DON’T MISS THIS!

The star of the gripping cold-case drama reveals five secrets from the set SANJEEV BHASKAR UNFORGOTTEN Monday, 9pm, ITV

1 My character DI Sunny Khan is part of a team investigating cold cases. Some of the guest stars, such as Andy Nyman who plays businessman Dean Barton, are personal friends and it was weird shooting scenes with people I know so well. I occasionally wanted to stop mid-scene and say, ‘Well done.’

2 Sunny’s backpack has taken on a life of its own, with social media speculation about what he keeps in it. This series I played a game with the costume department, asking them to let their imaginations run riot and fill the bag with mystery objects. When I checked at the end of each day’s filming there’d be anything from tins of steak and kidney pie to cuddly toy cats inside.

3 Social distancing on set was tough. Nicola Walker, who plays DCI Cassie Stuart, found it weird not being able to grab and hug me at every opportunity, as she had done in previous series! Hopefully we can get back to doing that in the future.

4 On set, I did occasionally find myself thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ I’m normally just another viewer for shows like Unforgotten and I’m usually cast in lighter fare. The quality of the performances is so good, it’s like having front-row theatre tickets to see someone brilliant.

5 We got most of the series completed before the first lockdown, only the final month was shot under strict Covid rules. Some things had changed, although the audience won’t know. Crowd scenes were rewritten to have fewer people and we discovered the desk in the police interview room had grown to the size of a pool table.

Cassie and Sunny