Unforgotten series 3: Where is it filmed? The locations used in the ITV crime drama

Filming on the fourth series of Chris Lang’s critically acclaimed ITV drama Unforgotten has resumed after a six-month break during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Cameras had started rolling in January 2020 but production had to put on hold in March when the country went into lockdown.

Providing there are no further delays, we can now expect to see DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicolas Walker) and DI Sunil ‘Sunny’ Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) back on our screens some time in 2021, but you can still enjoy the first three seasons of the cold case thriller in the meantime.

Each series of Unforgotten follows Cassie and Sunny as they solve a decades-old murder mystery, first identifying the victim before tracking down the person or people responsible for their death. 

The first three series of the drama were watched by seven million people when they first aired on ITV, but if you missed the show first time around or want to rewatch the six-part investigations, all the episodes are available on Netflix and BritBox.

While Cassie and Sunny are based in London, their investigations take them right across the UK, and 2018’s third season was the most travelled yet. If you spotted any familiar locations, find out where cast and crew were filming below.

Unforgotten 4: Discover the filming locations of the new series

Where was Unforgotten filmed?

Series 3 of Unforgtten was set across the south of England in locations including Norfolk, West Sussex, Bristol and Hampshire as well as London.

Cast and crew were spotted by local press in various locations including Guilford and Sutherland Memorial Park in Burpham, while national journalists including David Stephenson of the Sunday Express visited the set to interview the cast and revealed that the show was shooting in Slough.

Reporters in West Norfolk spoke to new cast member Neil Morrissey, who was filming scenes in King’s Lynn. “I love it, it’s a really pretty town,” Morrissey told the Eastern Daily Press.

The team filmed on King’s Lynn’s Market Place, near the police station on St James Street and outside the Maid’s Head pub in the town centre.

They also shot scenes in Norfolk seaside town Hunstanton (pictured below).

The Bristol leg of the shoot took place in April at Ashton Court and Clifton locations including the Suspension Bridge. Bristol Film Office assisted with arranging recces, access and permissions for drone filming at three points.

"We travel all around England for Unforgotten and find most places incredibly accommodating and helpful. Bristol was no exception,” said Line Producer Ani Kevork.

“Everyone we liaised with went out of their way to help our crew and guide us to make our experience seamlessly pleasant. The cast and crew had a fantastic time filming in Bristol and we wouldn't hesitate to go back there."

The Bristol scenes centre on the character of artist Chris Lowe, played by James Fleet.

“Chris is one of the four friends and main suspects in the murder case which this series centres around,” Fleet explained.

“He did very well at university and was initially very successful; he started his own advertising company, had a big house and was happily married with a daughter.

“However, he soon suffered from mental health problems, specifically with bipolar disorder and so his career took a nosedive, he went off the rails and ended up losing everything and becoming homeless. Now he lives in a campervan and wears awful clothes.”

What is the case in Unforgotten 3?

When human remains are found on the central reservation of the M1, Cassie and Sunny are called to the scene. Despite initially suspecting that the bones are archaeological, the discovery of a metal plate on one of the arms suggests otherwise.

By tracing the origin of the plate to Cyprus, the team manage to roughly date the body which appears to be that of a teenage girl.

Trawling through the files of girls who went missing during the time frame, their search leads them to Hayley Reid, a 16-year-old who went missing on the eve of the millennium.

With the original case having attracted a lot of media attention and the police never finding out what happened to her, the team must now uncover who murdered Hayley. 

Meanwhile, we meet four men who have been friends since school: Hampshire GP Dr Tim Finch (played by Alex Jennings), London TV presenter James Hollis (Kevin McNally), failing Norfolk salesman Pete Carr (Neil Morrissey) and Bristol-based artist Chris Lowe (James Fleet).

Sanjeev Bhaskar said: “We discover a body that has been buried beside a motorway. The motorway construction workers discover it whilst doing some repair work on the road and we then find out that it was a young girl who went missing at the turn of the millennium - New Year’s Eve 1999.

“Like the other two series, it is a cold-case investigation but it is very different at the same time. In this one, the investigation centres around four friends and their families who rented a holiday home near where a young girl went missing.

“These four men have been friends for years, all of them are supportive or each other and they are all still fairly close. The investigation becomes centred around those characters and their families.”