Unforgotten series two, episode three - who is Adrian Mullery and what exactly is Chris Lowe’s mysterious past?

After a scene-setting second episode, shards of intrigue slowly poked through the narrative of  the second series of Chris Lang’s superb drama. As DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) and DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) began to piece together the events of millennium’s eve and the murder of teenager Hayley Reid, it emerged that four middle-aged schoolfriends from Finchley were hiding something very serious. Here’s what happened.

We learned more about Chris Lowe’s mysterious past

The fragile artist (played with a terrific sensitivity by James Fleet) was asked to open up by Jamila (Sasha Behar), the woman he loved. She said she felt she didn’t know him and so he told her of his life as a successful advertising guru, living the high life in Notting Hill. Mental health issues had led him to rack up huge debts and his life soon spiralled into spectacular freefall. His marriage ended up in tatters, as did his relationship with his daughter, and he soon found himself in a homeless shelter. His first wife, we learned, later died of breast cancer.

The complaint against the good Doctor Finch was not upheld

The cards were always stacked in favour of the mild-mannered GP. Alison Pinion (Gabrielle Glaister), who accused him of making threats against her mother, had form when it came to making complaints against local practices, plus she had an air of instability which threatened her credibility. As the complaint was outruled, so Finch breathed a sigh of relief. Not that we saw that. Alex Jennings’s performance acutely metabolises any emotion, thus never allowing the viewer to really witness what he’s thinking.

Peter Carr’s dodgy dealings were exposed

So Pete (Neil Morrissey) cashed the £3,000 cheque he snatched from the grasp of a vulnerable pensioner and his company swiftly found out. In an excruciatingly uncomfortable but highly effective scene, Pete returned home to find his boss waiting for him. Luckily he had the £3,000 in cash (lent to him by old friend James Hollis), but it wasn’t enough to save his career. “You know what we used to call guys like Pete?” said the boss to Pete’s wife. “FILTH. Failed in London, tried Hong Kong.” What exactly Pete got up to in Asia is anyone’s guess. For now.

The four friends were interviewed by Stuart and Khan

At the end of the last episode, it was revealed that the men had rented a holiday home where Hayley had worked as a cleaner. First up for a grilling was TV presenter and author James Hollis (a wonderfully unlikeable Kevin McNally) who tried to exert control over the detectives and gave a smooth, pretty flawless account of his movements at the end of December 1999. He said he didn’t recall Hayley working there, although remembered her because of the media coverage her disappearance attracted. Finch said pretty much the same thing, although creepily intoned that his first wife had a number of mental health issues. “I’m not sure you’ll find her the most reliable of witnesses. “Will we see her in a future episode?

Not convinced that they had proper leads (and very slightly sidetracked by the possibility that Hayley was killed because she may have witnessed the theft of some silverware at a local church), Stuart and Khan interviewed the other half separately. She found Lowe flaky and difficult, he found Carr more forthcoming because – ta-dah – he remembered Hayley at the house. However, he soon hotfooted back to Hong Kong so was unaware of her subsequent disappearance.

Suspicions at this point were raised. All men agreed to have saliva swabs taken, though none looked terribly comfortable with that. Then there was the fact that the three who were married had ended up separating from their wives within a year or so. And then there was the artistic decision of director Andy Wilson to keep flashing subliminal shots of blood and gore into the interview scenes. The camera didn’t linger long enough to show anything concrete – which is perhaps just as well.

Who is Adrian Mullery?

This teacher (played by ex-Casualty heartthrob Gerald Kyd) at pukka girl’s school, Lady Frieda’s, was the prime suspect in the original murder investigation but was never charged. We learnt briefly of police incompetence surrounding the case and the lead detective was discharged. Mullery, who had been put on paid leave as the case resurfaced, was clearly still consumed by bitter anger. “I think the police are scum,” he told one detective. “…most unforgivably, I think you are thick.” He doesn’t seem a terribly nice man, but neither does he seem a murderer. One imagines details of his exact relationship with Hayley to emerge soon.

Cassie’s personal life was still DOA

This kind, clever woman really deserves better. Still, there was some light relief (if you can call it that) as kind-hearted Sunny tried to engineer drinks with the dishy and divorced detective John Bentley (played by ex-Monarch of the Glen heartthrob Alastair Mackenzie).  Things might have sparkled had Cassie not had problems at home. Not only is her dad (Peter Egan) possibly suffering from dementia, but he’s also got a monstrous new girlfriend in the form of Jenny (Janet Dibley). Jenny chastised Cassie for being late for dinner before wondering how on earth she could live with the guilt of having a career and a family. Ouch. More of Jenny soon, please.

Hollis’s ex-wife spilled the beans

Or did she? Certainly there is no love loss between Mel (Sara Stewart) and her ex-husband, and she appeared candid about events at the holiday home: Chris having a meltdown and disappearing into the night, Pete going to the pub alone and trying to pick up women, her husband taking some recreational cocaine (well, this was the late Nineties). But something didn’t add up – she said that she was asleep on the sofa all night and would have heard the men leave the house had they been stalking the streets at the time that Hayley was last seen. Stuart and Khan looked sceptical.

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A new piece of evidence emerged

In the closing moments of the episode, it turns out that the publican who saw Hayley leave to attend a fancy dress party got her mixed up with another woman. This means that the last confirmed sighting of her was considerably earlier and thus those four men – raging, drunk, drugged up, on the pull – would have been running wild at the same time. Expect more of those disturbing flashing images next week.