All that litters is not old…
Cop Cassie is Unforgettable
I WAS sitting on the heath in the sunshine this week as the local secondary school cleared out.
Four teenage girls were messing about en route to the bus stop and in less than a minute they dropped a Coke can, a water bottle, a chocolate wrapper and a Greggs paper bag.
“Oi!” I yelled. “There’s a bin in front of you. What about saving the planet?” They looked stunned but eventually picked up their litter, binned it and one even said: “Sorry, Miss.”
I don’t make a habit of yelling at kids but my blood was boiling. The arrival of spring and easing of lockdown has turned my lovely manor into a tip. And across the UK parks, beaches and beauty spots are also being polluted by rancid rubbish.
Most of us have relied on the great outdoors to get us through the last year with fresh air and exercise our only respite from restrictions. Yet, at the first hint of “normal” life returning hordes of selfish idiots have rushed outside for a collective dump in mother nature’s garden. Fly-tipping is
WELL, none of us saw that coming, did we? Fans of Unforgotten were stunned when DCI Cassie Stuart was killed off on Monday.
After a car crash cliffhanger the week before it looked as if Cass might just pull through and get to enjoy that longed-for retirement with her partner, John.
Until we saw her colleague Sunny’s face as he walked down the hospital corridor… I was in floods.
It felt like a personal loss. Because
Cass was not only a top TV tec she was also one of my favourite small-screen characters of all time.
Created by Chris Lang and played to perfection by Nicola Walker, she looked, spoke and dressed like a real person.
And her early breakdown was one of the most realistic and moving portrayals of depression that I have ever seen.
The rest of the cast were also magnificent, particularly the greatest blight on our national landscape, accounting for most of the £58million a year that councils spend clearing up.
But casual litter louts can’t be allowed to go on polluting the environment, so stiffer fines and more wardens are essential. Penalties could be raised from £150 to £1,000 and culprits made to do litter-picking. Yet changing attitudes is the only real way to sort out the problem.
Litterbugs clearly come in all ages, although a study reckons the vast majority are under 25s who once pledged to recycle, shun single plastic and monitor their carbon footprint.
The supposedly-woke Zoomers who worship David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg and blame wrinklies like me for killing polar bears.
They’re the ones we need to target to stop Britain, as Clean Up Britain founder Jon Read describes it, “drowning under a tsunami of rubbish”. He wants parents and guardians fined if their children are caught littering. It’s a great idea.
Then they might teach kids to clear up their own mess – so we can turn this rancid tide of litter and keep Britain tidy.
Sanjeev Bhaskar as her loyal and diligent deputy.
But while many have welcomed news that Unforgotten will return for a fifth series, with a new DCI, I’m not sure I’ll be able to watch.
“People like Cass Stuart are extraordinary”, said Sunny in that heart-wrenching final eulogy.
And performances like Nicola Walker’s are simply
Unforgettable.