A question mark hangs over DCI Cassie Stuart's future in the police as all those years of grim murder cases and hidden skeletons take their toll, forcing her to take some long-overdue "time off" at the end of Unforgotten series three following a mental breakdown.

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As the final scene flashes forward in time, Cassie (Nicola Walker) is seen looking much more peaceful as she arrives at the cemetery with new boyfriend John (Alastair MacKenzie) and reunites with her right-hand-man DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) to lay flowers on Hayley's grave.

Will Cassie return to the police force? And will there be another series? We ask Unforgotten creator and writer Chris Lang about the show's future:

Will there be a fourth series of Unforgotten?

Unforgotten interrogation room

"We're talking about series four at the moment," he reveals. "I think there's definitely a desire to do series four, from pretty much everyone, so we're just in talks about timetables and when and how, and ensuring that we can get the right team together."

Nothing is confirmed, but Lang says he'd be "surprised" if the drama didn't continue.

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Oh, and he already has a story in mind...

Will DCI Cassie Stuart return to work?

Nicola Walker in Unforgotten

The door to her corner office is definitely open, but it seems to depend mainly on Nicola Walker's availability for filming. If she is able to do it, Cassie will return.

"All I can say is that we're discussing that, for sure," Lang tells RadioTimes.com. "We're discussing everyone coming back, I can't say for sure who will come back because they're nowhere near that level of discussion yet where the timetable is down."

But even if Walker was unavailable, the show might go ahead.

"I's certainly not just her that it's important to get back, it's everyone because there's a very tight team working on it," Lang explains. "That's not to say that it couldn't work. For me, the thing that people relate to most in this show is the format.

"I think people love engaging with – obviously our team of cops, but they also really love engaging with the four stories and that's one of the key things that draws people in... They know that we've produced this disparate story that seems to have no connection. They know that they're going to come together at some point and they really enjoy enjoy the way that the stories meander and weave and intersect."

Could DI Sunny Khan get Cassie's job?

Sanjeev Bhaskar as Sunny in Unforgotten

If Walker can't come back, Lang is open to the idea of putting Sanjeev Bhaskar's Sunny in charge.

"If we needed to do that that would never be a problem," he says.

"I've been watching Sanj this series and just thinking, what a fabulous actor he is... and really, he has never needed to prove himself, but god he's really showing the world that he's a really fine straight actor.

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"I did give him a promotion there, he went up from a DS to a DI, so he may be overdue for a pay rise."


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