Unforgotten creator Chris Lang has revealed Nicola Walker's replacement for the upcoming series of the beloved ITV drama.
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In a post to social media, the writer revealed that Sinéad Keenan will be playing the role of DI Sunny Khan's (Sanjeev Bhaskar) new detective partner, D.C.I Jessica 'Jessie' James, and that filming commenced today.
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Sharing a picture of a season five clapper board alongside a picture of Sanjeev and Sinéad at a recent table read, he wrote: "Delighted to be able to finally tell you that the brilliant @SineadKeenan will be joining the gorgeous @TVSanjeev to play D.C.I Jessica 'Jessie' James to his D.I. Sunil 'Sunny' Khan in #Unforgotten five. Shooting started...about an hour ago. How lucky are we."
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Fans were overjoyed by the news and took to the comments to express their delight. One person wrote: "Oh wow great choice. Congratulations Sinead. Good luck with filming Chris," while another added: "Woohoo! So looking forward to the next series! Hurry up with that filming and editing and all."
Sinéad Keenan will play D.C.I Jessica 'Jessie' James
A third person commented: "Yes! I adore her! She’s terrific. Brilliant choice. Can’t wait to watch."
Chris recently teased the show's new recruit in a snap of the table read last week. Sharing the image to Twitter, he wrote: "Read-through day! Pared down (Covid) but so lovely to be back in the room with the #Unforgotten team. And how fantastic to say hello to Sunny's new partner in crime, sitting there, right next to him, reaching for her tea, plain as day!! @TVSanjeev #Unforgotten @mainstreetpics."
Nicola Walker's character died at the end of season four
The news comes not long after actor Sanjeev revealed that there will be a "connection" to season four in a recent interview. "Chris Lang, who has written all of them, has written this one," he told the Radio Times. "So yeah, it's very exciting reading the scripts, a bit weird not to see Nicola's character there, but I saw Nicola two, three times, I suppose, in the last couple of months, over Christmas. So we keep in touch a lot anyway."
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