Unforgotten is back for another series (Image: ITV)
viewers were thrilled to see the hit series finally back on their screens for another series.
Sanjeev Bhaskar was back DI Sunny Khan while Sinead Keenan is in her second year as DCI Jess James.
Nicola Walker announced she was leaving the series at the end of season four, when her character DCI Cassie Stuart was tragically killed.
Cassie was seriously injured in a car crash and it was later revealed her brain damage had been far worse than feared, and she would never wake up.
As Sunny and Jess investigated a new murder, fans took to social media within minutes to admit how much they missed Nicola and her character.
One fan said: “Glad this is finally back, even tho I miss Nicola it’s so good.”
Another added: “Been looking forward to this for ages! One of my fav shows. Love the cast but still miss Nicola Walker.”
A third chimed in: “Big shoes to fill of Nicola Walker.”
Nicola’s character Cassie was killed off at the end of season four (Image: -)
A fourth said: “Looking forward to the new series of #Unforgotten. Hope they have maintained the quality of previous series. Must admit I preferred Nicola Walker in the role rather than her replacement.”
A fifth said ahead of the first episode: “Unforgotten – Season 6: I wonder if it will ever be the same without DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) Only the next 6 episodes will let us know!”
Nicola said of her exit to Radio Times: “From the very beginning, we talked about Cassie’s story being finite; Chris was always putting her through a story arc that would damage her emotionally. The buzzword was that she was an empath, and the problem with being an empath is that eventually, you break.
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“I felt that to have her keep coming back would make her seem like a superhero. So it was very much a joint and long-planned decision.”
She also penned on social media: “”I’m not on social media, but when the final episode went out, I almost wanted to join Twitter to tell everyone that I didn’t walk away from the show, nor did they ask me to leave.
“It was simply that Chris and I thought it was a fantastic, impactful story.”
Unforgotten airs next Sunday at 9pm on ITV1.