In Spotlight: Nicola Walker’s best TV shows and films - Marriage, Unforgotten, Spooks and River

She won the nation’s hearts as Cassie Stuart in ITV’s cold case drama Unforgotten, but Stepney-born actress Nicola Walker has been lighting up our screens for more than 25 years with incredible performances.

In 2022, she steals the show in BBC One drama Marriage, starring opposite Sean Bean in an emotional exploration of what it really means to spend your life with another person.

Walker is best known for her roles in dark and gripping dramas, but she’s also served up some truly emotional performances and a sprinkling of comedy.

If you’re still getting over the ending of Unforgotten season 4 or have fallen head over heels with her performance in Marriage, here are some great films, shows and series starring Nicola Walker to watch next…

Unforgotten

An understated, underrated crime drama hit, Unforgotten has slowly built a massive fanbase for its two leads, Nicola Walker’s Cassie and Sanjeev Bhaskar’s Sunny.

With a different cast of impressive guest stars joining each series, writer Chris Lang has built a perfect cold case crime formula that makes for must-see TV.

Watch all four seasons of Unforgotten on BritBox

Marriage

Marriage follows married couple Ian (Sean Bean) and Emma (Nicola Walker) as they negotiate the ups and downs of their 30-year marriage. We see them dealing with the insecurities, the ambiguities, the hopes and the fears that are part of all marriages, as the drama explores the risks and the gifts of a long-term intimate relationship. 

Walker's performance is one of the highlights of this emotional, joyous and original four-part series.

Watch Marriage on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from Sunday, 14 August

Annika

Nicola Walker plays DI Annika Strandhed, who heads up a new specialist Marine Homicide Unit (MHU) in Glasgow that's tasked with investigating unexplained, brutal, and seemingly unfathomable murders.

The six-episode series is based on the hugely successful BBC Radio 4 drama Annika Stranded, and is written by Nick Walker who also wrote the radio series.

A huge hit for Alibi, a second season is already confirmed and being filmed.

Stream Annika on Alibi with NOW on BT TV

Spooks

Walker played fan favourite Ruth Evershed for six years in the stylish and much-missed spy drama Spooks.

Introduced in the show’s second series, Ruth became a trusted member of the MI5 team and had an ongoing romantic storyline with Harry Pearce (Peter Firth) that concluded in the show’s finale in the sort of shock moment that had become a Spooks trademark.

Watch seasons 1-10 of Spooks on BritBox

Last Tango in Halifax

Sally Wainwright’s much-loved comedy drama series, which began in 2012, saw Walker starring alongside Derek Jacobi, Anne Reid and Sarah Lancashire for five seasons

Walker claimed she shocked to land the part of a “fabulous, aggressive, emotional sheep-farmer”, but it turned out to be perfect casting in the inter-generational Yorkshire saga.

Watch seasons 1-5 of Last Tango in Halifax on BritBox

Scott and Bailey

Before Unforgotten stole its crown, Scott and Bailey was ITV’s most underrated crime drama with Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp as the titular detectives.

Walker appeared in the show’s third season, playing Helen Bartlett. Her recurring character had a harrowing storyline, uncovering her involvement with her parents’ dark crimes.

Watch seasons 1-5 of Scott and Bailey on BritBox

The Split

Walker leads the cast of this BBC legal drama as Hannah Stern, a highly-sought after family lawyer who specialises in divorce cases.

Stern is a departure from Walker’s better known performances - all glamour, heels and highlights - and her entanglements with her husband (Stephen Mangan) and her ex (Barry Atsma) made the show an addictive treat.

Watch seasons 1-3 of The Split on BBC iPlayer.

Inside No.9

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton's comedy anthology series is always darkly delicious and Nicola Walker’s appearance in season 4’s To Have an to Hold is a classic episode.

Playing a bored wife of a wedding photographer (Pemberton), Walker goes all in to play the sad wife attempting to inject some new frisson into their love life. As with all episodes of Inside No.9, not all is quite as it seems and Walker delivers the closing sequence with style.

Watch every episode of Inside No.9 on BBC iPlayer

Nine things you didn't know about Inside No.9

River

It only got six episodes, but Abi Morgan’s River was an underrated gem. Stellan Skarsgard played the lead, Detective Inspector John River, but Nicola Walker stole the show as his late colleague DS Jackie ‘Stevie’ Stevenson.

A study of loss, grief and also just a cracking crime drama, the series was heavily influenced by Nordic noir and deserved much more attention that it got when it was first released in 2015.

River is available on BritBox and available to buy and own in the BT TV Store