Nicola Walker is such an accomplished actress, you can’t imagine her ever feeling less than completely at home during filming. But when Unforgotten resumed production in the summer after a lay-off of several months, Nicola found herself feeling nervous and even questioning her own abilities as an actress.
“I came back to it and thought, ‘I don’t know if I can still do this’,” she says via video call. “The first few days back, there are a lot of outtakes of me going, ‘Sorry, what’s the line?’ I’d got out of the habit of carrying around that much dialogue. It took about three days and then it was back, which was a relief.
“Initially, I’d also been very worried about safety on set. I couldn’t imagine how we’d be able to finish filming the series with all the restrictions in place. Physicality is such a big part of acting – you express emotions by how close you stand to someone, for instance. But the protocols put in place by the production company were amazing, plus we were all continually tested to ensure we were well. We got it done and I felt incredibly safe.
The first few days back, there are a lot of outtakes of me going, ‘Sorry, what’s the line?’
“Everyone was really relieved to be back in the working environment although it bore no relation to our normal working one. It was surreal because you were masked all the time apart from when you were actually on camera. Our director said it was like TV made by a bunch of bank robbers. There was something really heartening about seeing the group trying to push on and everyone did it with great grace.”
Read more: Unforgotten series 4 cast: who is in the new season of the ITV drama?
Nicola says her motto for the times we are living in is 'living one day at a time'.
“I’ve been with my husband and teenage son – who normally would have been pulling away and wanting to be with his pals more – and we’ve all realised we should make the best of it.”
Nicola turned 50 last May – it must have been disappointing to not be able to celebrate properly.
“Not at all,” she laughs. “We’ve never gone in for big birthday celebrations in our family but there’s this awful, unwritten rule that you should make a big deal of a big birthday – even if you don’t want to – and I didn’t. My birthday was just me, my husband, our son and our dog. We went on a massive walk. It was wonderful and actually the best birthday I’ve ever had.”
As in the previous series of Unforgotten, this fourth charts a fresh investigation into another emotionally-charged cold case murder. What is in store for Nicola’s character, DCI Cassie Stuart this time around?
“When we left Cassie at the end of the last series, she felt it necessary to stop,” Nicola explains. “She definitely had what would have been loosely termed as a ‘breakdown’ and we were left wondering if she was going to come back. When we meet her this series you realise that she doesn’t really want to come back but she is in a terrible position that she will lose a massive amount of her pension payout on a technicality if she doesn’t return and complete a certain amount of time.
My birthday was just me, my husband, our son and our dog. We went on a massive walk. It was wonderful – the best birthday I’ve ever had.
“It’s awful, she’s in a trap, so she agrees to come back so she can access the full amount of her pension because her dad is getting more and more ill and she is looking at the fact that she will probably be financially responsible for his care. So, she is completely caught. Her entire career she has very dedicatedly given to the police force. She is angry and feels very betrayed and that’s how she goes into this series’ story.”
The story opens with the discovery of a body in a scrap metalyard, which the team believe has been stored in a freezer for 30 years. A unique Millwall Football Club tattoo leads to the victim being identified as Matthew Walsh, a young man in his mid-20s who went missing in March 1990. Presumably, Cassie becomes as emotionally involved in this case as she always does?
“Cassie’s problem has always been that she gets too personally involved, but how could you not get personally involved in the things she deals with?” says Nicola. “In her head she is imagining she is going to split her brain, she’s going to go back and just do her job, and she’s not going to get personally involved. That isn’t going to happen because of the sort of woman she is.
With Nicola being the kind of actress she is, we can’t imagine it’s exactly easy for her to switch off, either.
“I always think I’m not bringing my work home but it usually takes your family to tell you that you are,” she smiles. “The way you’re not as ‘available’. I am affected by Cassie’s storylines and obviously want this to come over – but on camera rather than in real life! I feel huge empathy for what Cassie’s going through but I do try to keep this at work rather than take it home.”
Nicola’s TV roles
As well as Unforgotten, Nicola has starred in a wide range of TV series including spy drama Spooks from 2003 to 2011 and The Last Tango in Halifax. She has also worked in theatre, radio and film. She won the 2013 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and has twice been nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for the BBC drama Last Tango.
The Unforgotten returns later this month
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