Unforgotten’s Sanjeev Bhaskar reveals the Hollywood star he wants to play his love interest

As prestige British crime dramas go, Unforgotten is up there with Line of Duty - luring us in with its ultra compelling storytelling, intriguing characters and epic, didn’t-see-it-coming twists. With the imminent arrival of series 6, which is set to focus on the discovery of suspected human remains found at Whitney Marsh, we caught up with the show’s main stars Sanjeev Bhaskar and Sinéad Keenan – and Sanjeev let us in on quite a secret.

Sanjeev plays DI Sunil ‘Sunny’ Khan alongside Sinéad’s DCI Jessica James, and he revealed that there are some "jaw-droppingly incredible" guest stars this series. MyAnna Buring will play Melinda Ricci, an outspoken TV presenter in Ireland; Max Fairley stars as Martin Baines, an autistic man living with his mum in Kent; Elham Elas is Asif Syed, an Afghan training for his UK citizenship test; and Victoria Hamilton plays Juliet Cooper, a history lecturer and faculty head at a London University. But his dream guest star? Someone entirely different.

We quizzed the actor on who he'd love to see in an upcoming series and his response wasn't exactly what we'd expected. “George Clooney and Hugh Jackman,” he told us, before quickly adding, “Cate Blanchett as my love interest!” Now that’s a partnership we’d like to see.

As for his co-star Sinéad, she added Kate Winslet’s name into the mix of potential girlfriends for single Sunny, before Sanjeev comically threw in a curveball: “Or George as Hugh as my love interest. George is kind of hanging around, he could have a couple of weeks on Unforgotten and be a waiter – with his calibre he could in and out in a day!”

Guest stars aside, the pair also revealed where we find the characters in the new series. Sinéad revealed that on the work front, things are looking good for her character Jess, but there’s still trouble brewing at home after it was revealed – spoiler alert! – that her husband Steve (Andrew Lancel) had an affair with her sister Debbie (played by Sinéad’s real-life sister, Grainne).

"Sunny and Jess have found a good rhythm, they're working well together, so it’s certainly a lot better than it was before," explained Sinéad. "We’re six months on since the end of the last series, and Jess made the decision to stick with her marriage and try and work at it. But I think from the first scene of series 6, you can tell that it's very, very rocky, still."

As for Sunny, he’s in a good place after the demise of his relationship with Sal (Michelle Bonnard) which ended in a kind of messy but grown-up way. "I think this time around, he's got himself together a bit more. I think he's probably a little bit more hopeful about the future," Sanjeev told us. "There’s also a deep trust between Sunny and Jess. Neither sees the other as a threat, which I think happened in the previous series."

While we wait with bated breath to see if Mr Clooney or Mr Jackman sign on the dotted line, we’re excited to watch Sunny and Jess solve another engrossing and fiendish cold case and all the surprises in store.

The sixth season of Unforgotten is set to premiere on ITV1 (and STV in Scotland) on Sunday 9^th February at 9pm, with all episodes of the season available to stream on ITVX as a boxset on the same day.