SINEAD Keenan has taken on the new lead role for season five of the detective drama Unforgotten.
The Irish actress has replaced Nicola Walker in the new season following the death of Walker's character DCI Cassie Stuart.
Who is Sinead Keenan?
Sinead is a 45-year-old Irish actress who was born and raised in Dublin but also spent plenty of time in her mum's home city of Belfast growing up.
She has a brother Rory, and sister Grainne, both of which have gone on to have successful acting careers in their own right with roles in the likes of Peaky Blinders and Black Mirror.
The star attended University College Dublin where she graduated with a degree in Sociology and history.
Her first acting break came in the 1999 film Sunburn in which she starred opposite Cillian Murphy.
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She followed the performance by joining the cast of Irish soap Fair City as Farrah Phelan – the second actress to portray the character following Fiona Glascott.
She's since gone on feature in a number of hit shows for the likes of Channel 4, ITV and the BBC.
The Irish star has had a two-year break from the small screen following a run of successful shows such as fantasy comedy Being Human, lesbian drama Lip Service and the lively London Irish.
Who does Sinead Keenan play in Unforgotten?
Sinead is set to feature alongside Sanjeev Bhaskar in the fifth series of Unforgotten replacing Nicola Walker's role DCI Cassie Stuart.
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She will take on the role of new arrival DCI Jessica 'Jessie' James.
Sinead initially turned down the chance to replace the beloved British actress until she was killed off at the end of the fourth series.
Speaking bout her doubts about taking the role at first, she told The Mirror: "I got a phone call from from my agent to say that people from Unforgotten have been on the phone and they want to give the script to three actors – you're one of them, would I read it.
"I said, "Thank you very much, no… who's going to be the gobsh*** to follow Nicola Walker'"
After her agent encouraged her to read it, the actress admitted: " The story was so compelling and then it was a no brainer".
What other roles has she played?
Sinead cut her teeth on some of the most well-known dramas on TV such as Taggart, Doctors, Agatha Christie's Poirot, Doctor Who, and Silent Witness.
However, she really rose to public consciousness in the BBC's supernatural drama Being Human in which she starred alongside Aida 'Poldark' Turner and Russell Tovey.
She followed that with a six-episode run in Scottish lesbian drama Lip Service, which divided critics, with some praising it for representing the LGBT community while others described the plot as "vacuous".
Her next role was as Bronagh, one of the four leads in London Irish – a comedy drama following for expats in the capital.
One of her more recent roles was in Little Boy Blue, in which she takes on the role of Mel Jones, the mother of murdered schoolboy Rhys Jones, who died aged 11 when he was shot in the back while returning home from football practice in 2007.
In April 2018, it was announced that she had been nominated for a Leading Actress Bafta TV Award for the same role.
In April 2021, Keenan starred in the two-part BBC One drama Three Families.
Is Sinead Keenan married?
Sinead married Chris McGill in 2012.
Chris is a TV and film director, who has worked on EastEnders, Casualty, Holby, and The Snatcher.
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He is the founder of Dusthouse Theatre.
The pair have two sons.
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