Sinéad Keenan on Unforgotten future: 'Another season? Bring it on'

Her initial response? "Don’t be so ridiculous! Only a fool would follow in Nicola Walker’s footsteps!" But she was curious – and knew she’d also be a fool to say no.

As it turned out, Keenan was the perfect choice to play DCI Jessica 'Jess' James. She had already been a werewolf in the first three seasons of Being Human, excelled at portraying a grieving mother in the 2017 drama Little Boy Blue and played a DI in the first season of Showtrial. She could bring the kind of empathy to DCI Jess James that Unforgotten creator/writer Chris Lang looks for in his actors.

Having said that, her first day didn’t go well. Less than an hour before the DCI was due to start work in her new job, she found out that her husband was having an affair. And her relationship with DI Sunil 'Sunny' Khan, played with restrained brilliance by Sanjeev Bhaskar, started off as prickly at best.

Today, as season 6 is about to be broadcast, Keenan, who is 47, is like a different person: relaxed, chatty, a bit silly and lots of fun.

"It was nerve-racking watching series five because it would have been so easy to go, ‘Oh God, did I break Unforgotten?’ But thankfully they asked me back." Was it easier second time round? "Yes!" she says, laughing. "I was no longer the new kid in class, and it felt good. Really good."

We talk about how this series tackles several big issues, including Brexit. Keenan, born and raised in Dublin, presumably feels European?

"I am European," she says, without hesitation. "I personally think the UK is better in than out. My boys, who are nine and seven-and-a-half, have got Irish passports. They’re very lucky."

Her sons might have freedom of movement in the EU, but they’re too young to watch their mum solving cold cases on the telly – this series starts with the discovery of human remains on the fictional Whitney Marsh. "They’re absolutely not watching it! They’ve seen me reading Bedtime Stories on CBeebies, but they were nonplussed. They’ve also seen me in two episodes of Doctor Who [from David Tennant’s era] and they were kind of impressed with that."

Keenan and her husband, actor turned director Chris McGill, whom she met when they appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the RSC in 2005, share the childcare – but it takes a good script to pull her away from their Stratford- upon-Avon home. "It has to be worth it creatively and financially, but I’m lucky I can play tag team with my husband. He and I are like ships… which is probably the key to a happy marriage!"

Luckily, Lang writes very good scripts – the actors receive them for all six episodes of a series up front, which is a luxury – and the shooting days aren’t too long because he’s so organised. "And of course you get to act with these incredible people – Victoria Hamilton and MyAnna Buring in this series – and it’s hard not to be starstruck."

I ask if she’s heard from Nicola Walker since taking residence in her on-screen office. Keenan shakes her head. "I worked with her very briefly in an episode of Being Human, but she probably wouldn’t remember. I’m sure she doesn’t watch Unforgotten now that she’s not in it."

Keenan, a shy kid with a gregarious younger sister and brother, was encouraged to study law by her parents, but her head was turned by acting after being cast, aged 15, in a school play as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.

Her parents have come around to their daughter being a successful actor. And, despite the TV production industry being in a mess – a large percentage of the UK’s film and TV workforce are still out of work following the Hollywood strikes of 2023 and the rise of streaming platforms – Keenan has happily sailed from one great project to another.

"TV is in a state of flux," she agrees. "I’ve been very lucky. I finished Unforgotten and went straight onto How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, which Lisa McGee [creator/writer of Derry Girls] wrote for Netflix."

Keenan stars in that series, alongside Róisín Gallagher (star of The Dry) and Caoilfhionn Dunne (last seen in Industry), as a trio of childhood friends in their late 30s who meet up again after the death of their friend.

"I can’t say much, but it was bonkers. Diametrically opposed to Unforgotten, but really good fun. Car chases and water tanks were involved. At one point I was hanging upside down in a car and I had to remind myself that they wouldn’t let me die. If someone asked me to do a bungee jump for s**ts and giggles, I’d be like, ‘Not on your life!’ I’m only interested if it’s on camera!"

Unforgotten, as she points out, is calm and low-key in comparison. Its enduring popularity is, no doubt, due to the exceptional writing, the considered casting and the fact that we all like problems to be solved. So, if she’s offered another series, would she be up for it? "Would I be up for hanging out with the lovely Sanjeev Bhaskar again? I reckon so. Bring it on!"

There’s a knock at the door: Bhaskar is here to do his interview. They grin, have a hug and it feels like a long time since Cassie Stuart was around.

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Unforgotten returns to ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm on Sunday 9th February 2025.

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