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Silent Witness Stars Reveal All

by Max

4th January 2024

Multi award-winning crime drama Silent Witness is back with five more gripping two-part mysteries for the team at the Lyell Centre to solve.

Silent Witness is produced by BBC Studios Drama Productions for BBC One and iPlayer. The Executive Producers are Suzi McIntosh, Emilia Fox and Priscilla Parish for BBC Studios and Nawfal Faizullah for the BBC. Jayne Chard is Producer.

BBC Studios handle global distribution for all 27 series and Silent Witness is currently enjoyed in 235 territories worldwide including – Australia – ABC and BBC First, US- BritBox, Germany- ZDF, Sweden SVT.

Silent Witness series 27 will premiere on BBC One and iPlayer on Monday 8th January 2024 at 9pm with part two following on Tuesday 9th January, with the same TX pattern for the following 4 weeks.

All previous series of Silent Witness are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

Series Synopsis

In Series 27, pathologist Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox), forensic expert Jack Hodgson (David Caves) and their dedicated team must help the police solve some of their most chilling cases yet: a body found in an abandoned church sparks fears that a serial killer has resurfaced after twenty years, death terrorises a university campus and no one is safe, a mummified corpse is uncovered – seemingly forgotten by everyone, multiple bodies are found entombed beneath a train station in a makeshift mass grave, and the Lyell is infiltrated by a malevolent force.

As the team use their expertise to unlock the truth, they are tested to their very limits. Gabriel seeks advice from Jack in an unexpected way, and lets down his guard at work with devastating results. Velvy tries to do the right thing by his family, but at great cost to himself. Cara navigates London student life, making friends and enemies along the way. She impresses Jack when she undertakes work experience at the Lyell, and is forced to intervene when she makes a shocking discovery about Velvy. Nikki and Jack deal with one of the most difficult cases of their career and their relationship becomes stronger than ever.

Episode Synopsis

Episode 1: Effective Range Part One by Jim Keeble and Dudi Appleton

Nikki and Jack investigate a murder bearing all the hallmarks of a notorious serial killer. When Nikki meets Charles Beck, the pathologist who conducted the original post-mortems, she discovers his wife was the suspected fifth victim of the serial killer, but nobody believes him when he claims he knows where to find her body.

Episode 2: Effective Range Part Two by Jim Keeble and Dudi Appleton

When a woman’s body is removed from a reservoir, Nikki performs the post-mortem and confirms she is the deceased wife of pathologist, Charles Beck. Jack and Velvy discover new evidence that leads to a surprising arrest as Nikki continues to seek the truth about notorious serial killer Calvin Dunn.

Episode 3: Grievance Culture Part One by Tim Prager

The team work a suspected suicide but the investigation raises more questions than it answers. Gabriel has an exciting new opportunity, both professionally and personally, and enlists Jack’s help. When a disgruntled professor of criminology is passed over for promotion, events take a truly sinister turn and the interview panel begin to be targeted. Could a member of the Lyell be next?

Episode 4: Grievance Culture Part Two by Tim Prager

Events continue to spiral at the university and Cara becomes collateral damage. The riddle of the body in the Thames is solved. A breakthrough in the Cherry case is received from an unlikely source, but will the team get there before it is too late?

Episode 5: Invisible Part One by Tim Prager

The team investigate the body of a woman found in a flat after being dead for a year. As they seek to find out the truth of her identity and what happened to her, they must draw on all of their forensic and pathology knowledge to solve the case. Even if the world had forgotten her, the Lyell are determined that she must get justice.

Episode 6: Invisible Part Two by Tim Prager

Nikki and Jack work to uncover the truth surrounding Roy’s death and consider if it’s linked to their original body. Meanwhile, D.I. Torres searches for a stalker and Cara is shocked at Velvy’s living conditions. As the case comes to a head, there are surprises afoot for the team.

Episode 7: Death By A Thousand Hits Part One by Ed Whitmore & Tracey Malone

The team investigate the death of a Burmese man on a deserted beach, as his young pregnant wife desperately hopes he is still alive. Nikki and Jack piece together the perplexing crime scene and find it poses more questions than it answers.

Episode 8: Death By A Thousand Hits Part Two by Ed Whitmore & Tracey Malone

Nikki makes a breakthrough but can the team believe everything they are told? The Lyell is compromised in an unexpected way, as the team strive to find out who the man on the beach was and why he was killed. In a dark and chilling story, they must unite to discover the truth, and above all, trust no one.

Episode 9: King’s Cross Part One by Ed Whitmore

The Lyell are called to a museum outside King’s Cross Station, where they discover the bodies of eight victims entombed below. With the knowledge that a prolific serial killer was operating in London nearly twenty years ago, Nikki and the team know this will be a case like no other.

Episode 10: King’s Cross Part Two by Ed Whitmore

Nikki continues to try and identify the last of the remaining bodies in an effort to uncover any connections and find motive, while Jack and the police begin to look into several two-decade old missing persons cases which might reveal the identity of the man dubbed “The King’s Cross Serial Killer”.

Q&A with Emilia Fox

How is Nikki’s relationship with Jack developing?

In the past, because they had worked alongside each other for so long and had got closer and closer, it begged the question, “If they like each other so much, and they get on so well, why have they not got together?” So now, they have come together and now need to navigate having a working relationship and a “relationship” relationship.

Can you amplify that?

So much of the show, quite rightly, is about being respectful towards the subject matter, but with each other Jack and Nikki can have a bit more of a jest and a joke and play that out within their relationship. It’s not always about high drama within relationships; it’s often about just being together. So they have got some really lovely moments. And because of the darkness of the subject matter, they become more and more close. They’ve been so work focused. But as you get older, do you place a different emphasis on what’s important in life? They’re both discovering that in this series.

What do you enjoy about working with David?

We’ve worked together for over a decade now. It’s amazing – time flies when you’re having fun! We come at the work with the same professional attitude, both wanting it to be the best it can be and caring about it. And David is a really brilliant actor. He can turn any scene into something fantastic. And he’s got great humour, great emotion and a great ability to make things sing off the page. Even when we’re doing information scenes, he can create character in that and I really enjoy doing that with him.

What can you tell us about the first episode of the new series?

Straight away, we’re into a case where a body is found in a church. The detective who comes onto the case recognises the MO as being possibly linked to a serial killing case that she worked on two decades ago. She becomes quite tunnel visioned about it. In this episode, Nikki doesn’t want to be consumed by who the killer might have been and what their character was like. She wants to stick with the facts and not get led by the detective. In some stories, we do want to know who the criminal is and want to know more about them. But for the purposes of this story, Nikki wants to make sure that no errors are made because of the biased view that the detective has.

What happens next?

Nikki gets taken to meet Charles Beck, played by the wonderful John Hannah, who worked on the original case. Through having a feeling and an affiliation with him because of the job and also through understanding that he is a man who is losing his memory, she becomes more involved with him than she thought she would. And she likes him, which makes it complicated when she discovers something about him. It was very easy to play because John is such a lovely man and such a brilliant actor. And so I really felt the complications, but also the great humanity John brings to a complex character like that.

Talk us through your role as executive producer on Silent Witness.

There are lots of execs who do the proper, behind the scenes putting together of Silent Witness. I think my exec role is more as a caretaker. Because new producers come on for different series, I can say to them, “This happened in this series” or, “Hang on, have we looked at that, and should we remember this?” The thing I really love doing is creating a good atmosphere on a show. If you’re in the very privileged position of being a leader in a drama, then part of being given that role is to go, “How can we make this the best atmosphere for an actor to come on to, to be able to produce their best work?” I know what it’s like as an actor coming onto a show. It can be really nerve-wracking. You can come on for a day and have to give everything all on that one day. You do all your scenes in one day, and sometimes they are shot in reverse order. That’s hard. So I really feel it, and I want it to be the nicest atmosphere possible. That creates the best bed for nurturing a performance. That way, people go away thinking, “I had a really good time, and I’d love to come back.”

As always, you have a host of superb guest actors in this series. Why does Silent Witness keep attracting such great names?

The two-hour format really helps. Two hours is enough time to really get into the guest characters and the guest stories. We also have very good, strong writers who write terrific guest characters. And that is I hope what appeals to the likes of John Hannah, Hermione Norris, Neil Pearson, Julie Graham, Kevin McNally and John Thomson. Everyone wants to come on to the show because they get such good parts to play. But also, Silent Witness is a lovely show to work on, with really, really nice people across the board. That is one of the many reasons why I love it, and I hope that is what draws the guest actors to come and work for us as well. What a joy that we get to work with these very talented, very experienced people, but also that we get to work with people who are just starting out in their careers.

Do you meet lots of people who have been driven to study pathology after watching Silent Witness?

Yes. I have met lots of people who say that. I’m absolutely thrilled if watching a television programme can inspire someone to go, “Oh, I’m interested in that.” I’m very aware we’re in the world of fiction. But if in real life, it inspires someone to go, “Oh, I’d like to find out more about, and oh, my goodness, I could actually do it,” that’s brilliant. it makes me feel very proud.

You’ve now played Nikki for 20 years. What do you still love about playing her?

There are so many things I love about playing her. She has been an ally through my life in all sorts of different times – through my 20s, 30s, 40s, relationships, children, many varied jobs. I feel like Nikki and I have been in these different periods of our lives together. It’s been wonderful.

What else have you relished about working on Silent Witness?

I love the premise of it. I love the character that I’ve had 20 years to find. She feels very familiar, but she’s continually put into completely different situations. So you’re constantly challenged and stimulated by it. I feel massively proud of the show, of the fact that it’s still here and that the audience still want it and still want Nikki. Miracle! But I find the subject matter always draws me in. In every single episode, I’m intrigued by where we’re going to go. I like the fact that we do go into the darker worlds. But you can also hold on to the fact that you’ve got a regular cast ensemble team who want good to come out of tragic circumstances. They are able to do something which is right, so I feel there’s hope and light in it as well. Every single time the series starts again, I think, “I’m so happy to be on it.” I just love it!

Q&A with David Caves

How are Jack and Nikki getting on in this series?

They are going strong. A big thing last year was that we didn’t want to make it a bickering adolescent type of relationship – which we could easily have done. But it is different with Jack and Nikki. We are seeing them working together, and their relationship does not seem to be interfering with their work. They’re professional, and they simply get on with their work. But they have moments where they check in with each other and then little subtle things that happen between them to let people know that they’re still very much together. I can’t really go into much detail, but there’s a nice progression in this series. It comes to a nice crescendo, if you will. And so I hope people are pleased because Jack and Nikki have some lovely moments together.

Does their very stressful job heap pressure on them?

Yes, especially in the latter episodes of this series. There is an episode called Kings Cross, which is a biggie. It’s probably the most we’ve had to shoot ever. It’s very intense. The case involves eight bodies being discovered under Kings Cross. That means Jack and Nikki have to do eight post-mortems and not cross contaminate. So it’s a very, very big couple of episodes for them. It’s stressful, especially for her. She gets very tired and he’s worried about her. She’s overworking. She’s a workaholic. She’s doing it all on her own. He’s trying to say to her, “Look, you need to just step away and get help here.” But she doesn’t want to do that, of course.

Is that a constant concern for Jack?

Yes. He’s always worried about her in that respect. That has always been her thing – that she’s been workaholic and has never had much time for a private life. He’s been a bit that way himself, but I think he’s finding the balance better now. But she still struggles with that. And so that’s always a little bit of a sticking point with them. Jack is always trying to tell Nikki, “Just take some time because this work really affects you.” Think about doing that job for real. I just can’t imagine how stressful it would be.

Why does your on-screen partnership with Emilia work so well?

Getting to work with another actor in the same part for 10 years just doesn’t happen very often in this business. It’s wonderful. Yes, it’s easier in a lot of ways, but at the same time, you have got to keep it alive. Because if you’re complacent and you let it go, then you think it doesn’t matter anymore and say, “Who cares?” But Emilia and I are not like that. We really care about what we’re doing. We care about each other. We care about the characters. And we both really care about what we say. So we’re very lucky to have that brilliant working relationship.

What other contribution does Emilia make to Silent Witness?

She’s the one who has kept it going so well for the past 20 years. Nobody works harder than she does. She really is something when it comes to the show. She will always play it down, and say, “No, it’s a team effort”, which it is. But there’s nobody who knows the show or the scripts better than Emilia. There is nobody who cares more than she does about what goes out there to people and about what the fans think and what they’d like to see from the characters and the stories. It’s very hard to do that for 20 years. But that’s what she’s done, which is incredible.

What can you tell us about the first episode of this season?

We’re just chucked straight back into the mix, really. New case, new people. It seems as if a historic serial killer might be back on the scene. The original cop, who had personal dealings with him, is very, very convinced that this is obviously the work of the same man. She doesn’t seem to have any room in her head for it being a copycat or somebody else. It has to be him. But Jack and Nikki have to be slightly less biased in their investigation. They just have to try and stick by the facts. That’s tricky for Nikki especially because she’s leading the post-mortems. And so there are little flare ups between Nikki and the police officer. The detective is solely focused on the idea that the original killer is back, while Jack and Nikki are trying to float some different ideas.

How does it unfold from there?

We meet another pathologist, played by John Hannah, who was not only was the pathologist on the original case, but he also has a personal involvement in that his partner was abducted by this killer and has been missing ever since. But due to lack of money and investigation time, the police haven’t been able to do a thorough search. And so he’s very cross with the detective, claiming that she hasn’t been doing her job properly. So there’s lots going on. It was wonderful to have John Hannah on set. What a coup! He’s such a brilliant actor. He is lovely to watch. He’s so gentle and thoughtful and quietly strong. He was just a perfect choice for this character. I mean, it’s amazing that he did it. We’re very lucky to have these superb guest actors.

Cara is now working as an intern at the Lyell. How does her relationship with Jack progress this year?

It’s hard because he’s like her dad, but he’s not. And so it’s a constant push-pull of Jack wanting to help Clara and wanting to encourage her in what she does because she has signs of great talent. But at the same time, he’s trying to protect her because she’s still quite young and quite vulnerable, a little bit naive, and hasn’t spent much time out in the big bad world yet. So Jack just wants to try and shield Cara a little bit. But it’s such a tricky thing with parents. You want your kids to be shielded a little bit, but at the same time they have to go out and bump up against the world. So you can’t wrap them up in cotton wool too much. That’s not going to do them any favours.

There is a big development in the relationship between Jack and Gabriel in this series as well, isn’t there?

Yes. Jack and Gabriel have a little bit of a bonding session. Gabriel wants to box. He wants to feel something because he’s tired of being in his head all the time. He wants to feel something. So he thinks training as a boxer, then actually having a fight in the ring is an excellent idea. But Jack, who is still a cage fighter himself, is not so keen on this plan.

Does that cause conflict between Jack and Gabriel?

No. If anything, it brings them closer together because thus far they haven’t really gelled. I wouldn’t have said they were really friends or had spent any time at all particularly together. So at first Jack is reluctant to train Gabriel because he thinks, “This guy? Really?” At then he does it and ends up quite enjoying it. Jack gets something out of it for himself as well as focusing on Gabriel. I think he sees a new side to the guy and that he’s got something in him. He’s got a bit of steel in him that he likes and that he hadn’t seen before. Jack sees that Gabriel is very brave to be doing this. And so cue a Rocky montage all the way!

Q&A with Alastair Michael