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Nicola Walker feels 'guilty' over devastating Unforgotten exit

Nicola Walker feels bad about her Unforgotten exit credit:Bang Showbiz
Nicola Walker feels bad about her Unforgotten exit credit:Bang Showbiz

Nicola Walker feels "guilty" over her 'Unforgotten' exit storyline.

The 52-year-old actress - whose character DCI Cassie Stuart was killed off in a car accident - thinks the ITV crime drama's writers would have handled her departure differently if they'd known the pandemic was on the way.

She told Radio Times magazine: "If we'd known Covid was coming, we would have given people a less depressing storyline.

"I feel guilty because, when it came out, I thought: 'Crikey, we could have given them something more cheerful. The last thing they need is to be made to feel really sad about this brilliant cop.' "

The series is set to return for its fifth season - although a release date is yet to be announced - with Sinead Keenan joiing the cast as DCI Jessica James, who will join as Sunny Khan's (Sanjeev Bhaskar) new partner.

Meanwhile, the cast will also be bolstered by new additions including the likes of 'Silent Witness' actor Rhys Yates as Jay, The Bay's Martina Laird as Bele, 'Derry Girls' star Ian McElhinney as Tony, and Jeryll and Hyde's Max Rinehart as Karol.

Sanjeev previously addressed her co-star's surprise exit and admitted she "felt slightly sick" throughouht the entire process, describing the storyline as "very upsetting".

He said: "When I first heard, I had a very similar reaction to when I then read it in the script, and then a similar reaction again when we filmed it, which is I felt slightly sick. It was a shock.

"I think Nicola and Chris [Lang, creator] had been talking about where Cassie Stuart's storyline would go, so I wasn't party to that.

"I mean, it's a huge thing to do and so it made sense dramatically, but yeah, it's very upsetting actually."