Andala) more money than she asked for. She admits she should’ve listened to her sooner. Her mother makes a racket upstairs before Eugenia says she would’ve never said anything because she doesn’t believe Eileen (Sheila Hancock). Eugenia says she doesn’t think Liz is a bad person and wishes she hadn’t said what she did. Then, she tells Liz she deserved better. Meanwhile, Cassie and Sunny agree they don’t think it was a mob attack before Sunny says the three men got out of the vehicle separately and the women got out together. Cassie believes it would’ve been just one of them if it was deliberate.

Sunny says it needs work because he can’t understand why anyone would agree to cover it up. Cassie says Ram Sidhu is the most obvious candidate since he got out of the car first. They decide to consider the others anyway. They go over the facts starting with Fiona being sexually assaulted by Walsh, but Sunny wonders a woman would stab a man in the head. As for Liz, the woman she might’ve loved had been sexually assaulted by Walsh. Then, they talk about Barton and Fogerty. Unfortunately, they have zero on Fogerty so they really need to address that. Dean has been associated with violence but there is no connection to Walsh and no evidence he was even in the pub. Cassie thinks the best option is to divide and rule and scare the crap out of them with everything they know. She wants to make them think they have more than they do so maybe they’ll turn against one another.

Cassie admits she’d love to nail Baildon with the blood test stuff, but they need more on Sidhu and Barton. She wants to get authority to view Ram’s disciplinary record to see if he has a capacity for violence and do the same with Barton. Sunny says they should check their bank accounts as well. They believe everyone will end up blaming the dead guy with the body in his house. Dr. Leanne Balcombe (Georgia Mackenzie) goes to work on Walsh’s skull while Sunny and Cassie talk to the dog walker who says he remembers that night very well because it was his birthday. He celebrated and saw them next to the allotments. He says it was two people carrying something in a tarp but he couldn’t tell what it was. One might’ve been opening the boot. He couldn’t swear to that but a man and woman were arguing and she was crying. He asked them if they had a dead body.

Next, Liz confronts Eileen and asks her how long she has known what she told dad. Eileen says he mentioned it before he died and that he was babbling all sorts of nonsense at that point. She didn’t take it remotely seriously, but she must’ve been wrong. She says her estimation of Liz has gone up enormously and that she is in danger of almost being interesting. Liz tells her mother that she is who she is. She knows she has made mistakes and one dreadful one. She gets upset and curses at her mother before admitting she doesn’t expect love from her because she only ever loved herself. She tells her mother that she will speak to her with respect from now on. Otherwise, she threatens to come in here while she is sleeping and smother her with a pillow. Moments later, Cassie and Sunny visit Mary Quinn (Kate Williams).

She is surprised they’re asking about Dean and says she can’t tell them anything since she hasn’t seen him for 30 years. Mary says her husband is dead now. He thought crossing the line and becoming a copper was as bad as it got. Dean couldn’t believe how upset his father got when he found out. He went down to the local where he often went and they wouldn’t let him in. When he walked away, he was beaten to a pulp by two of his brothers while his father watched. Sean Quinn (Brett O’Shaugnessy) enters and orders them out. At his mother’s request, he agrees to give them one minute. They quickly tell Mary about Dean’s life. She pleads with them to tell her where he lives because she doesn’t have long.

Dean (Andy Nyman) sits with Marnie Barton (Lucy Speed) and talks about his secrets including Calais which was a one-off. He says it is a debt repaid and will never happen again. He admits he doesn’t know if his dad, mom, or brothers are still alive. He says they’re not the type of people he’d want to bring into their lives now before admitting he hated them. He breaks down while talking about the struggling of trying to separate himself from them for over 30 years. He pleads with Marnie to not make him go back there. Back at the station, we learn that Ram has been accused of using excessive force twice. The first time was 16 years ago during a row in a shopping center with a member of the public who he claimed racially abused him. The second time was six years ago and involved another officer. Ram claimed he used a racial slur against him.

Witnesses say the violence came out of nowhere. Fran (Carolina Main) tells them about Fogerty who she describes as a rather sad man. He worked a few small jobs after leaving the force until his drinking stopping him from holding down a job. Then, he lived on benefits and money he inherited from his father. She talked to one of his teachers who said he was a very sweet boy, but he struggled academically. He was also very easily led. Jake (Lewis Reeves) admits he can’t positively say that Liz lost the bloods on purpose, but she was on custody duty the night they went missing and she volunteered for overtime that night. Cassie thinks they have enough on Liz and Fiona. She tells Fran to look into the death of the fourth Quinn brother.

Next, Fiona gathers everyone around for a house talk. Liz talks to Chief Constable Robin (Charles Dale). She looks over and notices Jake and Murray approaching. She tells Robin that she is afraid she needs to withdraw her candidacy and she is deeply sorry if she has caused any embarrassment. Jake and Murray interrupt seconds later. Fiona tells her family that her father didn’t die when she was a baby and she wasn’t raised by foster parents. He died when she was 20 and she lied about it because his gravestone says “A copper’s copper” and she didn’t want anyone to know that he was a cop. She admits she was a cop too and says it begins to explain a part of her life that she is deeply ashamed of. She ignores a knock at the door and admits she lied again, but the knocks continue. Geoff goes for the door while Fiona admits she turned into an alcoholic.

She says she became depressed and tried to kill herself twice. She tells the kids about the 1993 car crash in which she killed a child. Fran enters with other officers just in time to hear her confession. Fiona knows that Fran has come about the body. Liz is interviewed by Cassie and asked about Matthew Walsh sexually assaulting Fiona Grayson. She tells Liz she believes she got out of the car on the night of Matthew’s disappearance. She alleges that Ram spotted Matthew and thought a chat was in order. Liz denies it and asks what evidence they have so Cassie tells them about the new witness. Liz says that evidence isn’t going to be taken seriously and she expected better from Cassie. When asked about Fiona, Liz claims she hasn’t seen her since they left Hendon. Cassie asks about them living together in Thames Ditton.

Cassie accuses her of lying to her and Liz admits this is a bit stressful. Liz claims she hasn’t seen Fiona since they shared the flat 26 or 27 years ago. She confirms they were in a relationship before Cassie tells her she first claimed she hadn’t seen any of them since Hendon besides Ram. Liz admits she was wrong. Cassie tells her she would have expected better of her. Sunny takes over and asks her about the incident on July 17, 1993, but Liz doesn’t recall that date. Sunny explains it was the day Fiona was involved in an accident that killed a young child. Liz remembers it but says she and Fiona had been separated for a year or so before that. Then, Cassie accuses of her deliberately losing the blood samples taken from Fiona but she denies it. Cassie tries to tell her where they’re going with this. She starts by admitting there is a lot they don’t know about that night.

She explains they know Matthew died that night as a result of some type of engagement with five people in that car and all colluded to hide that fact and the body. Cassie asks who is going to be the first to admit that and gain the advantage. Liz is asked if there is anything she would like to tell them, but she says no comment. After that, Cassie gets a call from Leanne who confirms it was a fountain pen which she initially expected. They believe this means he was indeed stabbed and Cassie agrees to come over after her interview with Fiona. As the interview begins, Cassie tells Fiona everything they know about the sexual assault and Ram’s fight with Matthew. They also know about her RTC three years later and Liz losing the blood samples. Cassie wonders if Fiona used the events on March 30, 1990 as leverage to get Liz to throw out the blood samples.

Cassie says Matthew Walsh died of a stab wound, but Fiona denies that. She says he was never stabbed and that it was an accident. She goes on to say that Ram told them it was an accident and that Walsh tripped and hit his head. Meanwhile, Dean’s mother shows up at his door. Fiona says they were driving through a crappy suburb south of Hendon when Ram saw Matthew. Ram told everyone they should search Matthew because he likely had gear on him. He also wants to have fun with him and give him a bit of a scare. Fiona and Liz kept saying no, but Ram was drunk and behaving like an idiot. Ram looked at Rob and they both grinned. The car was stopped and they started yelling at Walsh who ran away. Rob laughed before he got out of the car and cashed both of them. Lizzie, Fiona, and Dean were the last three in the car. She says Dean was really quiet until he said he should go and stop them.

Dean walked and didn’t run. Liz and Fiona waited in the car until Liz said they should go after them too. They walked about 15 minutes until they split up and found them. Fiona says she turned the corner and found Rob and Ram. It was dark, but she saw Matthew on the ground with a wound on his head when she got closer. She says Ram was next to him giving him CPR. All the while, Ram kept saying over and over that he didn’t do anything and found him like that. Someone said they should knock on a door and call for an ambulance, but Ram said no because he was already gone. Seconds later, Ram serves his mom and dad who he tries to get to look at him. He wants that to happen so he can stop the money, the job, and the lot. His father doesn’t cooperate. Fiona says she has gone over it thousands of times and it was just an accident.

She knows they should have called for help and always knew. Ram suggested they take Matthew’s body because he was worried they’d trace it back to him. She admits the horrific decision she went along with changes her life. Rob returned to the car and brought it back before the others helped load the boat, but Fiona couldn’t because she was too distraught. Rob’s hands were shaking so much that Ram gave him a few swigs of whiskey and that is why he was over the limit. Rob was supposed to get rid of the body because as Fiona says he hero worshipped Ram. Fiona says they all thought he had gotten rid of it and she thought it was an accident. She says she wouldn’t have covered it up otherwise. Dean talks to his mother. She tells him she didn’t come expecting anything and only wants Dean to know that she loves him and always has.

She apologizes as well. Meanwhile, Cassie and Sunny discuss Fiona’s truth. Neither believes she knew he was stabbed or that she was the killer. Cassie says she is going to head to the mortuary. She says she doesn’t want to charge either of them with anything right now. She tells Sunny to RUI them both for now. Sunny tells her that they’re getting there before she leaves and tries to call her father again. Anna returns home. Leanne tells Cassie she checked the pen and thinks it is a Cigne. If it is, it would have a serial number on the nib body and it might be visible under the right light. It might give them the name of the purchaser. Cassie leaves and checks her phones but doesn’t find any message. On her way home, she checks her phone and finds no messages before getting sideswiped by another vehicle.

 

Unforgotten Review

I am not sure this episode could’ve been any better. I’ve been so busy with work that I am only now getting to watch it. I just hope I don’t have another delay watching the finale because I can’t wait to see what is going to happen next. The episode was excellent because it really brought the characters to life.

We got to see different sides of Fiona, Liz, and Dean. I am still torn as to who I think actually killed Matthew Walsh. I could see it going so many different ways right now. At this point, I am sure all of our suspects would go down for some type of crime such as being an accessory or whatever. Ram would be charged with a whole list of crimes, but I am not sure he is the killer since that would be too easy.

I could see it being either Dean or Lizzie but I really don’t want it to be Dean. Then again, I guess they could stick with the narrative and make Ram the killer. Who knows? All I know is that I can’t wait to find out. This episode was excellent so I’d give it a 9 out of 10. Past and future recaps of Unforgotten are available here.