First off, ITV had me with the headline, Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar to star in Unforgotten, but when they added the tag line, “Two can keep a secret – if one of them is dead“, I began clearing space on my DVR for when it premieres.

Starring Nicola Walker (Spooks, Last Tango in Halifax, Scott & Bailey) and Sanjeev Bhaskar (The Kumars at No. 42, The Indian Doctor, Goodness Gracious Me), Unforgotten focuses on a ‘cold’ murder case of 39 years ago, when the bones of a young man are found beneath the footings of a demolished house. Walker and Bhaskar take the lead roles as DCI Cassie Stuart and DS Sunil ‘Sunny’ Khan, the modern day police team who gradually unravel deep-rooted and long-forgotten secrets. Secrets which will have a dramatic impact on their investigation and the lives of four potential suspects – Father Robert Greaves (Bernard Hill), Sir ‘Frank’ Philip Cross (Trevor Eve), Lizzie Wilton (Ruth Sheen), and Eric Slater (Tom Courtenay), who have been waiting for this moment for nearly forty years. They soon discover that the past can’t, and won’t be buried forever. The slow revelation of these secrets as Cassie and Sunny hunt for the killer will alter the dynamic of the families and their loved ones forever.

What makes this really interesting and set is apart from other present day police procedurals is that Unforgotten is set in different corners of the country, from the outer London suburbs, to the Essex coast, Westminster and the Fens. With each of the characters’ stories running parallel, the multi-stranded narrative weaves suspicion and curiosity, connecting each of the principle characters. The six-part drama from Mainstreet Pictures will also star Trevor Eve (Death Comes to Pemberley, Kidnap and Ransom, Waking the Dead, Bernard Hill (Wolf Hall, Hope and Wire, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers), Ruth Sheen (Our Girl, The Mimic, Mr Turner) and Tom Courtenay (45 Years, Little Dorrit, Quartet, The Dresser, Doctor Zhivago).

Written and created by Chris Lang (Undeniable, A Mother’s Son, Torn), the six-part drama, which begins filming this month, will bring together a pretty impressive group of individuals behind the camera also with both Tim Bradley (Teachers, Primeval, Death in Paradise) as producer and Andy Wilson (Ripper Street, Wallander, Cracker, Kidnap and Ransom) as director. Get ready to set your DVR for sometime in 2016. Let’s hope it makes its’ way to public television in the States soon after.