UNFORGOTTEN Key Art – Season 6 | ©2025 PBS Masterpiece

The award-winning British police drama UNFORGOTTEN has its American sixth-season premiere on PBS MASTERPIECE Sunday, August 24, with episodes available for streaming on all PBS platforms, including Prime Video. The show, created by Chris Lang and originating on ITV, has already been renewed for a seventh season.

Each season of UNFORGOTTEN deals with a single murder case investigated by a squad of London police detectives.

Sanjeev Bhaskar has been on UNFORGOTTEN since the beginning as Detective Inspector (DI) Sunil “Sunny” Khan, who worked with Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Cassandra “Cassie” Stuart (Nicola Walker) in Seasons 1 through 4, and with DCI Jessica “Jess” James (Sinéad Keenan) from Season 5 through the present.

Bhaskar, originally from Ealing in England, had an early career in marketing before deciding he’d rather do comedy. He and his friend Nitin Sawhney created a musical comedy act, THE SECRET ASIANS.

Bhaskar began doing film and television with a voice role in the animated film ZOO RUSH 2: DESTINATION NEW YORK in 1996. Since then, he has appeared in features including YESTERDAY and the PADDINGTON franchise. Bhaskar’s television credits include series regular characters in CAPTAIN BUTLER, WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE, GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME, SMALL POTATOES, the 2001-2006 run of THE KUMARS AT NO. 42, MUMBAI CALLING, PORTERS, and the upcoming INSPECTOR SINGH INVESTIGATES. He has also appeared on DOCTOR WHO and SANDMAN.

In 2005, Bhaskar received the U.K. government honor Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Over a Zoom call, Bhaskar discusses all things UNFORGOTTEN.

How did Bhaskar become involved with UNFORGOTTEN?

“I’d mainly done comedy before that. I’d done a few guest parts and cameos in dramas. I got sent three scripts out of the blue, and I thought the scripts were fantastic. They were so good that, halfway through the first script, I forgot I was auditioning for something, and I was just reading it like you’d read a novel. It was a real page-turner.

“By the end of it, I called  my agent and I said, ‘Look, I’m not going to get this, but I’d love to meet the guy who wrote it just so I can say to him, face to face, how much I enjoyed his script.’ I went into the audition with that in mind.

“At the audition, Chris Lang, the writer, was there, and Andy Wilson, who’s directed all of the episodes, was there. At the end of it, I said, ‘Look, I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again, but I just wanted to say these scripts are just fantastic, and I’m just really looking forward to the show.’

“And to my shock, about three days later, my agent rang me – with some surprise, I have to say,” Bhaskar laughs, “and said, ‘You’ve got the job’ I said, ‘You’re kidding.’

“I didn’t ask Chris why he’d cast me until we were well into filming Season 2. Because I thought if I bring it up before that, he might just say, ‘Oh, no, we made a terrible mistake, we wanted the other guy.’ So, yeah, it was the middle of filming Season 2, that I said, ‘Can I just ask you why you cast me? Because I don’t think I would have cast me.’ And he said, ‘I had you in mind anyway, I’d watched your comedy stuff, and I thought, well, if he can apply that timing to drama, then we have everything covered.’ I realize now that everyone that has been cast in all of the seasons all have the ability to do comedy. And so, I was part of that group.”

Season 1 of UNFORGOTTEN premiered in the U.K. in 2015 (the U.S. premiere was 2018), followed by Season 2 in 2017, Season 3 in 2018, Season 4 in 2021, Season 5 in 2023, and Season 6 in 2025. Did Bhaskar have concerns about whether the series would come back in the gaps between seasons?

“That’s a difficult question to answer, and I’ll tell you why. On the one hand, I’m always really happy when it comes back. It’s down to the people, and also I believe the quality of the writing I think is fabulous, and that is very rare, to get a returning series where I feel the writing and the guest actors who come in are of the caliber that they are. On the other hand, I think, well, not many series get to a Season 6 and then to a Season 7.

“So, I’m incredibly lucky to have been part of it at all, and if it’s not to be, it’s not to be. I’m a big believer in counting what you have before you think about what you don’t have. For me, it’s a much more positive road forward. So, each time, I think, ‘Wow, what fantastic people I’ve met, what incredible experiences I’ve had, and what extraordinary luck to be in a show as good as this.’ So, in a sense, I don’t really look to what may not happen.”

How would Bhaskar describe Sunny as a person?

Professionally, “I think he’s pretty logical, he’s pragmatic, he’s steady, he’s dependable. Certainly with Cassie and to a certain extent with Jess, I think he understands and appreciates people’s instincts and not to dismiss instinct as a valid reason to look into something. In many ways, I think he’s the kind of rock of the show. And I think he pours all of that into his work.”

Off-duty, though, “I think his personal life has been a mess, and I think that’s true of a lot of people. There are a lot of people that I’ve met who are really great at what they do in terms of their job, in terms of their occupation, and not so great in their personal lives.”

Has either Bhaskar’s approach as an actor or Sunny’s approach as a detective changed with the different DCIs?

“I think with Cassie, she was instinctive, she was mercurial, and he wasn’t. She appreciated him crossing the Ts and dotting the Is, and he appreciated her instincts. With Jess, I think where it’s different is that she relies on him more than Cassie did. She’s in effect joined his team, even though she’s nominally his boss. But the team knows him, he knows the team, he’s got a relationship with them that goes way back. So, she relies on him more than Cassie did.

“Particularly in the last season, I think he’s stepped into that role. Probably, in Season 5, when Jess joined, I think he resented her, resented that extra, as he saw it, babysitting kind of responsibility. But I think he’s now grown into that and appreciates that it’s good for the team, it’s good for the investigation.”

This season, it looks like Sunny may finally get a more enjoyable personal life, courtesy of pathologist Dr. Leanne Balcombe, played by Georgia Mackenzie. Did Bhaskar lobby for Sunny to experience some romance?

“I’m always lobbying for romance in everything I do,” Bhaskar quips. “No, I wasn’t lobbying for it, but I’m really glad that it’s gone in that direction, because I think we see a lighter, perhaps more playful side to Sunny. I think, as I said, Sunny’s home life has been a mess, and at the beginning of this season, we find him dining out, table for one.

“So, for him to be even considering thinking about, let alone pursuing, romance is a new side to him. It’s great for me, because it was lovely to have those kind of scenes, and I’ve always loved doing scenes with Georgia. We have a lot of fun.

“But it was lovely just to be able to explore that other side to him that wasn’t part of the investigation, or him driving in a car, or in the incident room, or the interview room or anything like that. So, that was really fun to play. I hope I get more of that.”

Did Bhaskar do any research or undergo any kind of training in order to play Sunny?

“I don’t think I’ve done any training for anything in my life,” Bhaskar laughs. “But I did talk to a couple of detectives. [Also], there’s a show called 24 HOURS IN POLICE CUSTODY, which is a documentary series [following] a police force just outside London, and we were encouraged to watch that.

“I realized, when I watched other crime shows and cop shows, which I love watching, that a lot of the traits of the detectives, or the cops, are based on other TV cops and not really based on real people.

“On [24 HOURS], we saw real police people doing real police work, and so that was the tone that we were inspired by and that we tried to work towards. And that is a lot of nuts-and-bolts boring police work. I mean, that’s one of the things I do love about this series, and I love about playing Sunny and about the cops in this, are that they’re not superheroes, they’re relatable people who are doing a job, and that’s what most cops are.

“Of course, you get cops who aren’t heroes, but they’re heroes for a moment, or in a moment. They don’t wander around being heroic. Other than their job. I mean, as first responders in anything, I think they are heroes. But yeah, in TV terms, I think these guys are remarkable by how unremarkable they are.”

Bhaskar explains how playing a police detective has affected him in real life. “Where it does make a difference, which is whenever I meet somebody who’s in the police force, and they start talking about something they’re working on.

“I’ll tell you what happened once – up at my house, the police knocked on the door and said that a car had been broken into on the road next to mine, and did our CCTV cameras pick anything up, and did we hear anything, that kind of stuff.

“I walked out with them, and I realized I was beginning to join in with the investigation, and that was a little strange, I realized. I was saying, ‘Yeah, I think the guy must have come from that direction, because there are cameras there and there, and that road is closed at the moment. He would have had to turn around if he was in a car, and what did you say was stolen? Yeah, he would never be able to carry that in his hands. So, he had a vehicle …’ And I had to stop myself and go, ‘Okay, let them do their job’,” he laughs.

Actual police detectives seem very pleased with the way Bhaskar is doing his job, if their communications with him are any clue. “Some of the very lovely, generous feedback I’ve got from playing Sunny are messages from either ex-detectives or, in a couple of cases, serving detectives, who have said they would absolutely love to have Sunny on their team. And I think there can be no greater compliment than that.”

As the lead of a long-running series, does Bhaskar feel any sense of pressure or responsibility toward UNFORGOTTEN as a whole?

“I don’t feel a sense of pressure – a sense of responsibility, yes. I don’t really care whether I’m a series lead or not. I mean, a lot of people look at the call sheet, and your number on the call sheet, and it’s never made a huge difference to me, because what I enjoy is the ensemble. I enjoy being part of that process. Actors and writers and sound guys and camera guys and the designers and costumers, makeup, everybody all come together to make this product that people then watch and enjoy, and I really, really love being a part of that group.

“Having said that, I think that when you are top of the call sheet, then I think there is a responsibility, particularly in terms of tone on the set. I feel incredibly privileged to be doing something I really love doing. Most of the planet don’t get that privilege. I love being on set and I really want every other actor there to have the same feeling that I have. I want them to enjoy it as much as possible.

“I also think with the jobs that you do, particularly as an actor, the ones that you remember are really down to the people. That’s what defines your experience of doing it. You could be doing a Shakespeare play, and it’s one of the best plays ever written, and if the people you’re working with are horrible, then that’s what you’ll remember afterwards.

“In that sense, I think that when you are a series lead, then you have a responsibility to make that workspace as fun and creative and welcoming and open and as safe as possible. So, I try to do my bit towards that.”

And what would Bhaskar most like people to know about UNFORGOTTEN Season 6?

“Gosh. I think the format is a winning format.” As in previous seasons, “four seemingly disparate characters have a connection with the person whose body parts we find at the beginning. But we get to know a little more about Sunny and Jess, and I think that’s interesting. I think the ending is a real surprise. It’s something that I did not see coming.

“And I think it’s also a comment on where we are at the moment in the world, with social media and with news online and refugees, things that happen in the news. So, I think it feels very current. And I hope people enjoy it.”

Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Like us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENT X

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Exclusive Interview: Actor Sanjeev Bhaskar on playing Detective Inspector Khan on long-running series UNFORGOTTEN

Related Posts: