Unforgotten

WORKMEN SHOUT

WORKMEN SHOUT

Whoa, whoa!

Sahid! Sahid! SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

CLOCK TICKS

SHE SIGHS

'Viking, North Utsire -

'variable four, becoming south-easterly 5-7.

'Showers...'

Well, if I had to choose, then I'd say...

I'd say chef's table at KFC?

No, what worries me is you think I'm joking!

All right, I gotta go. She's here.

Yeah.

Yeah, sure.

We could do that, but, erm...

Tell you what, why don't you come to mine?

The girls would love to meet you.

Seven's perfect.

Yeah, I'll text you the full address.

OK. Yeah, I love you too.

I am so sorry. Ah, it's not a problem.

Woke up stupid early again, then fell asleep in my kitchen chair.

You tried valerian?

No, I can't do sleeping pills. They zonk me out for the next day.

No, no, no - these are herbal.

No, you're absolutely normal by 11 the next day, easy.

Right. Although they do stink like rotting fish.

Well, they sound marvellous!

So, what do you think it is, then... that's waking you up?

No idea.

Hey, Jake!

Morning, boss. What we got?

They're laying new drainage channels down here,

been doing it the last three months,

and then last night, one of the workmen,

who happens to have trained as a doctor in Basra, dug up this...

which he suspected was a section of a human hip bone.

Dr Balcombe came out early doors, confirmed it was human,

which is when they called for us.

SHE SIGHS Oké, let's have a look.

I'm sure you think I'm being daft.

There's absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about, Harry.

Nothing at all.

As you might imagine,

death is a pretty constant part of my daily life,

and if I've learned anything in the last 35 years,

it's that grief takes every form imaginable.

Hm. For some, it passes quite quickly.

For others, it can last many years.

Neither is right or wrong, they're both just... how it is.

You were with Wendy for 63 years.

She was a part of you.

So, to still miss her after just two...

Well, it's the... blink of an eye.

So, please, never be embarrassed

about wanting to talk about her with me.

In fact, I want you to talk about her.

I miss her, too.

Is the position significant?

What, that it's archaeological, you mean? Yeah.

Not really, no.

Most cultures buried their dead

in a variety of positions - Romans, Saxons, early medieval...

It could be any of those.

But your instinct is that it is archaeological?

Well, I have no evidence of that, it's just...

on balance, for obvious reasons, I think it's more likely than not.

Why?

Well, because of where it is.

Who buries a body in the central reservation of the M1?

Someone who doesn't want it found?

I guess, I just... So how much is remaining?

About 60%, I think.

I'll know more when I get her back.

Right, so you think it's female? I think, from the pelvis shape.

Again, I can confirm that when I get everything out.

No clothing fragments?

Not found any yet, no.

It would appear we just have bones.

FLOORBOARD CREAKS

Bye, Jack.

Do you have records for what it was before? What the land was used for?

Yeah. Yeah, no, I can hold.

Highways Agency.

Just seeing if they can tell us what the land was used for

before construction of the motorway.

Did you know that Edgware Road was built on Watling Street?

Old Roman road, did you know that? I didn't.

I didn't know that.

I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, I'm here.

DIALLING TONE

'Hi, love.' Hi, Dad. Everything OK?

Er, yeah, why?

No, no, just...

'you weren't home last night.'

I-I'm at Jen's.

'I told you.' Did you?

I told you yesterday at breakfast I was staying at hers.

Sorry, my mistake.

'Anyway, it's... it's no problem.'

I'll see you tonight?

Yeah, I'll see you later. Yeah. 'OK, great.'

Or, you know, stay out, it's not a problem.

Oh... Thanks!

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean...

I gotta go. Lots of love, bye!

Actually would be quite smart, don't you think?

What would?

If you killed someone, burying them in a central reservation.

Smart? Yeah, if you were a construction worker,

lanes were already closed for repairs...

Even if you weren't a construction worker, just...

hiring a van, getting a hi-vis jacket,

three in the morning, put up some bollards...

Then start digging a grave in the middle of a motorway?

I mean, it'd take balls, give you that, but... who's gonna stop you?

Who's gonna think, "Oh, I bet he's not a construction worker.

"I bet he's... burying a body."

You know, the fishy smell's really not that bad -

I think you should try them. Yeah, all right!

SHE CHUCKLES

Oh, hi! Hi there, how are you?

DOG BARKS

Oh, we're up, are we, young man?

Oh, super dog! Super, super dog!

You've decided to get up, have you?

Here's breakfast.

Today's the day big day, super dog,

when everything changes.

Yes, my Frankie,

today's the big day!

So it is female, and from the teeth, I can tell you she's young -

early 20s, oldest. OK.

Most importantly, you were right, DCI Stuart -

these remains are not archaeological.

Do you see that? The bone suffered a compound fracture at some point

and was fixed with a surgical plate.

So, plates have been used commonly for about a hundred years,

but if it's titanium -

given the lack of corrosion, my guess is that it is - then...

this is no more than 50, 60 years old, tops.

HE SIGHS

Find the need, sell the want.

Sell the want.

I'm not sure if I'm going to sign anything today, Mr Carr.

And I completely understand that, Mr Salthouse.

And tell me, is it the amount that's worrying you?

Well...

Is it too much?

Well, possibly, but also...

So, what do you think you could afford?

Well, as I say, it's not just the...

8,000? If you feel ten's too much, how about eight?

You see, eight is still...

Seven, then?

I suppose...

I suppose I might be prepared to invest... three.

Three.

Perhaps. Perhaps three.

Three's not enough. I'm sorry?

Three's fine,

and I can do you the same terms for three, so we're all set.

Right, well...

I'll get my cheque book, then.

It's here somewhere...

Just sign and date it, Mr Salthouse.

I've got a stamp.

So, first up, yes, it's titanium.

So, 60 years old, oldest?

Give or take. And then, there's this...

which I'm guessing is some sort of manufacturer's mark?

You ever seen that before?

Nope, and I've seen hundreds of these.

But plates do usually have a manufacturer's mark on them?

No, usually, they have serial numbers indented.

For all of them? Yes.

So...?

So, I'm guessing this is foreign.

So she could've come from anywhere.

Do EU ones have serial numbers? I think so.

At least from when the country joined, but you'd have to check.

She could be British, gone abroad and had the plate fitted there.

That's also a possibility. OK.

Can't you determine... race or ethnicity from a skull?

To a degree. It's not an exact science.

I mean, there are certainly general characteristics

of Asian skulls versus African versus European, etcetera,

but they suggest a likelihood of origin, no more than that.

OK, can you do that for us?

Mm. And age-wise, you said early 20s...

Would you be able to narrow it down any more than that?

We'll be doing an ossification test -

cartilage turns to bone at a very specific age.

That should narrow it down considerably.

Who might be best-placed to recognise who the manufacturer is?

I'd start with the orthopaedics departments of large city hospitals.

Given the amount of foreign-born NHS employees we have, there's...

got to be a good chance you'll come across a surgeon who's inserted

a plate with that mark on it. Mm-hm.