The Unforgettable was a British television obituary-based documentary programme which aired on ITV from 21 January 2000 to 30 May 2012. It gave a biographical view into the lives of some of Britain's best-remembered entertainers and actors.
Each episode focused on the parallel private and professional life-stories of each person, which included interviews with friends, family and co-stars. The series also used previously unaired home recordings and personal photographs.
Series overview
Regular series
Series Start date End date Episodes 1 21 January 2000 7 April 2000 6 2 18 September 2000 31 December 2000 6 3 2 September 2001 21 May 2002 7 4 8 August 2010 23 December 2010 8 5 8 November 2011 30 May 2012 11
2015 special
Entitle Date Episodes The Sweeney 4 September 2015 1
Episodes To date, five series have been produced, the first three from 21 January 2000 to 21 May 2002. Following an eight-year hiatus, the series returned on 8 August 2010.
The first two series were made by Watchmaker Productions. Series 3 was made by Chrysalis Entertainment, whilst series 4 and 5 are made by North One Television, which are all now part of All3Media.
In total, 38 regular episodes were produced.
The last obituary-based documentary in the series was broadcast on 30 May 2012. However, there was an additional one-off edition on 4 September 2015, focusing on The Sweeney, bringing the number of episodes to 39.
Series 1 (2000) All 6 episodes are 30 minutes long. No. overall No. in series Episode title Transmission 1 1 Hattie Jacques 21 January 2000 2 2 Richard Beckinsale 15 March 2000 3 3 Larry Grayson 19 March 2000 4 4 Diana Dors 24 March 2000 5 5 Kenny Everett 31 March 2000 6 6 Pat Phoenix 7 April 2000
Series 2 (2000) All 6 episodes are 30 minutes long. No. overall No. in series Episode title Transmission 7 1 Arthur Lowe 18 September 2000 8 2 Leonard Rossiter 25 September 2000 9 3 Sid James 5 December 2000 10 4 Les Dawson 11 December 2000 11 5 Frankie Howerd 18 December 2000 12 6 Beryl Reid 31 December 2000
Series 3 (2001-2002) Editions are 40 minutes long unless stated. No. overall No. in series Episode title Transmission 13 1 Tommy Cooper 2 September 2001 14 2 John Le Mesurier 9 September 2001 15 3 Kenneth Williams 23 September 2001 16 4 Yootha Joyce 3 October 2001 (30 mins) 17 5 Eric Morecambe 2 November 2001 (1 hour) 18 6 Benny Hill 14 December 2001 19 7 Joan Sims 21 May 2002
Series 4 (2010) Episodes 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are one hour long unless stated. No. overall No. in series Episode title Transmission 20 1 Bob Monkhouse 8 August 2010 21 2 Jeremy Beadle 15 August 2010 22 3 Mollie Sugden 8 September 2010 (30 mins) 23 4 Terry Scott 22 September 2010 (30 mins) 24 5 Harry Secombe 20 December 2010 25 6 Danny La Rue 21 December 2010 26 7 Mike Reid 22 December 2010 27 8 Spike Milligan 23 December 2010
Series 5 (2011–2012) All editions are 30 minutes long, unless stated. No. overall No. in series Episode title Transmission 28 1 Norman Wisdom 8 November 2011 29 2 Ernie Wise 26 December 2011 (1 hour) 30 3 John Thaw 1 January 2012 (1 hour) 31 4 Leslie Crowther 11 January 2012 32 5 Rod Hull 1 February 2012 33 6 Russell Harty 21 March 2012 34 7 Dick Emery 11 April 2012 35 8 Hughie Green 2 May 2012 36 9 Noele Gordon 16 May 2012 37 10 Dudley Moore 23 May 2012 38 11 Gordon Jackson 30 May 2012 39 12 The Sweeney 4 September 2015 (1 hour)
References
External links
The Unforgettable at British Film Institute