A real forensic scientist has given her verdict on Silent Witness, the long-running BBC One drama starring Emilia Fox as Dr Nikki Alexander. And sadly, it seems there's no one quite like Nikki in reality.

Carol Rogers, the lead scientist for sexual offences at the Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services, told the New Scientist that while she enjoyed the show, not everything was accurate.

For a start, Carol says that, unlike Nikki and Jack Hodgson (David Caves), real experts aren't doing everything from taking fingerprints to theorising about potential causes of death. We're also hoping in reality, they don't get in as many dangerous situations!

Carol said: "I do like Silent Witness, however, they portray a forensic scientist as a bit of a jack of all trades. He handed out blood pattern analysis, he then could diagnose someone's health condition because of their urine, he did fingerprints, he was commenting on things that definitely I wouldn’t comment on about potential cause of death etc.

"The reality isn't like that. So, I'm a forensic biologist, which means I specialise in the biology field of forensics, which is your blood patterns, body fluids, DNA. Probably the part of forensic science that people are probably most aware of because of television.

"However, things like fingerprints would be done by a different expert, fires would be a different expert, drugs analysis would be a different expert, [and] pathology is a completely different field altogether!

"But I think the TV programmes tend to portray us as doing a whole gamut of evidence types. That overall expert doesn't exist; we all have a part to play."

While the makers are currently busy making Silent Witness season 29, which will air next year, Carol went on to explain that unfortunately, there also isn’t currently a high-tech camera you can shine on surfaces that shows up in fluorescent light, all hidden bodily fluids.

"I would love one of them," she says. "That is probably based on a technique called luminol and luminol will fluoresce light; however, it only works with blood, and it has to be done in a darkened room. It involves spraying about a lot of chemicals before you then use the camera to look for the luminescence. So it's quite a messy business, you’d only use it in certain circumstances when blood wasn't actually visible to the naked eye."

She continued that she could perfectly understand why the makers didn't want to show the long process, as it wouldn’t make great TV, but it does mean viewers might not appreciate how long in reality it would take to do crime scene work.

And concluded that while not totally accurate, Silent Witness did give a good overview of the techniques used at a crime scene.

Silent Witness returns next year. Check out our best BBC dramas guide for more shows to enjoy.

Silent Witness season 29 will see the hit drama celebrate its 30th anniversary as Emilia Fox returns as Dr Nikki Alexander.

The first series of Silent Witness, starring Amanda Burton, began in February 1996, so when series 29 goes out at the start of 2026 it will have been on screen for 30 years, which is a massive achievement. The show has also moved home from London to Birmingham, so that should give it a different feel. Does the BBC have something massive planned for the 30th? Here's everything we know...

Silent Witness season 29 release date

Silent Witness season 29 will likely begin on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in January 2026. This hasn't been confirmed yet but this is the usual release pattern for Silent Witness.

Silent Witness season 29 plot (SPOILERS if you’ve not finished series 28!)

So we're assuming here you've finished watching Silent Witness season 28! If not, we suggest you do that rather than worrying about the next season. Anyway, so obviously the big reveal was that Nikki and Jack finally tied the knot at a quiet but spectacular venue. The past few seasons have seen their romance blossom and viewers got what they wanted when the pair finally walked down the aisle. However, now they've had their happy ending you do wonder what the writers will do with them in season 29. Surely they can't just romantically walk around graveyards for 10 episodes? So while we have no official plot details we suspect there could be some big dramas in store for the pair. Let’s hope that neither of them gets killed off.

The other big plot thread from the previous series is the move to Birmingham. Nikki has been asked by the Home Office to set up a Center of Excellence in Birmingham, which means she and Jack are heading to the Midlands. Nikki made it clear she’d only go if Harriet was kept on as her boss after the Home Office tried to force her to retire. And the Home Office agreed. So it looks like Harriet and Kit will still be part of the team. However, Silent Witness has been rapidly changing the supporting cast in recent years so you never know.

Silent Witness season 29 cast

Emilia Fox will return as Dr Nikki Alexander alongside David Caves as Jack Hodgson. It’s not been confirmed yet if Maggie Steed and Francesca Mills will return as Harriet Maven and Kit Brooks, but it looks highly likely they will. As it’s the 30th anniversary we also suspect some classic characters could be brought back.

Is there a trailer?

Sorry not yet.

Silent Witness season 29 behind the scenes and more

Silent Witness has moved to the West Midlands as part of a plan by the BBC to boost TV drama production in the region. Mark Linsey, MD for Scripted, BBC Studios says: “This is an exciting time for one of our longest-running dramas that continues to thrill audiences here in the UK — and in over 200 territories around the world. We look forward to seeing the creative opportunities relocating production of Silent Witness to the West Midlands will undoubtedly bring."

Silent Witness season 28 episode 10, the final episode of the series, sees Nikki (Emilia Fox) acting strangely around Jack, while they have a difficult case to crack.

The episode opens with the question of who shot Nicholson remaining. Calvin is with his friend looking out over the Thames. Peggy, Calvin's ex, opens the door to a pile of flowers. Kit is chasing down Nicholson's military record. Nikki tells grumpy Ivor that Nicholson was likely the shooter at the restaurant but they can't be certain. Nikki says they are sure he didn’t take his own life. Peggy calls the police about the flowers, which she says are from Cal, but they aren't being helpful and she sobs.

Maggie asks Nikki if she's got her wedding dress and she says not yet. "You better get a move on!" says Maggie. Nikki seems worried about the wedding. They also discuss that Nicholson has a brain injury. Nikki and Jack go and meet DS Davies at the scene where Akram was murdered. They learn he was killed in the car. DS Davies says the area is known for drugs and erm, dogging! She starts explaining dogging to Jack, who stops her, while Nikki gives a little smile. DS Davies says it’s her first unlawful killing.

The killer used fishing line

A cop goes to Peggy’s house. Meanwhile, Nikki and Jack inspect Akram's body. Jack finds some drugs. "I'm guessing no dogs were involved," quips Nikki. The cop tells Peggy there's no evidence Cal delivered the flowers and therefore they can't do anything. Nikki suggests Akram was killed from behind and the violence involved suggests a personal motive.

Nikki and Harriet go and consult an expert about Nicholson's injuries. She says that people with this type of injury report hearing voices, headaches, memory loss and hallucinations. She says some of the people go on to be violent. Peggy sees on the news that Akram is dead. She's shocked. Nikki performs the autopsy on Akram. Jack thinks the killer used fishing line. We know Cal likes to fish.

DS Davies has a couple of witnesses, who apparently might be doggers! They don’t want to give their real names. They give a little too much info about what they were up to. They mention seeing a delivery van leaving as they arrive. The woman says it was dark blue and had writing on it.

'I'll only do it if Harriet is in charge'

Cal, with his mate, returns to his van — which is dark blue — to find thieves robbing it of packages. One of the thieves runs off, the other pulls a knife and Cal's mate says "he's got this". Nikki is at the home office and they make clear they want Harriet to retire and her to take over. Nikki says they’re a very good team and she won’t do that. "I’ll only do it if Harriet is in charge," she says.

Nikki and Harriet go wedding dress shopping. Nikki tries on a dress and being Nikki starts talking about garrotting! "Can we have some more cakes please?" asks Harriet, enjoying herself. Kit's managed to track down the delivery company from the description they got. But they have 800 vans and no vehicle reg! Jack and Nikki are called to another body. Looks like it might be our thief. They find a crowbar. Has chips of blue paint on it.

DS Davies goes to talk to Peggy about Akram. She says he made her redundant last week. She says he did that because she wouldn't sleep with him. She says she didn’t tell her husband but she says her husband has become a different person in recent times and she has a restraining order against him. DS Davies is very interested when Peggy says Calvin is a delivery driver. Cal gets a message on his phone. Nikki looks at the latest body.

Jack and Nikki recreate what might have happened. Jack shows how the attacker struck the victim in the shin and that the victim must have been raised off the ground. The victim, they believe, then fell, before the attacker slit his throat.
Kit’s tracked Cal’s van, showing he was at various relevant sites to the case including where Akram was murdered.

Cal and his mates are outside the school. One of the mums can be heard complaining that Cal's daughter is a bully. They argue over which of the kids is a bully. "Can you imagine being married to that," says the mum to her mates.

Cal takes hostages

The team learn that Cal was in the army. The annoying mum collects her daughter early from her detention, the teacher isn’t happy. Cal is at the school. He throws the teacher out of the classroom and locks himself in with the mum and the two children. Cal is a man on the edge. The team look at camera footage of what happened in the food store. Cal is joined by his mates in the classroom. But then we see they're not real! He’s talking to himself. Looking at the shop camera footage, you can see Cal is actually by himself. Peggy turns up at the school and starts running when she sees a police car outside. We see delivery van footage of Cal murdering the thief.

The team races to the primary school. Peggy somehow manages to evade the police and gets to the classroom. Cal picks up a pair of scissors, his daughter looks terrified. His imaginary mates egg him on as he gets closer and closer to the mum. His daughter starts speaking and it seems to get through to him. He lets Peggy into the classroom. He lets the mum and child out. Armed police enter the school. Peggy manages to get Dawn out. It's just her and Cal. He wants her to kill him. Cal says he hears things and does things — we see him shooting Nicholson in a flashback. He says Nicholson had the same problems he does and he helped him find peace. "End it" he begs holding out the scissors. He sees the red dots on his body from the police guns. He holds up the scissors in an attacking way, knowing the police will shoot him dead. Later, Nikki looks at Cal's body and finds evidence of his brain injury.

Nikki and Jack are in bed. "Jack, I want to marry you. I was just thinking…". Nikki continues: "We don't have to do the big wedding. I don't need the crowd, the bridesmaids, the big fuss, I just need you." Jack replies: "I just wanted it to be perfect for you." "Marrying you, how can that be anything less than perfect," replies Nikki. Jack says: "So why are we waiting, let’s get married." At the Lyell, Nikki asks Kit to be a witness. Jack asks Harriet to be his best man.

Silent Witness season 28 ending explained: Nikki and Jack get married!

Jack and Nikki are at the registry office. And while Jack’s keen to get things moving, Nikki starts making a big speech. "I've had the hearts of so many people in my hands. As a scientist, I know every detail of the human heart and yet for so long my own has been a mystery to me. Isn't that a wonder?" She ends by saying: "I'm giving my heart to you". Jack replies: "And I'm giving mine to you and I promise to cherish it." Nikki: "I promise to keep yours safe". Jack: "Shall we walk in together." Nikki: "Always".

After the ceremony, we see Harriet and Kit throw confetti over the happy couple. Kit and Harriet both get an email about the Center of Excellence in Birmingham. "What are we going to do?" ponders Harriet.

Nikki and Jack stroll around Trafalgar Square on their wedding night and they dance to "Wings" by Birdy. The pair kiss, Jack takes his jacket off and places it on Nikki. Bless!

Silent Witness season 28 episode 9 sees Nikki (Emilia Fox) get a potential job offer, Jack struggling to find a best man and five dead in a restaurant. Ex-EastEnders star Joe Absolom guests.

The episode opens at a Syrian and Pizza restaurant. We hear multiple shots being fired and a body falls close to the door. A man says don't shoot but then we hear further shots and the window smashes. And then we get the title music.

Nikki is looking at a wedding dress in a shop window. At the Lyell, Jack tells Nikki he has no friends! Nikki has been at the Home Office but she tells Harriet she's not sure what they wanted. "Why are we counting friends?" asks Harriet. Jack replies he needs a best man. Nikki seems to be lacking friends as well. "We know more dead bodies than we know people," complains Jack. "What are you going to do about bridesmaids?" he asks Nikki.

Meet DI Ivor Strong

Nikki and Jack head to the restaurant which is a bloodbath. Bodies all over the place. 9mm pistol says Jack about the gun used. DI Ivor Strong (Karl Collins) says the shooter isn't among the deceased and they need to find them.

A radio news report says five people were killed in the shooting. We see armed police patrolling the streets of London.

At the Lyell, Nikki performs a post-mortem on one of the victims. Kit checks the camera footage from the restaurant, but she just has a black screen. She says all they have is audio, Ivor isn't happy. He doesn’t seem to think Kit knows what she’s doing. "It's good for bugger all," he moans. Harriet introduces herself and tells him not to take out his frustration on Kit. She tells him to apologize to Kit. He grumpily says sorry.

Kit says she has a credit card transaction that went through just before the shooting. Someone called Doug Nicholson. She says you can hear the bell on the door go as someone enters but there's no bell following that suggesting Doug must have left by a different exit unless he's a victim. The detective is now impressed! We see a delivery driver, we later learn is called Calvin (Joe Absolom), delivering packages. We see him meet some friends at the pub. His 10-year-old daughter has been having some trouble at school.

Kit directs Jack and the detective to Doug’s phone. They end up at an industrial site. Our delivery driver Cal and his friends are doing some shopping. They spot some shoplifters. The shoplifters start manhandling the owner. Cal warns them to pay for what they’ve got. One of the shoplifters pulls a knife and they walk out. Cal is disturbed that he couldn’t stop them.

At the Lyell, Nikki pulls a bullet out of a body. Jack asks Nikki about the Home Office, but she doesn't want to talk about it. Harriet catches them doing some heavy flirting. After Jack leaves, Harriet tells Nikki how much she's enjoyed working with her. And adds, pointedly, Nikki’s not the only one who speaks to the Home Office.

The delivery driver and the lads are having a drink by a river. Meanwhile, the cops are searching the industrial site. Nikki returns home and gives Jack a big kiss. And, well…

The police are still searching. Meanwhile, in bed, Nikki tells Jack the Home Office was sounding her out about setting up a new forensic center of excellence. Jack asks if he's part of this plan and Nikki says they want him to. The new center is in Birmingham.

Jack continues his search for a best man but his latest prospect Chalkie, whom Jack knows from his fighting days, turns out to be having problems with his memory. We see our delivery driver Calvin outside a school. Cal knocks on a door and the woman says he's not meant to come there. He says he's worried about Dawn and she didn't go to school. The woman, Peggy (Amy Nuttall), says she wanted to stay at home. It's very awkward. He asks if she has someone in there. She says she hasn't. He says he loves her and leaves. His friend starts dropping poison in his ear about sorting the situation out.

The police find something at last. Nikki and Jack are soon at the scene. There's a body and the gun, it looks like, used in the attack. Back at the Lyell, they confirm the body is Douglas Nicholson, who was in the restaurant. He appears to have taken his own life. He died on the same day as the shooting it appears. Ivor is distressed by how matter-of-fact they’re being. "Are you ok?" demands Harriet. He's very upset by the murders and he demands to know why they happened.

Kit and Jack have a chat about the gun. "Where would you get a gun like this?" wonders Kit. A news report announces that following the discovery of a body the police aren’t looking for any other suspects in the restaurant killings. Calvin picks up his daughter Dawn. They leave and Dawn’s mother arrives and fumes when she finds out her dad has collected her. Cal and Dawn are by the river, fishing. Nicholson turns out to be ex army and he served in Syria. The restaurant was Syrian. Is that the link?

At the river, Dawn says a friend of Cal's called the previous week asking for help. "I helped him," says Cal. Dawn says she stayed at home not because of being bullied but to keep her mum company. She says she lost her job due to Akram, her boss. Cal returns her home. There’s a police car out the front. Her mum emotionally welcomes Dawn home. Cal's rubbish mates keep dropping more poison in his ear.

Nikki makes a surprise discovery

We see Akram going to his car.

Nikki is inspecting Nicholson’s body. She's discovered something. Nikki says he could have fired the gun in the restaurant but he didn’t shoot himself. She says if he shot himself there would have been blood splatter on his hand. So who shot him? Akram snorts drugs in his car and suddenly he starts being strangled. And eventually, he dies… but who killed him?

Silent Witness has dropped heavy hints that Nikki and Jack will move to Birmingham for the next chapter in their life.

In scenes to go out in episode 9 of Silent Witness season 28 tonight (already available on BBC iPlayer to watch), Nikki (Emilia Fox) has a mysterious meeting with the Home Office. Meanwhile, Jack (David Caves) is on a desperate search for a best man for their wedding after discovering he doesn't have many friends! "Why are we counting friends?" asks his boss Harriet (played by Maggie Steed). Jack replies he needs a best man. Nikki seems to be lacking friends as well. "We know more dead bodies than we know people," complains Jack.

Eventually in bed together, Jack asks Nikki about what she was doing at the Home Office and she replies they want her to set up a center of excellence in Birmingham. She reassures Jack that they also want him to be part of the new plan. However, it's not clear if Harriet, or newcomer Kit (Francesca Mills) is part of the deal. Could the team be splitting up?

What we know for certain is that the future of Silent Witness both on screen and off it lies in Birmingham. Indeed the latest season has felt very much like a farewell to the current location London with lots of beautiful shots of the city.

The next series will it appears be largely shot around Birmingham. The BBC previously announced production was moving to the West Midlands as part of the BBC's "ongoing Across the UK strategy and demonstrates our continued commitment to production outside of London".

Mark Linsey, MD for Scripted, BBC Studios said: "This is an exciting time for one of our longest-running dramas that continues to thrill audiences here in the UK — and in over 200 territories around the world. We look forward to seeing the creative opportunities relocating production of Silent Witness to the West Midlands will undoubtedly bring."

But will it be just Nikki and Jack in Birmingham? Or will Harriet and Kit also be a part of Silent Witness season 29?

Silent Witness continues on BBC One.

Silent Witness season 28 episode episode 8 sees Nikki (Emilia Fox) trapped on a plane with passengers dying in mystery circumstances. Ex-Strictly and Casualty star Sunetra Sarker guests.

We're on the plane, and annoying Grant (Paul Hilton) throws up. Poor Nikki is asleep, not sure how given what's going on! She gets woken up again and told Grant needs help. "It could be airborne," says Nikki, noting Grant was sitting next to the now-dead Tony. "We’re all at risk," says the steward.

In Mumbai, a man in a biohazard suit inspects the body of the cleaner found in the hotel room in the first episode. Then comes in the pathologist, who's not surprisingly very cautious. He notes a hand injury that could have been caused by contact with a chemical. He takes some blood. Back on the plane, the pilot turns off the wi-fi to stop the passengers from posting stuff about what’s happening on social media. Nurse Beth isn’t looking well.

Why isn't Nikki sick too?

Meanwhile, Harriet says everything is pointing to a highly poisonous toxin. The pathologist says they shouldn't jump to conclusions. Nikki is wondering why she isn’t getting sick despite being with Tony. She goes to find Beth and tracks her down to a toilet. Beth is on the floor with blood all over her face.

Back at the Lyell, Kit says she's found out Tony oddly has no digital footprint. Kit says the owner of the plane firm also owned a luxury development company in Karachi that went bankrupt and lost loads of money. The owner of the investment company that invested in the project vowed to bring him down and the investment company owner turns out to be ex-military, who runs a covert anti-terrorism unit. They are known to assassinate people using poison! "The owner of East West Airlines made an enemy of the general who poisons people," says Jack, summing it up nicely for lost viewers! So, would he have poisoned a whole plane full of people in revenge? Jack wonders if they could be looking at a military-grade nerve agent.

Beth and Grant look close to death

On the plane, Beth and Grant aren't looking good. At the Lyell, Fiona Mason (Sunetra Sarker), from Foreign Office Special Services, barges her way in. Jack fills in Fiona about their theory about the ex-military chap. Harriet suggests perhaps the cleaner infected Tony who then infected the passengers on the plane. Kit says Tony had never been further than Margate, but then randomly took a three-day trip to India, leaving economy class but returning business class. What was Tony doing?

Jack gets angry and says they need to warn Nikki. Fiona says they shouldn't. She reveals that the Pakistani Prime Minister is on his way to London and she says the events on the flight could be linked to his visit. She says the airline's owner is a vocal supporter of the PM and the ex-general isn't. Jack says he will call Nikki, but a security official blocks him and Fiona tells him he can't. She demands Jack’s phone. Jack is not happy. He tries to use a landline, but they’ve been blocked.

Harriet has a burner phone

On the plane, Nikki gets emotional talking to the steward, Ade (Gershwyn Eustache) and says she wants to get back to Jack and her work. At the Lyell, Jack says he's worked out why Fiona was being so tough. He says if everyone starts falling sick on the plane they won't let it land. And they don't want that information leaking to Nikki and the people on the plane. Turns out Harriet has a burner phone! She says it was her secret phone to bet on horses as her husband didn't approve! She tells Jack to use that. "It's always good to have a few secrets in a marriage," she tells Jack.

On the plane, Grant manages to be annoying even when ill. He's now confused and doesn't know who Nikki is. Jack phones Nikki and tells her they think it could be a targeted poisoning. He says Tony could be involved. Nikki tells him that Tony said something strange about having something to live for after the deaths of his wife and daughter. She also recalls him saying victory just before he died. Nikki says she wants to look at Tony's body to see if something has happened to it which could tell her what the toxin is. Jack’s not happy. Fiona and her team of armed police raid a London shop looking for toxic substances. Nikki heads into the hold to inspect the body and says to lock her in so she doesn’t put anyone at risk when she inspects the body.

The truth about Beth and Tony is revealed

At the Lyell, Kit has dug into Tony's financial past and found he was taken to a small claims court by a medical supplies company in Essex. "There’s something else going on here," says Jack. In the hold, Nikki inspects Tony's body. Nikki finds a perfume atomizer in Tony's pocket. The bottle has a few drops of liquid remaining. She sees a mark nearby on his body suggesting whatever was in the bottle leaked onto his skin. She believes the bottle contains the toxin.

The passengers, including the now not very chilled-out climbers, are demanding the steward tell them what's going on before Nikki's allowed back up from the hold. Finally, they allow her out. Nikki reassures the passengers.

Jack and Kit go to Tony’s house and speak to his neighbor, who isn't much help. They pass a local charity shop and there's a photo on the window of Tony with a big charity cheque. They go inside to speak to a woman working in the shop. She asks if they can they can give Tony his coat, which he left in the shop. Jack takes the coat and outside the shop checks the pockets and there’s an address.

Beth tells Nikki some people do deserve to die. She's not making a lot of sense. She says Grant knows what's inside the bottle. Jack and Kit manage to break into Tony’s house. In his office, Tony has files saying: "Victory" as Jack notes, the last thing he said before his death. There's also something saying "Berkshire Biofuels" and we know Grant works in biofuels! Kit and Jack go to Victory Wharf, where the biofuel factory is, which is very close to Tony’s house.

We go back in time and see Beth spraying a substance, we assume the toxin on her hand, and then we see her touch Grant’s hand. In the present, Nikki asks her why she would poison Grant. "I can stop this," says Beth. “I have an antitoxin." But she wants Grant to confess to something, not clear what. Jack phones Nikki. He says Tony blames his daughter's death on Berkshire Biofuels, which Grant is involved in. Grant is the target. "I know why this is happening, it's because of the nyraxin," says Grant. "They blame me." "What's nyraxin?" asks Nikki. Beth demands Grant admit he's to blame for the deadly substance.

Beth says it killed her child as well as Tony's. Beth and Tony both lived near Grant's factory and believed the substance got out of the factory and killed their children. "No proof," says Grant. Beth says it's nyraxin in the bottle and describes how it kills you. "Proof," Beth shouts back. Nikki asks why do it on a plane with all these passengers placed in danger, Beth says it was their only chance to get close to Grant. Beth said they found a chemist in Mumbai to produce the poison. Nikki fumes that they killed a cleaner. Grant cracks and says he did whatever she says he did. Beth then drops the bombshell she doesn't actually have an antitoxin. "I'm sorry, but we're both going to die," she tells Grant.

Harriet investigates what nyraxin is and how it might be cured. Harriet says eye drops or travel sickness pills have a substance that will work! Nikki gets a load from the passengers on board. Nikki gives a mixture to Grant, but Beth refuses it and she collapses while remembering her son. Nikki tries to save her but she dies.

In London, the plane has landed and we see a lot of people in biohazard suits. Grant is oddly in a police car it appears. Surely he'd be taken to hospital? Nikki and Jack are finally reunited. It’s clear Grant’s factory is being investigated.

Sometime later, Nikki and Jack — who seem to love a romantic walk around a graveyard! — visit Beth's grave as Nikki explains Tony used the last of his money for a plot so the victims could be together. Nikki and Jack kiss.

Silent Witness season 28 episode 7 sees Nikki (Emilia Fox) facing possible disaster on a plane.

We're in Mumbai, India. A couple are taken to their room in a grand hotel and it's amazing. The hotel staff member notices that the room hasn't been cleaned and then he sees a body. He tries to get the couple out of the room before they notice, but then they see the body.

Nikki is at an airport in India and Jack is on the phone asking her how the conference went. They flirt and arrange to meet up for breakfast. Nikki hears her plane has been delayed. Nikki chats to a fellow passenger, who introduces himself as Tony (Steve Oram). He says he's traveling alone and that his wife died 18 months ago because of cancer. Tony is also traveling in business class, like Nikki. Many hours later Nikki finally boards her plane.

On the plane, a passenger tells Nikki not to crush his hat. He's a bit of an a***. He introduces himself as Grant (Paul Hilton). He's rather a bore. He works in biofuels. They take off at last. Back at the Lyell, Jack looks at a map of where Nikki's plane is. Jack tells Harriet and Kit they need to stay in contact as they’re planning their wedding and Nikki apparently has lots of "opinions". Harriet says she once did a post-mortem on a parrot in India. "Of course you did," quips Jack.

Silent Witness turns into the spoof disaster movie Airplane!

Nikki is woken on the plane by the stewardess. She says they need a doctor. Grant asks if she is sure she wants to help. She'll be liable if she’s not insured he says. The passenger in trouble is Tony. The stewardess says he drank a lot of champagne. Nikki isn't sure it's the alcohol, though. The stewardess, on Nikki's request, bags up his meal. "They’re turning business class into A & E," complains Grant. Tony is in a lot of pain. The cabin crew hastily collects the dinner plates — I can't help thinking of the classic comedy Airplane! at this point, let’s hope no one had the fish! And don’t call me Shirley.

Anyway, back to the plot and Grant doesn’t react well to having his dinner taken away from him. Nikki thinks it's food-related. Back in Mumbai, a pathologist examines the body in the hotel and says it could be a "hemorrhagic virus". "What happened to you Vikram Mehtab Sharma?" he wonders.

'This isn’t food poisoning'

On the plane, Tony is in a bad way. He mentions his hotel. He's given some oxygen. Nikki says they need to ground the plane so he can get treatment. Nikki is worried about something airborne. The steward says that something airborne normally presents itself in a similar way to altitude sickness. The steward won't allow Nikki access to the pilot.

Tony suddenly steps out of his seat, vomits blood, and collapses. They get him into the recovery position. "This isn’t food poisoning," says Nikki. "Maybe a virus." Nikki tells the steward she needs to speak to Jack.

Jack hears the alarming news Nikki is involved in a medical emergency. Nikki finds a couple of climbers on the plane with a satellite phone. She speaks to Jack. She says the patient's name is Anthony Jenkins and she asks Jack to look at his medical records. She also asks Jack to locate his hotel in Mumbai.

Jack ropes in Harriet. One of the passengers, Beth, who's a nurse makes herself known to Nikki. At the Lyell, Kit arrives. Jack’s worried it's a nasty virus. Jack says 400 passengers could be going down with a deadly virus. Jack finds Tony’s hotel and learns a cleaner was found dead and his shirt was soaked with blood.

Tony doesn't look good. The steward says the pilot isn't keen on diverting to Iran. He says Baku in Azerbaijan looks the best bet but is 45 minutes to an hour away.
Tony starts having a seizure with blood coming from his mouth. Beth starts pumping his chest. They shock him and somehow he breathes again.

Will everyone on the plane go down with a deadly virus?

Back at the Lyell, Kit runs through the timeline. The cleaner in Mumbai is found dead noon London time, but the flight doesn’t take off for another seven and a half hours. Tony falls sick two hours into the flight. Jack says you'd expect a longer time gap if it was a virus. Annoying Grant asks Nikki if she thinks what Tony has is contagious. She says she doesn't know. He continues to be annoying.

The team track down the Indian pathologist who dealt with the cleaner. Harriet calls Nikki. Harriet says she thinks they’re dealing with some kind of pathogen. Harriet suggests doing a living autopsy! Harriet explains when Litvinenko was poisoned by the Russians it became clear they couldn't save him, so it was agreed they'd carry out a living autopsy with his consent so they could understand what he was dying from.
Nikki starts recording Tony and his symptoms. The pilot announces they are diverting and Grant shouts it’s "bloody ridiculous".

Back at the Lyell, they talk about how this is turning into an international incident.
On the plane, Nikki talks to Tony to try and stop him from going unconscious. She tells him to focus on his photo of his daughter. But it turns out not only has his wife died so has his daughter. Both died from cancer. He says he has something to live for, a cause. He starts saying something that sounds like victory. "I failed," says Tony and he collapses, seeing images of his wife and daughters as he does so. They try to shock him again and do CPR. But this time he's dead. Nikki struggles to stop trying to save him but she confirms death.

As they draw into land, they put Tony back in his seat and give him an eyemask — apparently this is protocol with a dead passenger! Nikki comments Tony was excited about the flight, why? Beth (Jo Hartley) says they must find out what killed Tony. The captain emerges from the cockpit and thanks Nikki for her efforts. She breaks the news that she's been told they need to take the body off the plane themselves with Nikki’s help. Looks like Nikki picked the wrong week to give up… ok, must stop with the Airplane! references.

A worried Jack thinks he should head out there. The body is taken off the plane. The passengers onboard look on worried, not surprisingly. Grant is being awkward as usual. Nikki says they need to do a post-mortem to find out what killed Tony. The Azerbaijan authorities are being very cautious and Nikki doesn't blame them. She asks the captain if they know about the other death in Mumbai and the captain replies what other death?!

The Azerbaijan authorities say, to Nikki’s frustration, the body has to go back on the plane and they must return to the UK with it as there's been no crime. The captain tells Nikki they have to go.

Grant makes a bid to leave the plane, Beth tries to stop him and he throws her off and she appears to scratch him. Nikki sees what's happened and Beth says she’s ok and Nikki shouldn't touch her. The captain tells Grant to sit down or they will have to restrain him.

Nikki speaks to Jack on the phone. Nikki says she doesn't understand what killed him. Grant's kicking off although actually he makes a fair point about how safe travelling with a body with an unknown cause of death is. The steward restrains him! Finally, they take off.

Oh no, Beth coughs up blood! She heads to the toilet, looks in the mirror, and says: "Not yet". She returns to her seat. What is Beth up to?

Silent Witness season 28 episode 6 sees Nikki and Jack investigate the death of a lawyer. The theme running through this two-parter is the decay of the justice system. Ex-EastEnders star Tamzin Outhwaite is among the guest stars.

The episode begins with Nikki, Jack and DS Blake (Gloria Obianyo) arriving at the chambers. There's a lot of press. And yes there's a head in a box! David, the suspicious head of chambers, gives a statement to the media paying tribute to Faith. DS Blake breaks the news to Faith's wife Lucy that she's dead.

Back at the Lyell, Harriet checks Nikki is ok and tells her she had to deal with a severed head once. "Whoever sent that box wants to shock, to derail, but it's not going to work," says an ice-cool Nikki.

Jack and Kit look at the towel the head was wrapped in and the box it was sent in. DS Blake tells DI Fisher (Lisa Palfrey) they haven’t found any evidence of Stefan, who they arrested in the first episode, being with Faith at his bedsit or allotment.
Inspecting the head, Nikki says it may have been frozen and it was expertly severed, like the hand and the ear. There’s some vomit in Faith’s hair, could it belong to the killer?

Nikki suggests Faith was strangled and decapitated after death. DI Fisher and DS Blake question Stefan, who admits to seeing Faith by the river near her office on the day she vanished. He says he asked her about his trial but she said she couldn’t help and ran off. He ran after her, he says, and she pushed him away and scratched his arm. He says he'd never hurt her.

We see a distressed Sally (Tamzin Outhwaite) at her home recalling Faith's head in the box and arguing with her when she was alive. Her mobile rings but she doesn’t answer. She then hears a noise and is scared. It turns out to be her cat. Jack tells the cops that none of Stefan's knives were used in the murder. They have camera footage of the box being sent. Nikki observes the suspect has hair, whereas Stefan is bald. DI Fisher tells DS Blake to "bail him".

Nikki is talking about her case where the accused's lawyer claims the victim's MS was a factor in her death. Nikki doesn’t believe it was a factor. Nikki is in court and repeats that she doesn’t believe the victim fell. The defendant starts abusing her, which presumably won’t go down well with the jury. Afterward, the victim’s son thanks Nikki for her strong testimony.

They get closer to the killer

Kit has managed to get a camera shot of the man who sent the box — it's the older mystery man from the first episode. Kit gets a match for the image, it's Perry Lorne, who's out of jail after being inside for GBH. Kit also finds Lucy's distressed message amongst Faith's voicemails.

Perry goes to see his daughter but he is arrested. Perry said he was paid to post the box, he didn’t know it had a head inside. He reveals he also delivered a parcel to a house. DI Fisher says they have to release Perry, DS Blake suggests following him, but Fisher says forget it, too expensive.

At the chambers, Sally and David show they have a romantic history.
Kit, who seems to be doing everything (not sure what the police are doing in all this), has found out that Faith’s car was being driven by someone else by the time it emerged out of the woods.

Perry demands more cash we presume from the killer. Not sure this is a wise move.
Kit tells Jack and Nikki that Faith’s car is on the move near Epping Forest. The police find the car on fire. Nikki tells the police there’s a body in the boot.
Nikki inspects the body at the Lyell and drops the bombshell that it’s a male body. "So who the hell is this?" asks DI Fisher.

Perry is the dead man. They break the news to his daughter, Amber. DS Blake shows a picture of a man driving Faith's car and Amber says he's Liam, who used to work at the salon. The team study data from where the car traveled and they can see a house where the car was parked. Jack says Liam was recently acquitted of murdering his girlfriend and Faith was the prosecutor.

Armed police go to Liam's home but he's not there. Nikki and Jack go to the house. And it’s a very creepy house! Nikki finds blood and then what looks like the knife used to cut up the bodies. In the freezer, they find Perry’s head. Back at the Lyell, they talk to Lucy and give her Faith’s wedding ring, which they found at Liam’s house. Lucy doesn’t recognize a photo of Liam. Lucy recalls that Faith was crushed by losing the case against Liam. She says it was an issue with a witness and we flash back to the trial we saw in the first episode. Lucy goes on to say they had big debts and she went to a loan shark called Travis, from Amber’s salon, recommended to her by Sally. Faith was furious when she found out and said Travis was part of a big crime family.

We learn the truth about Sally

Jack says he's found a memory stick in Faith's bag of court cases going back years. They have a DNA match for the bone found in the canal and it's that of a witness for a big drug trial. A man was convicted of his murder and yet the same blade used on the bone was also used on Faith. DS Blake and Nikki go to speak to the man convicted of murdering the witness. They show murderer Matty the photos of the body parts. Nikki suggests that Matty is a cutter, employed by gangs to dispose of bodies. Nikki then asks Matty if he taught Liam how to dissect a body. Matty gets up to leave and Nikki shows him the photo of Faith's head with no message. "Wasn’t the head message enough," says Matty. Blake asks Nikki what Matty meant and Nikki suggests Sally knew why she received the head. We see Liam walking by the canal.

Jack discovers Faith had drawn up a list of cases where the witness withdrew or went missing. They all had links to organized crime and were all represented by David from Faith's chambers!

At the chambers, the police start searching the files for evidence of witness intimidation. We then go back in time and see Faith telling Sally this has got to stop while brandishing the memory stick. David says Sally also has access to the files of vulnerable witnesses. Jack says they suspect someone is passing information on witnesses to a criminal gang.

Liam is at Sally’s house! The police arrive and Liam is dead on the floor. Sally has fled for the airport. Sally has a text from David asking what has she done. Nikki and DS Blake arrive at a car park and see Sally's car. Sally is poised to jump off the roof of the car park. Sally says she never meant for Faith to get hurt. Blake pleads with her to come away from the edge. Sally says Liam was only meant to warn Faith off. But Faith said she was going to tell the police everything. DS Blake gets closer and tries to talk her away from the edge. But Sally jumps to her death. Blake's boss tells her to go home and she's going to put her forward for promotion.

Nikki and Jack say goodbye to Blake.

Nikki and Harriet put Faith’s remains in a body bag. The episode ends with Nikki giving a lecture in honor of Faith's life.

Silent Witness season 28 episode 5 sees Nikki and Jack on the case when a female hand is found in a canal. And Nikki discovers she knows the victim...

The episode opens in 2022 with a barristers' protest outside The Royal Courts of Justice in London. A woman barrister declares to the media the strike is about defending the rule of law and fixing the broken justice system.

We are now in 2024 and we see the same female barrister, Faith (Kerrie Hayes), in court. She has a missing witness. Faith asks for an adjournment to find the witness, the best friend of the deceased, but despite her pleading the judge refuses. Outside the courtroom, she bumps into Nikki, who she knows. Faith returns to her chambers and she tells Sally (Tamzin Outhwaite) about a witness again going missing and the case falling apart. Sally says she has faith in her.

Now in the present day, we see Faith getting a missed call. She's driving, a motorbike seems to be following her. The motorbike driver overtakes and starts driving erratically. The motorbike stops in front of her car. Faith gets out of the car to confront the mystery person and then she looks scared as if she recognizes the person and the theme tune starts.

Three days later we see a hand floating in a canal! Nikki is in court, which is leaking water. She's a witness in a case. A male lawyer is trying to argue the victim fell and the injuries were accidental, however, Nikki says the bruising indicates intentional harm. In the dock is the victim's husband. Nikki is caught off guard when the male lawyer starts talking about an academic paper that she hasn't read which concludes injuries of this type are normally accidental.

Meanwhile, Jack is at the canal. He meets DS Blake (Gloria Obianyo) and shows her the hand. Nikki also heads down there and they photograph the hand together, how romantic! We see a mysterious man near the canal.

At the chambers, Sally asks if anyone has seen Faith. A little boy called Josh is watching a video on a phone of himself playing with Faith. Sally phones and asks Lucy, who's with Josh, if Faith is there and Lucy says "No", she left a while ago (turns out the couple has split). Outside Lucy's house, there's a mysterious man.

Nikki notes that the hand was severed by an expert. And says the victim could even still be alive. Sally comes around to Lucy's house and they don't seem to like each other. Lucy says there's no point in Sally leaving court papers with her as Faith has moved out.

Jack has found a possible human bone in the canal.

A package to Faith's family is dropped through the letterbox. At the Lyell, the team investigates the hand. Nikki spots a penmark on the hand in the shape of a heart. DS Blake turns away in disgust when Harriet plucks off the victim's fingernail! They take a fingerprint but there's no match.

Jack and Nikki are at Lucy's home. The package contained a severed ear, cut off in the same way as the hand. When Lucy (Anneika Rose) says her wife's name is Faith, Nikki says she knows Faith. Nikki says she's "formidable in court". Lucy mentions that Faith failed to turn up at work. Nikki notices the heart on Lucy's hand, it looks the same as the one on the severed hand! Lucy looks shocked as she sees what this could mean. We see a man, put a knife to the throat of a woman who was about to take drugs. We seem to have two mystery men, one old and one young.

Back at the Lyell, the team and the cops discuss that Faith's vehicle was last seen on Friday near Epping Forest. DS Blake's boss, DI Fisher (Lisa Palfrey), is quite dismissive of her when she says they should search Epping Forest, but responds well when Jack suggests sending a drone up.

We see someone covering up Faith's car.

Our younger mystery man is seen in a block of flats. He tells someone to turn their music down. He has a bag containing something gruesome, not clear what. He seems too obvious to be involved!

Back at the Lyell, Nikki and Jack take an earprint. He compares it to the one on a toy phone Faith used. Looks like it's Faith's ear. Our young mystery man is watching video footage of Faith from the protest.

Nikki says the same blade was used on the hand and ear. The knife has a distinct feature that will be useful if it's found.

We see our older mystery man. He's outside a nail sailon and wants to speak to his daughter Amber. He gives her some money for the baby. They're awkward together. He's been in prison and she's worried where the money's come from.

Back at the Lyell, they're looking at the bone from the canal which has also been cut cleanly. Could it be the same blade used again? Nikki says she has evidence Faith was using something for extreme anxiety.

DS Blake and Nikki go to see Sally, who introduces them to David, who's the head of chambers. They say that Faith was working very hard, great in defense cases, but had recently started doing prosecutions to pay the bills. Lucy apparently wanted details about Faith's earnings for life insurance purposes. Possible motive?

In a twist, Lucy hides outside the nail bar Amber works at. She wants to speak to the man locking up the shop. It's not clear why she's talking to him.

Nikki and Jack share a pizza in the office. Nikki has some reading material — the report she hadn't read from the trial at the beginning of the episode — she says the trial has been rescheduled. Nikki has doubts about the study.

In the woods, the police are searching. In the Lyell, Kit reveals she's had a bad date. They now know for sure the victim is Faith.

We see our younger mystery man washing blood off his hands.

They break the news to Lucy about Faith. Nikki says she could still be alive. They show Lucy a photo — it's our younger man. His name is Stefan and he's been harassing Faith. Lucy shrugs off the life insurance and says it didn’t get done. She doesn’t want to do a press appeal. Nikki then says she's found some DNA on Faith's hand that belongs to someone else. She wants to swab Josh to check it’s not him. Blake and her boss clash.

We hear chopping noises from Sefan's shed.

Harriet confirms the attacker dumped the bone and then a year or so later dumped Faith's hand. Nikki reveals the DNA under Faith's fingernails matches Stefan's. Stefan watches a news report saying the police want to speak to him followed by an emotional Lucy making a police appeal. Also watching the appeal are Sally and David, who makes a particularly insensitive remark. Is David (Cal Macaninch) involved somehow?

DS Blake arrests Stefan on suspicion of kidnap. Jack searches Stefan's flat. He finds knives with blood on them. Kit helps. They bag up a load of evidence. Jack though notes no blood in the bathroom. Nikki swabs Stefan. She also notes scratch marks on him. The neighbor tells Kit he's smelt strange smells from Stefan's flat — what's he been cooking?!

Stefan used to work as a veterinary nurse before being sacked for assault. His search history reveals he's visited cannabilism sites!

The police question Stefan.

Jack and Kit work out that Stefan was hiring a shed at an allotment. The police arrive at the allotment. Outside is blood and inside there's a dead fox.

Lucy has happy memories of Faith but they’re interupted by memories of them arguing. Lucy starts saying she's sorry and sobs.

Sally gets a package at the chambers and it's Faith's head! It's like the end of the Brad Pitt movie Seven!

Silent Witness season 28 episode 4 is the concluding part of a two-part story that sees a killer our for revenge.

The episode opens with Harriet playing the piano and a lot of hammers. Jack is whacking the hammers down, with Nikki noting the impressions they make. They think they’ve made a match.

Jane interviews journalist Harry at the police station. Harry admits going to see Philip at work but says he's not going to say what he's writing about. Jane then shows Harry a photo of Claire and asks who she is. Harry says he'd like to call his lawyer.

Jack and Nikki arrive at Bruce's house, the man we saw being attacked in the final moments of the last episode. Bruce had a great house! Jane fills in Jack and Nikki that Bruce was the head of Thamesmead council, where Philip worked. Jane says the beating was even more savage this time. Jack notes the shoe prints look similar to the previous attack. Jack further explores the house and finds a bloody mark on a door. Kit finds a photo, it's of Philip, Bruce, Eva and Oliver. Kit suggests they should warn Eva and Oliver with the two other people in the photo now murdered. Jack looks through Bruce’s files and discovers a Thamesmead file from September 2013 is missing.

At Westminister, Jane warns Oliver he might be in danger. Oliver says Bruce gave him his break by making him the Housing Officer at Thamesmead Council. Oliver says he's not seen him for two years. Eva looks awkward.

In the present day, Claire tells her sister Harry has got cold feet about the article and Jane says to Eva she thinks one of the poor souls in Herron Point worked out what happened.

Claire goes to Harry's flat. She finds him on the floor dead. Nikki and Jack attend the scene. Jack finds a hammer behind the sofa. At the Lyell, Jack finds prints on the hammer. Kit finds a match for Colin!

Jane interviews Claire. Claire says she doesn’t know who the killer is. Jane says her fingerprints were found at the flat crime scene 10 years ago. She says she was living there, but wasn't in that flat. Nikki tells Jane they've got DNA from the green fibre found in Bruce’s teeth. DNA is a close match to Claire’s but it’s not hers, Nikki says it must be her mother or her sister. Yep, Claire’s sister Tina is the killer and we see her buying herself a new hammer. In the shop, she sees an interview with Oliver. Nick calls at Colin’s house. Colin says the hammer was stolen from his shed by McNeice. He says he was assaulted by his own hammer.

Claire explains her sister had read the drafts of the article she was doing with Harry and that's how she knew who to attack. She asks Claire to tell her what happened that night at Herron Point. We go back and see the sisters scared. Tina leaves the room apparently to sort the problem out.

In the present, Claire reveals Tina returned covered in blood and they left in the morning and never came back. She adds Tina took some cash from a dealer.
At Colin’s house, Nick spots a thank you card from Tina and Claire! Colin was their foster dad.

Jane asks Claire if she knows Colin. Back at Colin's, Meg reveals they fostered Tina and Claire at the same time as Colin was attacked. Meg heads outside in the garden for a cigarette and Tina suddenly arrives. "Why didn't you stop him?" Tina demands. "You knew what he did to Claire," she continues. "And Claire wasn’t the first was she?" And Tina strikes Meg. In the house, Colin pulls a gun out and points it at Nick. Colin moves to another room, looks outdoors, and from behind Tina attacks. We hear a gunshot and in the next scene we see Tina lying dead. Meg then staggers in and asks for an ambulance. She says she can't keep his secrets anymore. She goes to make a call and Colin shoots Nick in the shoulder. Nick heroically manages to kick Colin and he loses his gun. Colin gets the upper hand but then Meg strikes him on the head.

Poor Claire is obviously in bits over her sister. Back at the Lyell Maggie is on the piano. Poor Nick is there — surely they could give him some time off after being shot?! Jane ties up a loose end and says Katrina moved to Australia.

Silent Witness season 28 episode 3, the first in a two-part story, sees Nikki (Emilia Fox) and Jack (David Caves) investigate a horrific hammer murder that links to a cold case.

We meet Claire, who's on a train possibly facing bad news. She pulls into a London train station and is coughing, she uses her inhaler. She has a bad memory and looks very distressed. Meanwhile, a car pulls up at a housing estate. An estate agent lets himself into a property. He hears a noise and calls upstairs, but there's no reply. He hears another noise and heads into the garden. He takes a phone call from his daughter and has a smoke. He notices someone at the top window. He goes back inside and climbs the stairs. He's then hit over the head by a claw hammer. The attacker then goes to strike him again… and the theme tune begins.

A familiar face

The police arrive at the house along with Nikki and Jack. They're greeted by DCI Jane De Freitas (Zoe Telford), who was last seen in 2015 in the Sniper's Nest episodes. Her cop partner, Nick, points out Jane is now a Chief Superintendent. The victim's daughter found the estate agent dead in the bathroom. "I had a feeling you two would end up together," Jane says to Nikki and Jack.

Jack and Nikki head into the house with torches. The poor victim is a bloody mess. We're back with Claire who knocks at a house. She's greeted by Harry, a journalist. Back at the crime scene, Jack notes the back door lock might have been picked. They also find the cigarette in the garden, but we know that was smoked by the victim. Nikki checks the victim's ID and he turns out to be a Professor in architecture.

Claire and Harry share a cup of tea. Claire says she's tired and worried about tomorrow. Harry goes to get a pizza delivery. While he's at the door, she looks at his table and there's an article with the headline: "Professor Wins Award". She also looks at a building. Could this be linked to our victim?

Nikki and Jack question the victim's daughter, Alice, who confirms her dad smoked. Jane steps in and tells Alice she's spoken to her dad's boss and he didn’t have an appointment at the house, so does she know who he might have been meeting? She doesn't. We see a mysterious man who's a prison officer. He looks worried. He eats a meal with his wife. She notes he's been on edge ever since someone called McNeice was granted a hearing, who she notes attempted to murder a prison officer. He claims he's worried the man will get parole. Harry shows Claire to her room. The prison officer, meanwhile, gets a gun he's hidden.

We’re in a government building. A woman, we later discover is called Eva, knocks and says: "I need to speak to you, Oliver". She tells him Philip Chalmers, our victim, has been murdered. Oliver doesn’t know who he is. She shows him a news report with Philip's picture and Oliver says what can this have to do with us. Eva adds he was bludgeoned to death, "just like those dealers". Eva says she's getting repeated calls from someone called Bruce Morgan-Jones. "Find out what he wants and get rid of him," says Oliver, now looking rattled.

At the Lyell, Jack says they have shoe prints they think belong to the killer. Kit says she's traced the victim's calls except for one just before he left the office for the new build. The police also had a report of a man visiting Chalmers at his office and him trying to get rid of the man. The mysterious man, who Chalmers clearly knew, was in his mid-30s, casually dressed, and possibly of Asian heritage. Nikki and Maggie begin the autopsy. They note the brutality of the attack. Nikki suggests the attacker was shorter judging by the wounds. She also notes no defensive wounds. Claire looks nervous. Turns out it's a medical appointment and she's told she has incurable cancer. We see flashbacks again, possibly asbestos in the air. Everything in the story so far points to building failures.

Nikki and Nick visit Alice. Nick asks her what happened to her father who had a great career as an environmental scientist overseeing planning and development across the UK and then it falls apart. Alice says it was the drinking. Nikki says they found evidence he’d drunk poison. But Alice doesn’t think he would have attempted to take his own life. Alice is very upset.

Claire breaks the news about her cancer to her sister, Tina. Her sister asks if she's told them about Heron Point and she says she hasn't. Eva goes to see Bruce near Parliament. He refers to the junior minister, who we assume is Oliver. Bruce, who says he gave Eva and Oliver their break, then starts talking about our victim. He then mentions the name Harry — is that the Harry who put up Claire for the night? He says Harry has been stirring it up and now someone is on the warpath. Bruce says they need to keep a united front and then hints that his silence on the matter might cost.

Back to our prison officer, Colin. His wife makes a phone call and discovers McNeice has had his parole hearing canceled. So Colin isn't worrying about that then. What is he worried about? Jack, Nikki, and co are at the victim's flat. Alice arrives and says she recalls one night coming to the flat to find her dad drinking whiskey with a man, they were arguing. She said he then vanished for a couple of weeks. She says she now thinks he was in the hospital recovering possibly from a suicide attempt triggered by meeting this man. The man had a photo of her dad in Lagos where he oversaw a huge housing project.

Back at the Lyell, Kit reveals a link to a man called Dennis Weaver, who's got a criminal record. Nick says that 10 years ago the victim was working at a London council and 10 years ago Dennis got his conviction for attacking a guard in the lobby of the council. They go to Dennis's hostel but discover he died from asbestos. They go to his grave and someone visited it the day of the victim’s murder. They check the CCTV and it looks like it's Claire who visited the grave.

Eva goes to see Oliver. She lists Bruce’s demands and says journalist Harry visited them both two weeks ago. She says he’s doing a deep dive into their days at Thamesmead, the London Council, everything is now linking up.

Colin goes home and suggests they foster again. Meg confronts him about not saying McNeice couldn’t get out. Colin asks her why she can’t look at him and demands she look at him. We see an image of a bloodied Colin, we presume from when he was attacked.

Back at the Lyell, it’s revealed that the young woman's inhaler they found at the cemetery has scored a DNA match to a cold case. Unidentified female DNA was recovered from the scene of five murders 10 years ago at a flat in Thamesmead. All the victims were bludgeoned to death by a hammer! It appears to be the same killer. Claire heads to the tower block and she has a flood of memories.

Jane says Dennis lived at the tower block and was briefly a suspect. We flash back and see Dennis, who was angry about loud music coming from a flat, with a baseball bat in the tower block. Dennis enters the flat and discovers a bloody mess of bodies. Eva tells Oliver she will solve the Bruce problem for a price.

Kit has managed to track down Harry the journalist. At Harry’s flat, Claire says how she ended up living in Heron Point, the tower block where the bodies were found. She says she was living in a shelter but that, along with all the other shelters in the area closed, and she was moved into Heron Point. She said it was hell on earth. Claire says she doesn’t understand why the council put her and her sister in there. Harry takes a call and says to Claire it was to tell him that our victim, who signed off on Heron Point, has been murdered with a hammer. And Claire notes like the gang in Heron Point. Jane and Nick then knock at the door and ask to talk to Harry, they spot Claire and she makes a run for it. She escapes.

Bruce returns home and finds his taps on. He hears a noise and slips. And then he’s whacked over the head by a hammer...

Silent Witness season 28 episode 2 sees crime analyst Kit Brooks (Francesca Mills) join the team, while poor Mr Dawson remains in grave danger.

The second episode of the two-part story opens where we left the opener with a dodgy man at Mr Dawson’s house. Meanwhile, at the lab, Nikki and Jack discuss if the victims were married. Nikki reveals that when she started her career she couldn’t sleep because she was haunted by the victims. Nikki speculates the pair have been dead for three weeks. Jack notes no one reported them missing. As she cuddles into Jack, Nikki speculates whether the pair wandered into the wilderness to die. Or she adds perhaps they just got lost.

Mr Dawson returns to his spot outside Gloria's house. The woman inside is very distressed by him being there.

DI Flynn arrives at the office. They discuss Edith. Nikki says that as the death hasn't been registered her pension would still be being paid, is that a motive? Jack says someone walked her to the cave and left her there. A cop asks Mr Dawson when the last time was he saw Gloria and he says three weeks ago. The cop says Gary and Lauren live there now and he needs to go home.

At the lab, the team including Flynn discusses the pair found in the woods. Nikki says they still can't identify the body. One body was partially eaten by animals, the other wasn’t. Nikki says the man had Lyme disease, which has been linked to dementia. Nikki and Harriet debate whether the two are linked for certain.
Flynn says perhaps he got lost, fell asleep, and then died from the cold. Nikki thinks she’d agree but the other body confuses matters.

Jack is being awkward with Maggie

So far Maggie has been nice, while Jack’s been rather off with her and this continues as they discuss the applicants for the job. Jack says he wants to interview the one candidate she’s not keen on. Jack conducts a video interview with the candidate, Kit Brooks (Francesca Mills). She impresses him with her knowledge of the DNA database. Talking about the actual case, which surely is irregular, Jack says the victim has Lyme disease and she says that’s great because it’s rare and will narrow down the potential victim list. Jack then asks her why one body has been eaten by an animal and the other hasn't. She suggests perhaps one of the bodies had something unappetizing on it. Kit then says she wanted to go into forensics after seeing a lecture by Clarissa Mullery (Lizz Carr))! She says Clarissa was a bit of a hero. Jack offers her the job.

Kit makes a big impression

Mr Dawson is at home but he's not alone. He's making a cup of tea. The police knock and come in. Someone has moved his tea and he looks to the police like he’s forgetful. He says he wants to report Gloria missing. It's about time the police tried listening to him! The cop says she will look into it but will she?

Nikki looks at the female body, and while she does this we also see Mr Dawson plant a Gloria Rose. Nikki swabs the fingers. Nikki tells Flynn she thinks there was third-party involvement in the death of the two found in the woods. She thinks this because she has found evidence of bleach being used to destroy evidence. Kit Brooks arrives at the office and after some awkward introductions says she will get cracking on their case. Mr Dawson makes himself a tea again. But again he’s not alone. The door goes, but no one is there. Has someone drugged the tea? Nikki tells Kit she found some thin black plastic in the victim’s mouth. Mr Dawson starts feeling odd, looks like he was drugged. Suddenly a black plastic bin bag is placed over his head!

Back at the Lyell, Kit says she thinks it was a piece of black bin bag Nikki found in the lady’s mouth. Poor Mr Dawson is totally confused. The two men say he’s now conscious and compliant and they will take him for a drive later. One of them references Cherry Hill, the care home we saw in the opening episode, so we take it he works there.

Flynn and Jack head to the bank which manages Edith's account. The bank worker says Edith is named on the account and so is her grandson! The address listed leads them to the home of the helpful care home manager we saw in the opening episode. It turns out Edith had lived there previously. She says she found the property via a noticeboard at work. She explains she’s never met her landlord and pays by direct debit. The team start working through Kit’s list of Lyme disease sufferers above a certain age.

Is Mr Dawson being led to his death?

Poor Mr Dawson thinks he’s being taken into the woods by Gloria, but he is in fact with the dodgy men. He goes for a kiss and one of the men thumps him to the floor. His accomplice is annoyed as Mr Dawson is now unconscious. The dodgy salesman guy puts a bin bag over his head and rolls him into some water. Kit says the only person they haven't been able to eliminate is Charles Mead, who lives with Gloria Mead. Flynn takes their address and heads there.

Nikki, Jack and Flynn call in and the young couple explain that Charles doesn't live there now, they do. Nikki congratulates pregnant Lauren. They mention a "crazy old man" who's been stalking them and saying he's waiting for Gloria to come home.

Jack asks Nikki if she'd like kids, after noticing the way she looked at the pregnant lady. Nikki questions if now is the right time to talk about it.

Flynn, Jack, Nikki and the cop go to Mr Dawson’s, and the dodgy salesman answers the door. He coolly claims Mr Dawson has moved. Flynn notes Mr Dawson seems to have left a lot of his stuff behind. Flynn asks the man's name — it's Matthew.

Back at the lab, Kit’s upset she’s been unable to follow the money. At Mr Dawson's, Matthew sips a large drink but then a bin bag is placed over his head. He’s then struck around the head and it's Mr Dawson! He tells him it’s his house and then plunges a fire poker into Matthew’s chest killing him!

Maggie spots a link between the victims — the care home. The cop visits Mr Dawson’s house again and sees Matthew’s body. She calls it in. We later see Nikki, Jack and Flynn standing over the body. They take prints from the fire poker. Jack isn't convinced they’re alone in the house and heads upstairs. Mr Dawson, who really now is a man on a mission, goes to Gloria’s house and whacks Gary.

Mr Dawson is finally safe

Back at Mr Dawson’s house, they find a photo of him with Gloria. Poor Lauren goes into labour. The police arrive in the nick of time. Nikki helps Lauren and they call an ambulance. Despite everything Gary, refuses to tell Flynn who he rented the house from. Gary eventually cracks and says they got it through someone Lauren knew from work. And of course, she worked at the care home. He tells them the name and Flynn and co head to the care home. At the care home, “Oscar" makes a run for it but the cops grab him and Flynn states his real name, Thomas, as he arrests him. Thomas smirks and tells Flynn to prove it. "We will," says Nikki.

Silent Witness season 28 episode 1 sees Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) and Jack Hodgson (David Caves) investigate when an elderly woman is found dead in a cave.

The episode opens with an elderly woman in the woods saying her mother said not to pick foxgloves because bad things will happen. The woman, who appears confused, then says to Harold it's lovely to step out with him and her mother thinks he's a respectable young man. We see her reach her hand out to a young man who smiles and leads her along. We then see a house and an empty armchair with a book half-read. There's also a half-eaten meal on the table and then we reach the window and a man standing outside calls out to see if there's anyone in the house. And the classic Silent Witness theme tune begins…

Meet Professor Harriet Maven

We then see a young man and woman enjoying a kiss. They're near a church in the middle of nowhere. She's called Rosie. Then we see a man receive a letter.

Back in the office Nikki and Jack are having a serious smooch when they’re interrupted by a delivery driver closely followed by their new boss, Professor Harriet Maven (Maggie Steed). Jack makes a joke and she immediately dubs him the "class clown".

Rosie, the young woman we saw earlier with her boyfriend, runs into some woods with him following. He's alarmed as she enters a cave system with a warning sign that says not to enter. Now very frightened he finds himself in a spooky dark tunnel and uses his phone to light the way. Rosie leaps out and laughs and she starts taking her clothes off. And they start kissing again.

In her office, Maggie's delivery turns out to be a piano which she intends to learn! Jack seems completely terrified by her!

DI John Flynn's back

Back in the tunnel, the young couple go to retrieve their clothes and instead find a corpse! Nikki and Jack arrive at the scene. They're joined by DI John Flynn (Sean Pertwee), who they worked with in the previous series. After filling in Jack and Nikki about his family life, Flynn reveals they haven’t been able to identify the victim. Jack spots there are foxgloves by the body, linking to the episode’s opening scene. Jack spies a footprint. Nikki observes the victim’s fingerprints have been burnt away.

We then see Nikki perform the post-mortem with Maggie and Jack looking on. She takes swabs from the fingers trying to work out how they burnt away and whether it occurred pre or post-death. Look away now if you squeamish as Nikki goes to open the skull!

Later Nikki speculates the fingers were burnt by sulphuric acid. Nikki says the victim was dead when her fingertips were burnt off. Nikki speculates the victim's hand was placed in a bowl of acid, when the hand was taken away the acid dripped onto her dress, thus explaining the dress damage. They go to tell Maggie the update and Jack gets annoyed she's playing the piano while they talk. Maggie says she thinks they’re very similar and both have their slightly eccentric ways of coping with the fact they deal with death every day.

Nikki says the brain scan revealed the victim had dementia. She appears to have been lost and confused wandering around the caves. But Jack says there may have been someone else in the tunnels from a shoe print he found. He suggests the others had been erased but the mystery person missed this one.

A young couple arrives at the house of what we think is the murder victim. It's for rent!

Jack searches the woods near the caves. He finds a muddy print like the one in the cave. But he can't match them as the print isn't complete enough. Nikki and Jack try to get to the bottom of what happened with the foxgloves. Maggie describes how touching foxgloves can be dangerous for the elderly as a substance within them can slow down their heart rate. Jack, Nikki and Maggie reexamine the body.

Dodgy salesman

A young man knocks for Mr Dawson (David Hargreaves), an elderly gentleman who we've already seen previously in the episode. The young man claims to have made an appointment, but Mr Dawson says he's mistaken. The young man is about to leave, but then Mr Dawson invites him and says to himself perhaps he forgot about the appointment.

Jack speculates that the murderer led the victim to the caves and left her there. Then the murderer returned later to tidy up but left the print. Mr Dawson phones Gloria and leaves a message and says he’s worried he hasn’t heard from her. Could Gloria be our victim? The young man gives him a quote of £59,000 to fix his house. It looks like the young man is a con man but might he also be a killer?! The salesman then tries to push an equity release plan onto him to pay for the home improvements. He attempts every trick in the book but Mr Dawson remains firm.

The young man goes to a car where we see his partner in crime. The partner chillingly says is anyone going to miss Mr Dawson?! We see Mr Dawson in an antique shop and he recognises a candlestick which was Gloria’s and we flashback to them sharing a candleit dinner. He then finds a photo frame he bought her! He’s distraught.

The team recreates a photo of the victim 20 years younger to see if they can find a match. It appears Gloria isn't the victim in the cave although could she be another victim? Jack finds a match for someone called Edith. Oddly her obituary was published three months ago.

Mr Dawson knocks on Gloria’s door but finds the young couple who now live there.

DI Flynn and Jack visit Edith’s care home. The care home worker says Edith went out with her grandson and her grandson called later to say she died suddenly. He claimed she'd collapsed in a car park. We’re highly suspecting this "grandson" isn’t who he says he is! Edith's friend says she didn't think there was a grandson. As they walk down a staircase in the care home, it appears to be one of the suspicious men with another of the care home residents!

Mr Dawson is outside Gloria's house and the man living there now rather aggressively tells him to leave. Worried about his pregnant partner, the man calls the police.

We see some young walkers in the woods and they find a foot! Back at the office, Maggie is interviewing candidates for a new crime analyst job on the team and well her interview style is upsetting some of them! Jack's put out, but then Maggie says she has email evidence he’s been asking for one for years.

'Just remember you're engaged, Nikki'

Nikki and Jack arrive in the woods. "Just remember you're engaged Nikki," comments Jack as Nikki flirts with a cop.

The man in the young couple is in the pub and meets with one of the suspicious men. The suspicious man's ears prick when the other man says he had to call the police about Mr Dawson.

Nikki and Jack along with Flynn examine the foot in the woods. Flynn speculates that it was a rambler who suddenly died but Jack finds a non walking shoe showing that it wasn't a walker.

Jack then finds two bodies — not sure how the police managed to miss them! It's an elderly man and a woman. We presume one of them is Gloria.

Mr Dawson gets a knock at his door. He opens it but there’s no one there. He returns to his chair. Outside is one of the dodgy men…

Lots of new faces have come through the doors of the Lyell Centre over the years. And as forensic crime drama Silent Witness returns for a 28th series, starting with a storyline about vulnerable pensioners, colleagues and partners Nikki and Jack (Emilia Fox and David Caves) welcome the latest in a long line of bosses going all the way back to original head honcho Sam Ryan (Amanda Burton)!

Taking over the top job is Harriet Maven, played by EastEnders actor Maggie Steed. Here, the 78-year-old talks about joining the long-running show...

What can you tell us about your character?

"I'm Professor Harriet Maven, and I'm the new head honcho, as they say. She's come out of retirement, and she's quite a bright girl, and doesn't suffer fools gladly. But she is very admiring and tenaciously protective of Nikki [Emilia Fox] and Jack [David Caves]."

What's it been like joining such a long-running show?

"There's an enormous sense of responsibility because you know that there are expectations here and you've got to be able to make your mark. But at the same time, you've got this extraordinary framework that's well established."

How does it compare to other shows you've worked on over the years?

"You very rarely work on something where you have these expert people around a lot of the time, going: ‘No, it wouldn't be like that.’ I remember doing Pie in the Sky [the BBC crime drama about a chef and his wife] with Richard Griffiths, and by the time we came to shooting we'd literally had no rehearsal! So we just jumped into it..."

What's her relationship like with Nikki?

"In academic circles, you come across a mentor whose beliefs you respect and respects you and sees your potential. So it's a like a protective friendship."

What can you tell us about the other new recruit Kit Brooks, played by Francesca Mills?

"She's like a little whirlwind. She carries her own little weather system with her!"

When can I watch Silent Witness?

Silent Witness returns to BBC One on Monday 6 January 2025 at 9 pm and will be available on BBC iPlayer.

Silent Witness season 28 will feature two major new cast members joining leads Emilia Fox and David Caves — and the BBC has already ordered a further series, in great news for fans.

Maggie Steed (Paddington 2, Rivals) plays Harriet Maven — the new Head of The Lyell Centre — while Francesca Mills (The Witcher: Blood Origin, Worzel Gummidge) will play Kit Brooks, a Crime Analyst who works with Jack (David Caves).

On joining the cast, Steed says: "I was delighted to be asked to join Silent Witness. I've enjoyed it many times over the years and it's always been the most intriguing and entertaining series going, so it's been a thrill to join."

Francesca Mills says: "I'm thrilled to be joining such a long-running, much-loved series as Silent Witness and I really look forward to being a part of the stellar cast. This will be the 28th Series, and it is still going from strength to strength."

There was no mention in the announcement by the BBC of Velvy (Alastair Michael), Gabriel (Aki Omoshaybi), or Cara (Rhiannon May) so it's unclear if they will feature at all in the new series, which will begin early 2025. The BBC did though reveal that work has already started on a further series to go out in 2026.

Silent Witness season 28 will consist of five brand new stories told over 10 episodes. Teasing the plot, the makers say: "The new series opens with a disturbing mystery when the death of an elderly woman found in a cave has the team asking what drives a person to murder someone so vulnerable. We also get an introduction to the two dynamic new team members."

But the BBC hasn't teased anything about the romance between Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) and Jack Hodgson (David Caves). Nikki and Jack are engaged which means we could have a Silent Witness wedding in the new series. We're also awaiting news on guest stars.

Suzi McIntosh, Executive Producer, BBC Studios says: "I could not be more delighted to welcome our fabulous new cast to our Silent Witness family. Both Maggie and Fran bring their talent to our exciting and original new characters who will help carry our stories brilliantly. So watch this space!"

Silent Witness season 28 starts in early 2025.

The makers of Silent Witness have dropped a hint that the upcoming series will see trouble ahead for Dr Nikki Alexander and Jack Hodgson's relationship.

The latest series ended with Nikki (Emilia Fox) accepting a marriage proposal from Jack (David Caves) and fans are hoping that Silent Witness season 28, which is due to air next year on BBC One, will see the pair tie the knot.

However, via IMDB we now have episode titles for the new series and the final two-part story is titled "I Believe in Love… What Else Can I Do?".

That title could be seen as being taken from Carly Simon's 1987 song "Coming Around Again". The song is thought to be about enjoying a belief in love despite losing it — is Nikki going to lose Jack?

It could signify that the characters go their own ways after the failure of their relationship but are still optimistic they can each find love in the future.

The song was penned for the movie Heartburn starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson, which is about a doomed marriage. Not a great sign again for Nikki and Jack!

Now, a more positive spin on the song reference is that it's referring to Nikki's many past romantic failings but this time the love is for real. What does seem clear from the title of the two-part story is that these will be key episodes for the future of Nikki and Jack.

It would be a huge blow for Silent Witness fans if the pair did split. The final moments of Silent Witness season 27 episode 10 saw Jack finally asking Nikki to marry him. 

"I can't imagine a day without you, I can't. Will you marry me Nikki?," he asked. To which she kissed him and replied: "Yes". 

But what does the future hold for the pair? Emilia Fox will return as Dr Nikki Alexander, a part she's played since 2004. David Caves will be back as Jack Hodgson. We also expect Alastair Michael to again play Velvy, with Aki Omoshaybi as Gabriel. Plus Rhiannon May as Cara.

Silent Witness star Emilia Fox will return for a second series of her detective drama Signora Volpe, with the three-part series released on Monday, July 29 on Acorn TV in the UK and US.

The hugely popular actress, best known to millions of Silent Witness fans as Dr Nikki Alexander, will be back as disillusioned British spy Sylvia Fox.

Seeking a quiet life in beautiful Italy, Emilia's character finds solving murders just too tempting.

Teasing the plot, the makers say: "At the end of season one, having fallen in love with Italy and re-established bonds with her sister Isabel (Tara Fitzgerald – Game of Thrones, Belgravia), Sylvia decided to resign from her job at MI6 and start a new life in Umbria. But old habits die hard, and though Sylvia might have left her job at MI6 behind, her unique skillset and appetite for solving mysteries remain undiminished. Over the course of season two, she finds herself investigating the murder of a pillar of the local community, and going undercover for MI6 at a perilous house party by the lake. Then, a dead man comes looking for vengeance, and Sylvia’s family have to race against time to save her life."

During the series, Sylvia is joined by her extended family while her relationship grows with the dashing Carabinieri Capitano (Giovanni Cirfiera – American Crime Story; The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Queen of the South). However, as she keeps interfering in his investigations he finds himself emotionally torn by her involvement.

Meanwhile, Emilia is busy working on Silent Witness season 28. The next series of the BBC One hit is now in production and heading our way in early 2025.

Signora Volpe is created and written by Rachel Cuperman (Midsomer Murders) and Sally Griffiths (Midsomer Murders). Signora Volpe is released on Monday, July 29 on Acorn TV in the UK and US with a co-premiere on BBC America. New episodes air Mondays through August 12.

Silent Witness season 28 sees Emilia Fox return as Dr Nikki Alexander for a fresh set of tough cases.

The series, which has now aired, features five brand-new stories, told over ten episodes. Two new cast members joined. Maggie Steed (Paddington 2, Rivals) plays Harriet Maven — the new Head of The Lyell Centre — while Francesca Mills (The Witcher: Blood Origin, Worzel Gummidge) plays Kit Brooks, a Crime Analyst who works with Jack (David Caves).

At the heart of the most recent series has been the growing relationship between Nikki and Jack Hodgson (David Caves). Setting up this series, Emilia Fox says: "There's a real running theme of love through the whole series. Of course, that's great, because it resonates with the Jack and Nikki relationship. I’m very excited by all the stories in this series. They are written by four of our very strongest writers."

Here's a complete guide to Silent Witness season 28…

Silent Witness season 28 release date

Silent Witness season 28 began on BBC One on Monday, January 6, 2025, at 9 pm. The whole series has now aired but it is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

We don't have a US release date yet. Meanwhile, it's been revealed there will be a Silent Witness season 29 on the way in 2026.

Cast

Emilia Fox returns as Dr Nikki Alexander, a part she's played since 2004. David Caves is back as Jack Hodgson. Maggie Steed joins as Harriet Maven — the new Head of The Lyell Centre — and Francesca Mills joins as Kit Brooks, a Crime Analyst who works with Jack (David Caves).

On joining the cast, Steed says: "I was delighted to be asked to join Silent Witness. I've enjoyed it many times over the years and it's always been the most intriguing and entertaining series going, so it's been a thrill to join."

Francesca Mills says: "I'm thrilled to be joining such a long-running, much-loved series as Silent Witness and I really look forward to being a part of the stellar cast. This will be the 28th Series, and it is still going from strength to strength."

Velvy (Alastair Michael), Gabriel (Aki Omoshaybi) and Cara (Rhiannon May), who featured in Silent Witness season 27, do not feature in series 28.

Sean Pertwee returns as DI John Flynn in the opening two-part story. Zoe Telford returns in episodes 3 and 4 as Chief Superintendent Jane De Freitas. Ex-EastEnders star Tamzin Outhwaite guest stars in episodes 5 and 6 as Sally, who works at a law chamber.

Plot

So spoilers ahead if you've not seen the end of Silent Witness season 27. OK, so Nikki and Jack are engaged which means we could have a Silent Witness wedding. Funnily when Emilia and David were on The One Show host Alex Jones started joking about a Silent Witness wedding and the pair looked quite awkward as Alex had basically guessed what's going to happen. Given Nikki's disastrous relationship history, there has to be a fear that something horrible will happen to Jack. However, we're not sure killing him off would go down very well with the fan base. We have the episode titles for the new series and the final two-part story is titled "I Believe in Love… What Else Can I Do?".

That title could be seen as being taken from Carly Simon's 1987 song "Coming Around Again". The song is thought to be about enjoying a belief in love despite losing it — is Nikki going to lose Jack?

It could signify that the characters go their own ways after the failure of their relationship but are still optimistic they can each find love in the future. The song was penned for the movie Heartburn starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson, which is about a doomed marriage. Not a great sign again for Nikki and Jack!

Now, a more positive spin on the song reference is that it's referring to Nikki's many past romantic failings but this time the love is for real. What does seem clear from the title of the final two-part story is that these will be key episodes for the future of Nikki and Jack.

Obviously, we now know what happens, but we've kept our theories above in the article.

What happens in episode 1?

The body of an elderly woman is found in a cave, with her fingerprints burnt off and a posy of foxgloves at her side that she did not pick herself. The case is complicated further when they discover that she died three months before her body was discovered. Jack is apprehensive about the arrival of new boss Professor Harriet Maven.

What happens in episode 2?

As Benjamin continues his search for Gloria, Nikki makes a disturbing discovery that brings them closer to the truth. Plus, a new team member joins the Lyell and Lauren and Gary find themselves unknowingly caught up in a scam.

What happens in episode 3?

The team is called out to deal with the case of an estate agent who has been viciously bludgeoned to death with a claw hammer. They find some unexpected familiar faces waiting for them at the crime scene, and when the murder weapon subsequently goes missing, they find themselves drawn deep into a conspiracy involving local government

What happens in episode 4?

After another hammer attack, the Lyell team start uncovering connections to a conspiracy involving blackmail and the local government. DC Whelan finds himself in the middle of a potentially fatal dispute.

What happens in episode 5?

A woman's hand is found in the canal, setting the Lyell team on the trail of the rest of her body and Nikki on a course for the world of criminal justice. The wife of a barrister who disappeared two years previously while being harassed by a client receives another body part in the post.

What happens in episode 6?

After Nikki conducts a post-mortem, the team gets a ping on the victim's car but when they find it it's engulfed in flames with a male body inside. An address from the black box leads them to a shocking discovery and DNA evidence forces the team to seek advice from an unexpected quarter.

What happens in episode 7?

Nikki travels by plane from Mumbai to London, and finds herself at the centre of a crisis when one of the other passengers comes down with an unknown, potentially deadly, illness. As the team in London investigate a similar case in India, Nikki realises that the only way to discover the nature of the infection is to perform an autopsy while the passenger is still alive.

What happens in episode 8?

Nikki and the Lyell team work hard to uncover the truth and find a cure as more passengers begin to fall ill on the plane. Vikram's post-mortem comes up with a shocking result that changes everything for the team and the suspected target.

What happens in episode 9?

An unknown gunman murders six people at a restaurant. Can Jack and Nikki help the police find the killer? And can Jack find a best man? Does he actually have any mates? And is Nikki getting cold feet about the wedding?

What happens in episode 10?

The team continues the hunt for the killer. Is delivery driver Cal (played by Joe Absolom) involved in the murders? And will Nikki and Jack finally get hitched? Meanwhile, it looks like the team could be heading to Birmingham, but will they all go?

Is there a trailer?

Yes! Here you go...

Silent Witness season 28 behind the scenes and more

Silent Witness is a BBC Studios Drama production. The executive producers are Suzi McIntosh for BBC Studios, Nawfal Faizullah for the BBC, and Emilia Fox. Seán Gleeson is Producer. BBC Studios handles global distribution.

Silent Witness fans rejoice because the BBC has quietly confirmed that the long-running series starring Emilia Fox will return.

There's been no big fanfare from the BBC, but the BBC's Midlands press office recently released the news that they were looking for talented people to work on the series thus confirming it's coming back.

They tweeted: "Join the @bbcstudios team for Silent Witness' next series! This is a chance for West Mids talent to spend time on the current series (filming in London) ahead of the show moving to Brum later this year."

With so many shows being axed by the BBC as it seeks to drive down costs, fans had worried that Silent Witness season 27 might be the last. It was known, though, that production was planned to be moving to the West Midlands as part of the BBC's investment strategy in the area and the latest tweet confirms that filming will indeed be taking place this summer for Silent Witness season 28. Initially, the series is filming in London before moving to Birmingham.

The latest series was well received and boasted a string of top guest stars including John Hannah and Hermione Norris. While there's no official cast announcement yet, it's expected that Emilia Fox will return as Dr Nikki Alexander alongside David Caves as Jack Hodgson.

We might even get a Silent Witness wedding in the new series. Yes, in the final moments of the last series Jack presented Nikki with a ring. "I can't imagine a day without you, I can't. Will you marry me Nikki?" And she kissed him and said "Yes!".

So, it would have been rather cruel if the BBC had then axed the show! But who knows whether Nikki and Jack will make it down the aisle together or not. Here’s hoping the pair will stay together. Silent Witness is expected to return in early 2025. Every season is currently available on BBC iPlayer to enjoy right now (see our best BBC dramas piece for more great shows to watch).

Silent Witness star Emilia Fox looked tremendously awkward when The One Show's Alex Jones said last month how wonderful it would be for there to be a wedding on the hit series!

And we now know why Emilia was looking so awkward it's because Alex had unwittingly guessed how the latest series of the BBC One drama would conclude.

OK, so we’ve not actually had the wedding yet, but in the final moments of the season, Jack Hodgson (David Caves) at last proposed to Dr Nikki Alexander.

It finally shines a light on why Emilia and David Caves went all funny when Alex Jones started asking them about a Silent Witness wedding during their appearance on the show to promote the series in mid-January.

"Imagine a Silent Witness wedding," gushed Alex. "It would be so nice and such a change, wouldn’t it?!" Emilia just laughs, while David responds: "You think it would be nice". 

The pair then shifted about on the sofa as they tried desperately not to give the game away. You can still catch the interview on i Player here and it's really quite funny watching it back!

Silent Witness fans have been waiting for ages for Jack to propose and the big moment happened after the pair had managed to track down the King’s Cross serial killer.

Jack went over to Nikki’s, pretending to be replying to her advert for a lodger. The pair then sit down and Jack presents Nikki with a ring. "I can't imagine a day without you, I can't. Will you marry me, Nikki?" And she kisses him and says "Yes!".

One fan wrote: "Mr and Mrs Alexander-Hodgson to be, I'm gonna cry, that's how happy I am".

While Emilia Fox responded to one viewer's celebratory tweet, writing: "That made me laugh so much".

Silent Witness season 27 is still available to watch on iPlayer. Unfortunately, it's now a long wait until the next series and for the Silent Witness wedding! Check out our best BBC dramas guide for more shows to watch in the meantime.

Silent Witness season 27 episode 10 concludes the series in dramatic style with a big development for Nikki and Jack. It opens with DI Steve Tudor (Neil Pearson) asking Mrs Perry, the wife of one of the victims, about Terry, who she believes is the killer. "One of Adam's lads" she replies. She explains that she knows her husband was a bad man and he recruited Terry as a rent boy when he was sleeping rough at the station. When Terry became older, he became Adam’s enforcer. The day he vanished Adam was looking for Terry. The widow reveals she hasn't disturbed Adam’s office in all this time.

His widow reveals she saw Terry and he said Adam had got what was coming to him. She reveals that Terry knew the station inside and out. 

The police put everything into finding Terry. But they quickly discover he's not the killer, he is in fact the second victim. 

The police dig into their files and find a video of Adam being attacked before he was murdered, with Terry coming to help. They have a very grainy image of the attacker, but they can see the coat he's wearing. 

Nikki is tired and needs a Jack hug! 

Nikki and Jack visit Malcolm, who says when he was station coordinator he'd clash with Steve. Malcolm said he was smeared by the police, who said he was too close to the runaways in the station. He says they wanted him out of the way so they could clear the station of the runaways. Is he telling the truth?

They think they have the "killer's" green coat amongst all the evidence from the King's Cross scene. There's blood on the jacket which matches a drug dealer called Dean in Sheffield, who was stabbed to death the day before Adam was attacked. Confused yet?! It appears Dean was murdered by the killer in Sheffield before he fled to London where he then carried out the rest of his crimes.

Nikki says she wants to go to Sheffield to look at the PM report. A builder who worked at the station recalls a young worker who kipped in the station and pinched a hand cart, sounds like it could be the killer. Had a northern accent, all roads lead to Sheffield…

The young lad attacked his co-workers and they called the police. But the lad fled the police. And who should be one of the cops he fled from but dodgy Keith from the previous episode!

Shelia interviews Keith. We discover his cop partner was Russell Drake, whose body we saw at the end of the previous episode after he’d arranged to meet Keith to talk about King's Cross.

Keith says he now works in security. Shelia finds it strange that Keith hasn't even asked if it has anything to do with the bodies at King's Cross. Shelia learns Russell's body has been fished out of a canal.

In Sheffield, Nikki and Steve meet a cop to talk about the drug dealer's death, who they think is the King's Cross serial killer’s first victim. She recalls the teenage son of the woman the victim was in a relationship with was seen in the vicinity, but the cop dismissed him as a suspect. Steve doesn't look impressed!

Jack and Gabriel perform a PM on Russell's body. Gabriel concludes that someone tried to make it look like Russell had drunk himself to death, but he hadn’t. And the last phone call he made was to Keith, so the police go to arrest Keith. 

In Sheffield, Nikki and Steve visit Mary, the mother of the teenage suspect, Carl. Carl was in the army! They look at a photo and it's the man at Keith's security headquarters where Jack is!

Carl flees to the woods where he meets Keith. "You’re a monster, but you're my monster," Keith tells Carl, after he admits to killing the King’s Cross victims as "practice".

Keith shoots King's Cross serial killer Carl! Keith is arrested. Jack goes to see Nikki and pretends he's there for an advert for a lodger. 

The pair sit down and Jack presents Nikki with a ring. “I can’t imagine a day without you, I can't. Will you marry me Nikki?”

And she kisses him and says “Yes!”.

Silent Witness season 27 episode 9 sees Nikki, Jack and the team on the trail of a serial killer. It's the most shocking case yet of the series and opens at a museum next to King's Cross station. Workmen go to fix a floor but on lifting up some floorboards they discover a body.

DI Steve Tudor (Neil Pearson) is on the scene along with Nikki and Jack. The museum was formerly a pub. Jack discovers a mattress with blood on it. He walks down a tunnel and finds a door with a new padlock on it. He undoes the padlock and Nikki gasps at what she sees — a pile of bodies. "8 bodies, challenging location, I reckon we're in mass disaster territory," says Jack.

Gabriel arrives at the scene along with CS Shelia Court (Hermione Norris). Also there is Malcolm Jones (Jude Akuwudike), who runs the museum. Nikki is asked if she wants to bring in more pathologists to deal with all the bodies, she says no because she believes having one pair of eyes on them will help with the evidence. It appears the bodies date from over a decade ago.

Steve believes one of the victims is an American tourist. Asked by Jack what they're looking at, Steve replies: "A Killer or killers of exceptional brutality who learned on the job and evolved fast."

The media arrive! The murders appear to have taken place in the late 2000s. The police are concerned they're going to be blamed for failing to spot a serial killer in the middle of London. The killer may have used a cart to transport the bodies. They wonder if the killer might be a builder.  

Nikki tells Malcolm off for getting too near the crime scene. He seems disturbed, which isn’t that surprising. Is Malcolm involved?

Steve tracks down Anna, an ex-partner of a possible victim. She confirms the victim's name and he's from Poland. He turns out to have been a builder. She never saw him again after an argument. 

Slowly they are piecing together the victims. Nikki can’t see any pattern in the victims. 

We meet a man who after watching the news report about the bodies goes to call someone called Keith Pryor, but he changes his mind.

Nikki and Jack make themselves a packed lunch, bless. "Yours looks nicer than mine," says Jack. 

The team tells the police the different ways the victims died. Jack highlights several passages that were built at the time of the construction, which the killer could have used.

NO CCTV as so long ago. Gabriel suggests the manner one of the victims was killed suggests the killer might have had military training. Velvy comes into the police incident room to say that one of the victims looks like an Albanian student. Jack says the chances of there being DNA are limited as he believes the killer wore gloves. 

Back to the man who made the aborted phone call. We find out he's called Russell Drake and this time he does call Keith, who appears to be at some sort of army base. Drake threatens to go to the police over what he knows about King's Cross. Keith is dismissive of his threat. Russell asks to meet in a public place of his choosing (not sure this is a good plan!). 

Gabriel is approached by a nurse called Esther Daniels, she says her son went missing around the time of the killings. He appears to be one of the victims.

Nikki thinks they should focus on Adam Perry, victim one, who was a criminal who procured runaways for sexual activity. Steve knew him: "He was an animal".

Drake is bundled into a vehicle. Nikki and Steve go to visit Mrs Perry. She claims she knows who the killer is! "Terry". The episode ends with a photo of Russell in his army uniform and his body in a canal near the station!

Silent Witness fans can't get enough of the final scene of episode eight between Nikki and Jack which saw them exchange "I love yous" at last.

After a dramatic story, the episode concluded with the loved-up couple attending a funeral, which sparked Jack into thinking about his mortality.

"I need to tell you I love you," said an emotional Jack, who was wondering who'd visit his grave when he died. "And I know this is a twisted, crap place to do it, but I need to say it. Right now, right here. Am I completely off my head?"

"Yeah," replied Nikki. "I love you too! So much." The couple then shared a passionate kiss and the scene promoted a big reaction on Twitter.

One fan tweeted: "I will never get tired of watching this scene from last night's #silentwitness. Everything about it was perfect. The fandom have waited 12 series for this, but we finally got the face to face 'I love yous' with the added 'so much' from Nikki. The way they hold onto each other." 

Another wrote: "The way he's holding her and she's smiling at him, I'm absolutely and completely going crazy over here." 

While a third fan described how it was a perfect scene. One fan feared, though, that this happy ending might be ruined in the final two-part story of the series, which will air next week. "Ok now I'm thinking why didn't they use this as the season finale? Are they giving us false hope of a happy ending next week? Yes, I am a pessimist."

The other talking point from the episode was how complicated the plot was! Check out our Silent Witness season 27 episode 8 recap for an explanation.

Without giving away too many spoilers, it's fair to say things got rather baffling as Nikki and Jack investigated the death of a policeman from Myanmar. One viewer wrote: "I’m pleased that I am not the only one who did not get Silent Witness last night".

Silent Witness season 27 continues on Monday night on BBC One with the first part of the final two-part story of the series. 

The team is called to Kings Cross station museum, where they discover the bodies of eight victims entombed below. With the knowledge that a prolific serial killer was operating in London nearly 20 years ago, Nikki and the team know this will be a case like no other...

Silent Witness season 27 continues with episode 8, the concluding part of a two-part story. We finally learn who Oceanfloor is, while Nikki and Jack do some serious flirting before kissing passionately at, erm, a funeral!

The episode begins with Nikki telling everyone including dodgy Elinor (Julie Graham), about the needle mark she found on the victim's body. Gabriel says he was injected with something that induced a cardiac arrest and didn't show up in a standard tox report. 

Jack reveals there are fingerprints from a coat worn by the victim. The fingerprints belong to Kenny Tate. DC Alice Kirk (Tessa Wong) knows who Kenny is. He's a homeless man and she asks him how the victim ended up with his coat. He says the victim gave him £20 for it. Alice spots a CCTV camera nearby.

Elinor secretly messages Oceanfloor again. "You don’t want the truth, never did. Just want to control me." "Think of Adam," replies Oceanfloor. Elinor says she knows what "deep fake" is before adding: "Put my son on a video call or I'll call out your bullshit”.

Nikki spots the tox results were falsified and tells Jack, who gives a suspicious glance to Elinor. The tox results reveal the victim was killed by a lethal dose of insulin. Jack shares his suspicions with Nikki, DI John Flynn (Sean Pertwee) and Gabriel. Alice's CCTV footage shows the victim taking the coat and more importantly Elinor in a nearby car!

John arrests Elinor. Elinor decides to explain what she did to the team. She says she’s heard conflicting reports about the victim's true motives. Elinor says she gave him a waiver to get in the country. She explains she did that because she was told it was the only way she'd see her son again. She says she was told this by someone whom she met online, whose daughter also went missing on their gap year. The online contact claimed the victim was behind it all and if she helped get him into the country they could get answers from him about what happened to their children. 

We then see a flashback of Elinor confronting Htin by the river before he's snatched by the van and injected with the insulin. Elinor says she couldn't accept her son was dead and had got addicted to online conspiracy theories. She says Oceanfloor is her contact who claims their daughter went missing. Jack suspects that Elinor has been manipulated by Oceanfloor. Nikki tells Elinor her recent video of her son is likely a fake and that he is dead. 

Nikki meets a pathologist with close connections to Myanmar at a community centre. He says it's likely the victim was at the massacre in Myanmar. And then May walks in! She identifies her husband as the victim.

In a fresh twist, Elinor and her arresting police officer are found dead in a car!

Jack believes someone big and powerful must be behind it all. After formally identifying the body, May is shown an apparent video of her husband shooting at someone during the massacre. She says the footage is a lie. She says he came to the UK to tell the story of the massacre to a reporter. She says social media stoked hatred that caused the massacre. 

Velvy, with May's help, gets into the Htin's phone. They message a contact on his phone called Cornflower. Cornflower is annoyed that they haven't heard from the Htin and says he shouldn't have trusted the journalist Fish. Gabriel has an email from Elinor, obviously sent before she was dead!, warning him he should trust no one!

Jack goes to the hotel where the hopeless assassin tried to kill May. Fish is there and Jack takes him back to the Lyell. Meanwhile, the useless hitman is identified from fingerprints Jack took at the hotel.

They find the van used to snatch the victim with a body in it. "No honour amongst thieves,” quips Jack, indicating the deceased is one of the kidnappers, who's been shot in the head. Nikki believes he's the hitman, who has paid the ultimate price for his bungling of trying to kill May. The dead hitman had a pen on him and it’s the same type Felix the robot gave Nikki at the conference at the start of the first episode with the social media company Kaskade on it! 

May reveals that the police were using the Kaskade app just before the massacre. Fish says Htin had worked out the app had an evil side that pushed its users to dark places and encouraged them to kill. Fish says Kaskade blackmailed him into betraying Htin by faking images of him drug-taking. 

Fish suspects an employee of Kaskade is Cornflower and was helping Htin. Cornflower messages May, saying they want to meet. And who should turn up at the meet but the woman who gave the social media talk at the start of the previous episode! She claims she wants to bring Kaskade down but she gets "spooked" and leaves.

Nikki discovers the DNA under the dead hitman’s nails matches an ex-cop called Roger Gallup. They have CCTV from the conference which shows Roger, the hitman and a third man, Mark Foster, Kaskade’s head of security, plotting.

The Kaskade lady shows up at the Lyell. She explains how the dark algo Kaskade uses is designed to make you mad! She claims she was appalled when her Kaskade colleagues celebrated the massacre as a success for the app! 

Cop John brings Foster in for questioning. He denies being involved in the murder. Gabriel works out that the Kaskade lady is Oceanfloor by the language she uses! And it turns out she has messed about with the CCTV evidence they have of Roger, the hitman and Foster plotting the murder.

Gabriel sneakily filmed the Kaskade lady spilling the beans about the dreaded algo and sends it on to Flynn.

Jack and Nikki do a spot of flirting and take prints from the charger at the plotting meeting which was later found on the hitman. It would prove the person was with the hitman on the morning of Htin’s death. The prints are Foster’s. They now have evidence Foster was conferring with the killers. The police arrest Foster. 

May is shown video evidence proving her husband wasn’t part of the massacre. 

Nikki and Jack go to a funeral. Jack tells Nikki he loves her and they share a big kiss! Blimey that was a complicated story!

Silent Witness season 27 continues with a new two-part story, which features a gripping case and an assassin who's more bungling than Inspector Clouseau! The episode includes guest performances by Sean Pertwee as DI John Flynn and Julie Graham as Elinor Shaw.

The episode opens outside a police station in Myanmar, formerly Burma. Two cops talk about the deaths of two people, possibly colleagues. Zaw is concerned they're being "picked off", while the other cop, Htin Lwin, says: "We deal in facts not claims made on social media". 

The police then go on a mission carrying guns. Htwin Lwin hangs back as the other cops storm into the jungle. He's clearly concerned by what they’re doing.

Meanwhile, back in the UK, Jack, Gabriel and Nikki are at some kind of conference and strike up a conversation with a robot called Felix. Yes, this truly is a strange opening to an episode of Silent Witness! "The pen is mightier than the sword," the robot tells an impressed Nikki, who takes the free pen being offered. The gang listens to a speaker who brands social media "the a*** of humanity". It turns out she’s promoting a new social media brand, Kaskade. She's interrupted by protestors who flash up on the big screen behind the speaker: "Big tech kills".  The protestors are roughly manhandled before Jack steps in. 

Mr Lwin arrives in the UK at Heathrow. A brief brush with security ends when it turns out he has a Home Officer waiver and is allowed into the country. Someone appears to be watching him from a car as he leaves the airport.

At the side of a lake, Lwin is waiting. A woman steps out of what looks like the same car from the airport. Suddenly a van roars up and grabs Lwin before he has a chance to meet the woman. We then see a body, which is later identified as Lwin's.

Gabriel gets a call from Elinor Shaw (Julie Graham) at the Home Office, suggesting that a rejected funding application he made for the Lyell might now have a chance. She says she can inspect the Lyell today! Why the rush? We see her in the office and the camera pans to a photo of her with a man, who we later discover is her son.

Nikki and Jack attend the scene where the body is by The Thames. They are joined by DI John Flynn (Sean Pertwee). The victim has a wooden post sticking out of his chest. How did the victim lose his shoe? wonders Nikki as she wanders down the side of the river with Jack. They find the shoe. Jack theorizes that he was running, lost his shoe and then fell on a stake. Sounds fairly unlikely!

Gabriel welcomes Elinor, who seems interested in where Nikki and Jack are. 

"Strange accident," says Nikki. "In the middle of all this nothingness he trips and impales himself." 

Gabriel introduces Elinor to Cara and turns out Elinor knows sign language. 

We see a worried woman at a bus stop, who is the victim's wife (she doesn't know he's dead yet). She heads to the riverside and to a cafe which she has a photo of. In the toilet hidden in a plastic bag, she finds money and a phone with a sticky note saying "Code is the day we met". The phone has a string of messages: "Will call after the interview when safe". "At beach waiting to call 'Fish' now". "Waiting an hour hope he's still coming". She tries to call a number but there’s no reply and we see the mobile lying on some grass. The woman calls Fish.

CCTV footage shows the victim's last moments. Nikki says they can't rule out he was attacked with a wooden stake.

DI John Flynn arrives at the Lyell hoping for more information. The team carry out an autopsy and believe the way the post entered the body does not suggest he fell onto it. 

While the cop wants to rule it an accident, Nikki wants to keep an open mind. Elinor sobs in the loo. She gets a text from Oceanfloor: "What’s going on?." She replies: "I did everything you asked. Got him into the UK and now he's dead.” She adds: "Followed him from the airport — might have been seen. Police think accidental. Pathologist not convinced." 

Oceanfloor: "Do they know who he is?" Elinor: "No". Oceanfloor: "Good". Then we get the revelation that this has something to do with finding her son Adam. Oceanfloor tells her it's critical to make sure the police conclude it's an accident. 

Fish turns out to be a journalist and reveals that the victim was due to go on BBC News. Fish claims he spent his own money getting the victim to the UK in the hope that he could help the victim break a huge story. 

Elinor tries to steer Jack to the conclusion the death was an accident without much luck and then confides in him that she lost her son a few months back. Oceanfloor then texts: "Get me into their server and I'll do the rest."

Velvy has been studying the victim’s tattoos and they tell him that he's part of an elite armed police unit. Elinor carefully watches Velvy enter his password so she can give it to Oceanfloor.

Back at the beach, Fish tells the victim's wife to trust him but then when he heads into the bar to show around the victim’s photo, he puts the photo in his pocket. What is Fish up to?

Velvy references a massacre that took place three months ago in Myanmar, is it connected to the victim's murder? Velvy talks far too much to Elinor. Cara spots Elinor acting oddly and warns Jack to be careful around her.

Fish warns May Lwin (Molly Harris), the victim's wife, not to go to the police, saying her husband has been accused of serious crimes. She points out there's no extradition treaty between the UK and Myanmar. 

At the beach, Elinor reveals her son died by suicide. He was on a gap year abroad and they said he jumped off a bridge. She never saw the body, might he still be alive? Nikki is shocked by the toxicology report, saying high amounts of alcohol and heroin are in the victim's blood. Looks like the report has been changed by Ocean Floor! 

Elinor texts Ocean Floor to ask him what evidence he has the victim was a career criminal. "He was with your son last week. Evidence enough?" comes back the reply. And he texts her apparent video evidence.

Jack and DC Alice Kirk (Tessa Wong) find the victim’s phone (must be a good one, it still has battery somehow!).

Nikki reexamines the body and comes to the amazing conclusion that the victim stabbed himself to draw attention to an injection wound! An injection killed him!! The killer hoped no one would spot the real murder weapon, but Nikki did!

Fish gets a call at the hotel where he's staying with May. The next minute an assassin more bumbling than Inspector Clouseau tries to kill May. He makes a complete pig's breakfast of it and she manages to elude my hiding in a laundry basket!

May makes her escape...

Silent Witness season 27 continues with episode 6 (now available to watch on iPlayer) and here's our recap (spoilers ahead). This is a good episode for anyone who wants to see Jack being James Bond!

DI Sarah Torres is not in a good mood. "I despair for humanity," she complains as she watches all the people gathering at the crime scene where Roy's body lies. "Did he fall or was he pushed?" wonders Jack. 

Leo tells his mum that Roy was talking rubbish to him. Leo says she's safe now from Roy. Did Leo kill Roy?

Sarah inspects Roy's car and discovers drugs and money. Nikki and Velvy carry out the autopsy. Kevin, the guy in the previous episode who went into the dead woman's flat before running off, is watching Sarah and Jack.

Nikki and Velvy try to discover if Roy was pushed or fell. They find a bruise on his back which looks like it was caused by a handrail.

Nikki and Jack go to the scene and look at the evidence. Nikki suggests that Roy could have been pushed hard against the rail, causing the bruise, which means he was murdered.

Velvy is struggling and Cara asks him if he's OK. He's short with her. Jack wonders if Paula is dead. With Casey being dead for a year, Jack thinks well then who's been paying the rent to the landlord?

They use the landlord's doorbell camera footage to find out who's been putting the rent through the letterbox and it's Kevin! Kevin is increasingly looking like a prime suspect.

Nikki asks Leo for a DNA sample, which he eventually gives despite his mum being suspicious of the police (her real reason becomes apparent later).

Velvy asks Gabriel for an advance on his wages. Gabriel refuses. 

Cara shows Jack the phone records for Paula, which she’s been working on (do the police do anything?!).

Jack finds a SIM card in Roy’s car after a further search. Jack makes a video reconstruction of how Roy fell. "He was murdered," says Sarah after watching it. "That's what we think," confirms Nikki.

Jack and Sarah go to visit Kevin. They go into Kevin's house and he tells them he knows Paula and they were friends.

We discover why Natasha was so reluctant for Leo to have a DNA test! It shows that Leo isn't her biological son. Paula is Leo's mum and he doesn't know. She took Leo from Paula when he was a baby, saying messed up Paula didn't care either way. But more recently she had cared and played the "fun aunty" act. Paula told Natasha she feared Roy would kill her over an unpaid debt. 

Paula threatened to tell Leo the truth (clear motive for Natasha to kill her sister). Nikki tells Natasha Roy is Leo's father. "I thought it was him, I just wished he wasn't," says Natasha. Sarah asks Natasha if she killed Paula and Roy, but she denies it. 

Sarah makes the bold claim that every mother is capable of murder! Let's hope not!

Cara — whose assistant is busily reading her book "The Echo Man" and looks slightly put out every time she has to take her eyes off it to help Cara — is asked by Jack if she knows where Velvy is. She doesn't. 

Nikki investigates a Jane Doe body that could be Paula's but proves not to be. 

Cara goes to see Velvy who's living in squalor. He reveals he's providing for his family which means he's broke. Nikki wants to help Velvy. But Jack and Gabriel seem reluctant. 

Jack finds evidence of a vehicle repair substance on Roy's jacket. "I can fix cars", he says, repeating what Kevin told them. Did Kevin push Roy? Next, the team unearths that Kevin has privately been purchasing asthmatic medicine — "Paula's asthmatic". Is Kevin caring for Paula?

Velvy is told he's no father by his wife and is an embarrassment. And she walks off.

Sarah and Jack storm into Kevin's house only to find that it is his mother he's caring for. "That went well," says a frustrated Sarah. Jack though is interested when Kevin says his dad taught him to fix cars. Cara tracks down the garage address. 

Jack scratches his car and then searches the workshop and finds Kevin there. Kevin says his dad is dead. Kevin says he can fix the scratch. Jack reverses his car into the garage only to find himself locked in! 

Jack, doing his best James Bond impression, thunders through the garage doors in his car and chases Kevin's van. As the van is cornered by the police, Kevin crashes and rolls his van. And who should climb out of the passenger side but Paula!

Kevin is cuffed and taken away. Paula explains: "Casey and me were working for Roy. Kevin was someone who I spent time with, a client. Casey stole my identity. Stole my money. I had to borrow money from Roy. I confronted her." 

We then flashback to see Paula and Casey fighting and Casey stabbing Paula. "She tried to kill me. He saved my life. He's the only one who protected me." In the flashback, we see Kevin striking Casey with the lamp. Kevin then confesses to Jack that he pushed bad man Roy to his death. So, Kevin is the world’s most unlikely double murderer!

Leo, Paula and Natasha are reunited and are all thrilled when they open Leo’s successful university application. 

Velvy comes to stay with Jack and Cara. Nikki name tags the Jane Doe body, giving her an identity. And switches off the lights at the Lyell...

Silent Witness season 27 continues with episode 5, the first part of a two-part story entitled "Invisible". Here's our recap of the episode, which features the return of Nadine Marshall as DI Sarah Torres, who turned up in the previous series in "Familiar Faces" part two. You might need to pay attention to this episode as it gets rather confusing at times! (Spoilers ahead).

The episode opens with a masked man going through a draw in a flat. But the burglar gets the shock of his life when he walks into the bedroom and discovers a heavily decayed corpse in the bed! Yep, this is as grim-looking as it sounds.

The burglar tips-off the police and Nikki and Jack arrive at the scene. Jack's having a rant about tech, which Nikki zones out from. "It’s 6 am, I'm tired, I need sleep," she pleads.

The pair say hello to DI Sarah Torres, who they know from a previous case. Sarah says they don't have an ID yet for the body.  

Nikki believes the body could have been there for six months, a year or even longer. "Nobody missed them," agree Nikki and Jack. Jack finds a stack of credit cards in the bedroom with the name Paula Jackson on them, suggesting Paula is the victim. Paula's name doesn't match that on the post piling up on the doormat. Sarah asks the neighbours about Paula but they are no help. 

Back at the Lyell, Cara is on her first day of her work placement. Cara is joined by Barbara, her access to work interpreter. Sarah comes into the Lyell and reveals that Paula was registered as a missing person in June of last year by someone called Leo. Nikki and Sarah go to visit Leo and his mum Natasha, who's Paula's sister.

Back at the Lyell, Gabirel and Velvy inspect the body. In a moment grim even by Silent Witness standards, Gabriel removes a tooth they hope can be used to confirm identification.

Leo, who's doing his A levels, has a picture on his phone of the apparent victim. Natasha reveals her sister was a drug addict, who had a horrible boyfriend called Roy. "Was my aunt murdered?" asks Leo. "We haven’t established cause of death yet," replies Nikki. 

Gabriel and Velvy carry on the autopsy. They note the victim had had cosmetic surgery. Under the microscope, Gabriel finds evidence that there was silicone in the victim's blood vessels. "Surgery could have killed her," says Nikki.

The victim is then given a weird "bath" that strips away the flesh to just leave the bones.

Natasha gets a text asking her to clean a property for a Mr W Scrubs (guessing that’s a false name!). Her boss tells her it's a new client after a two hour tidy.

The victim, who everyone thinks is Paula, turns out to have had something called a Brazilian butt lift! Nikki says some dodgy medics use silicone illegally because it's cheaper and quicker. Nikki tells Sarah that if done wrongly it can be fatal and in fact someone called Kate Black died after having the same procedure. Kate had an existing heart condition so they couldn't prove the clinic had killed her. The silicone in Kate's body turns out to be exactly the same as that in Paula's corpse.

Natasha discovers that the mysterious Mr W Scrubs is in fact Paula's horrible boyfriend Roy. He demands to see Leo and makes threats. Meanwhile, Jack and Sarah call at the dodgy clinic where Paula apparently had her procedure. 

Roy approaches Leo and Leo is shocked to find Roy knows his name. 

Jack says there's a size 9 footprint from the crime scene, where someone had stepped in blood. Paula was a size 5 or 6, so someone else was there on the night of her death. 

Then Velvy comes in with the bombshell that the DNA from the tooth reveals that the body isn't that of Paula Jackson! The tooth they took from the mummified corpse comes from a young woman named Casey. So where's Paula? "Was Casey murdered? Were Paula and Casey known to each other?" ponders Sarah. The blood on the rug at the crime scene matches Paula.

So, there were three people in the flat. An attacker, Paula and Casey. We know Casey's fate, but what happened to Paula? It appears that Casey stole Paula's identity.

Sarah and Jack go to see Martin, the man who owned the flat where the body was found. Martin says he doesn't know Paula, but remembers Casey. He reveals that someone was still paying the rent. Cash through the letterbox.

Back at the flat where body was found, Jack wonders if a missing lamp might be the murder weapon. A man walks in and then flees — Sarah and Jack give chase, but he eludes them.

Nikki and Sarah go to Natasha's flat after a call from Leo. Natasha says Paula had asked her for money, but she was fed up with her sister's lies and she didn't give her any. She's then shocked to discover that her sister for once was telling the truth as her ID had been stolen.

Jack analyses the footprint and discovers the shoe it likely came from.

Roy tells Leo they need to talk. Soon afterwards Jack, Nikki and Sarah head back to the estate to examine Roy's body! He's dead!

Silent Witness fans love the natty knitwear that Emilia Fox's Dr Nikki Alexander sported in the latest episode of the hit — although her jumper would set you back nearly £200!

Mind you Nikki is a top forensic pathologist so we suppose she can afford an expensive taste in jumpers.

Fans were particularly taken with the yellow number she was wearing in episode four of Silent Witness season 13. And a viewer even managed to track down where it's been sold! Yes, for just under £200 you can be the proud owner of the Piccalilli Alpine jumper.

One fan wrote: "You know you're not really following the 'plot' of Silent Witness when you find yourself scrolling for Nikki's jumper. That nice yellow one is by Eribe."

Another commented: "I am a lifelong Silent Witness fan and am completely in love with your jumper in this episode! Any idea where it was from and if it is still available?"

Another said: "We're getting some excellent knitwear from Nikki this series."

Of course, not everyone was impressed with Nikki's wardrobe with one writing: "Hate that yellow jumper Nikki's wearing".

This is far from the first time Nikki’s outfits have provoked comment, with a huge amount of fans loving Nikki's cosy style.

As to the actual plot of the latest story, Nikki and Jack (David Caves) were trying to work out if Professor Peter Cherry (Kevin McNally) was a murderer or not. After being turned down for a top job, the interview panel that shunned him kept mysteriously dying resulting in Cherry being the obvious suspect.

Most fans seemed to enjoy the two-part story, although it's fair to say perhaps it didn't quite reach the heights of the opening two-parter. That featured a quite brilliant plot which saw John Hannah guest starring as a pathologist whose wife had vanished.

Silent Witness continues on Monday 29 January on BBC One at 9 pm. The new story sees the team investigate when the mummified corpse of a woman is found in a flat after being dead for a year. They draw on all of their forensic and pathology knowledge to find out the truth of her identity and what happened to her. Nikki and co are determined to get justice for someone the world seems to have forgotten...

Emilia Fox simply smiled when a Silent Witness wedding was suggested to her during an appearance on The One Show, but she did tease that Nikki and Jack's relationship will be seen to develop in the current series.

Fans would of course love to see her character Dr Nikki Alexander walk down the aisle with Jack Hodgson (David Caves).

But Emilia just smiled when presenter Alex Jones asked about the "nice" possibility. "You think it would be nice," replied David Caves. Well, being Silent Witness it would probably involve a dead body, so maybe not!

The pair also wouldn't be drawn on whether Nikki and Jack are living together, although the show has dropped hints that they might be. They did agree that the couple should live at Nikki’s "lovely" pad. 

Speaking about Nikki and Jack, Emilia said: "Because these characters have been together for such a long time and they know each other so well they have moved from a friendship into a relationship and what we wanted to try and do is to show the changes that happen when you've been working together for a long time and suddenly you're in this relationship but not to allow it to overtake what it is really about which is a crime show and it's about the victims predominantly.

"But yes we have some really, really lovely scenes to play in this series and there are a few developments." 

Meanwhile, David spoke about John Thomson guest starring as DCI Warren Bull in the latest two-part story of the series, which concludes next Monday.

"He is fantastic, what a funny man. He's just a gag factory that guy it's quite tough to keep it together during some of the more serious stuff."

The fourth episode of Silent Witness season 27 was due to air on Tuesday evening, but it will now air on Monday 22 January at 9 pm on BBC One. If you can't wait the episode is already available on iPlayer.

EastEnders and Silent Witness fans will have to wait a bit longer to watch the new episodes as the two dramas won't air tonight due to a BBC schedule shake-up.

The schedule change is due to the FA Cup match tonight (Tuesday, January 16) between Bristol City and West Ham, which will air on BBC One from 7:30pm.

This means that episode 4 of Silent Witness season 27, will now air on Monday, January 22 at 9pm on BBC One instead of tonight.

However, if you can't wait until next week to see what happens in Silent Witness, the episode is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.

EastEnders will also not air tonight as usual and will be on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week instead.

But if you prefer to have your daily fix of EastEnders, the episode will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer from 6am the morning it airs.

School-based drama Waterloo Road season 13 is another victim of the schedule change, with the episode now airing on Tuesday, January 23 at 8pm on BBC One.

The series originally premiered on Tuesday, January 2, and episodes have been airing on a weekly basis. 

Fortunately, fans don't have to wait until it airs on TV as Waterloo Road is available to stream as a box set on BBC iPlayer. So you can binge watch to your heart's content!

If you don't want to miss any of the drama, you can keep up to date with the changes by checking our UK TV Guide for the latest information.

Silent Witness returned to our screens earlier this month and fans have been loving watching Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) and Jack Hodgson's (Nick Caves) relationship develop as they work together on some gruesome murder cases.

Actress Emilia Fox teased that we can expect some "really lovely moments ahead" for the fan-favourite couple.

She revealed: "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."

Silent Witness season 27 continues with the concluding part of the two-part story, "Grievance Culture" (available to watch now on iPlayer, the episode will air on BBC One on Monday, January 22 at 9 pm). Warning spoilers ahead in our recap of episode 4...

So one man who very much has a grievance is Professor Peter Cherry, who can't believe he's been passed over for the top job at the School of Criminology. The episode opens with Cherry ranting about the youth a lecture theatre packed full of young people. But the big question of the episode is is Cherry so mad at the interview panel he killed two of them? And does any of this connect to the man found by The Thames?

Fire horror

Jack is at the scene of the fire where Valerie burned to death. Nikki inspects the burnt corpse. Bull says the fire started in the kitchen on the gas hob, which had a pan of cooking oil on. Nikki says there's no evidence of third-party involvement, but we know someone was there. Gabriel says the victim Valerie was also on the interview panel with Harrison. 

We cut to the third member of the interview panel, Elizabeth Newport, who's given a file she apparently dropped by suspicious Vanessa. Surely the police should be warning Elizabeth there's a killer about?!

Bull, a man with a tendency to tell a dodgy joke, has a lead on the Robinson case (the man found beside the Thames). Jack inspects Robinson's car.

Vanessa lies to Cara telling her that Jack "is a seedy gross old guy who sends me a text and tries to get me alone and drunk so he can grope me". Gabriel tells Jack Vanessa has put in a formal complaint against him and he has to take it seriously.

Jack asks Nikki what he should do. Nikki speaks to Cara, saying her friend is making false allegations. But Cara looks torn over whom to believe.

Bull is annoyed they can't find a reason for Harrison's death. "Who else was on that panel?" he belatedly asks. Bull and Gabriel finally get around to talking to Elizabeth (Emily Piggford). Elizabeth says that Peter Cherry has a grievance against her after the panel knocked him back for the job due to his controversial views. That led to a complaint and a campaign against him. Could Gabriel be a target too as he's been given the job Cherry thinks should be his? 

Cherry tells his students by the time he finishes teaching them they will have all the skills to get away with murder (a comment that will later haunt him).

They go back to the victim's house. Jack and Nikki wonder why would you heat a pan of oil before you’ve even taken your coat off? 

Cherry is placed by cameras at the scene of Harrison's death and talking to Valerie shortly before her death!

Cara sneakily goes onto Jack's phone and sees that Vanessa messaged Jack to arrange a pub meeting, telling Jack that both her and Cara would be there, confirming Jack's telling the truth.

Jack discovers Harrison was killed by something put in his water bottle. Nikki, Jack, Gabriel and Bull go to confront Cherry, who's wise to the fact they suspect him of murder. Oddly, Gabriel is there given they suspect Gabriel could be in danger!

Jack, who seems to have forgotten Nikki got locked up in the last episode, seems happy enough when Nikki heads off to take Cherry’s fingerprints alone. Cherry admits hating Harrison to Nikki. Cherry says Nikki reminds him of his late wife. Nikki tells Cherry about the drug in Harrison's water bottle.  

Vanessa is attacked!

Vanessa is off to meet Cara when she's attacked and gagged by a masked person. Cara sees her being dragged off. She alerts Jack and Nikki. The attacker takes off their mask it's Celeste, Cherry’s supporter! She says she knows Vanessa was behind the malicious complaint. The second attacker is Cherry's other supporter, Haidar! They say they will punish her using laughing gas — Cara then walks in and they grab her as well! 

Nikki and Jack arrive at the campus, but can they find the women in time?. Celeste has doubts about killing them both, but Haidar continues. Nikki and Jack find them all and rescue Cara and Vanessa.

Cherry rings Nikki and leaves a message that he knows who murdered them and he knows that he's responsible. Cherry takes his own life. He feels responsible for Celeste's crimes as she wrote a paper he marked "brilliant" that showed how to commit an undetectable murder. 

Robinson, the bridge victim, turns out to have a massive life insurance policy. Bull hints to Nikki that they shouldn't conclude Robinson killed himself so his widow gets the life insurance.

Gabriel opens a letter from the late Cherry recommending Cara for a work placement. Elaine, Robinson's wife, visits Nikki and Jack. She says the life insurance isn’t paying because they say he may have taken his own life. She says they will lose the house. When she leaves, Nikki tells Jack they won’t say Robinson took his own life.

Gabriel heads into the ring after expressing doubts. Gabriel gets knocked down, but gets up again! He loses the fight but seems to be happy he's done it.

After a great two-part story guest starring John Hannah, Silent Witness season 27 continues with a new story. Warning the recap ahead of episode three contains spoilers!

Again there are some big-name guest stars including Kevin McNally as Professor Peter Cherry and John Thomson as DCI Warren Bull. While Nikki and Jack fans will be pleased that there are some nice moments between the couple, who seem very happy.

The episode opens with a woman (Diveen Henry) — we later find out her name is Elaine — peering out from behind a curtain. She looks worried. "Coming darling," she says to her children, shutting her curtain. Meanwhile, an old lady throws a ball for her dog to chase only it ends up on the shore of the Thames. This being Silent Witness she obviously discovers a body!

Jack's been boxing

We then see Jack in a truly brutal fight. Jack wins the fight, knocking the opponent to the floor. There seems a hint that Jack's memory is fuzzy in some way, is this setting up a plotline with Jack possibly having memory problems due to the boxing or could we be reading too much into this? Only time will tell.

Back to the body near Hammersmith Bridge. Jack's injured after his fight and Nikki asks if it hurts. "Only when I breathe replies Jack". "I hate mud," he adds before Nikki quips: "But you like getting punched in the face!" The pair are in seriously flirty form, which comes to an end when they are interupted by DCI Warren Bull. He makes the fair point that perhaps they should get on with their work before the tide comes in. 

We meet Professor Cherry

We move to a lecture theatre, where Cara is watching Professor Peter Cherry talk about crime scenes. A person takes down some posters outside the lecture theatre about the professor. 

Back to the first woman we saw, Elaine, and she's reporting a man missing. It's her husband. Is he the dead man?

Jack has bitten his tongue and having trouble communicating. At the university, Cherry is going for a deanship. He is supported by Celeste (Isobel Wood) and Haidar Alam (Ashley Margolis), who worship him. They wish him luck with his interview panel. 

Cherry bumps into Cara, whom he praises for her excellent work. He says they will find her a work placement. 

Nikki concludes the man drowned. No alcohol traces. Significant head injury and Nikki believes the injury happened before he died. No weapon was found. No wallet or money. No drugs. Robbery's possible motive suggests the cop.

Gabriel is shocked to learn that Jack won his fight, giving the state of him. Gabriel is dressed to impress. Nikki is taken by Gabriel's shoes and says Jack should get some!

Nikki wonders if the dead man was pushed from the bridge to his death. Jack finds what looks like blood at the bottom of the bridge. Cara visits the lab and brings a friend, Vanessa (Maeve Courtier-Lilley). Vanessa doesn't appear to be very nice. They have a project together. Jack gives them some advice. 

Gabriel asks Jack to train him to fight! Next second they're in the gym together, comparing very different music tastes.

Elaine arrives at the station. Meanwhile, a traffic warden takes an unrealistic amount of time to put a parking ticket on a van, which we presume belongs to the victim. No way would it have taken that long to get a parking ticket in London!

Another body

Cherry is furious when he's told he hasn't got the job. One of the interview panelists reminds him there's a student complaint about some of his controversial views. "The complaint, the controversy, is just your excuse, shame on you!," he blasts. 

DCI Bull hopes that a camera near Hammersmith Bridge might shed light on how the man fell to his death. But it's not working. Jack sees the camera has been tampered with. 

We see a man at what looks like a posh health club. Cherry walks in and addresses the man, Harrison (Richard Keep), as he's getting changed. Cherry threatens him that he will soon know what it's like to have his career ruined by an allegation. 

It turns out Gabriel has got the job Cherry wanted! He tells Jack and Nikki he's been appointed Dean of the School of Criminology. But he will still be at the Lyell. 

Vanessa appears to be using Cara to do her work for her. Vanessa also fancies Jack. 

Bull suspects he's found who the dead man is. Elaine is called into the Lyell to ID the body of her husband.

Harrison is dead! "Like a sauna in here," quips Bull, as Nikki and Jack inspect the body in the sauna.

Gabriel says he knows the victim, Harrison. He was on the interview for the job he's just been given. 

A third victim

A man accuses a woman of faking his drug test results, sending him to jail. Cherry is there. "100s of cases, Valerie… you ran the lab". Valerie (Kaye Wragg) issues denials. Cherry replies: "All those people in prison, nothing to do with you?!"

Jack is in a bar. Vanessa walks in without Cara. She is trying to pull Jack. Cara messages Jack, clear Vanessa hasn't asked Cara along. A disgruntled Jack walks out, leaving a fuming Vanessa.

Cara is angry that Jack won't help her if Vanessa is around. He doesn’t make clear to Cara why he's refusing to see her with Vanessa about. 

The first victim is called Ant Robinson and he was an electrician. Did he cut the wire so no one would see him jump from the bridge? Or was he pushed?

Jack and Nikki discuss Cara and then share a moment.  

Valerie comes home to find something burning on the stove, next minute she has gone up in flames and is burnt to death. We then see a masked person. The episode ends with Nikki taking a late phone call... 

Silent Witness star Emilia Fox has promised fans there are "really lovely moments ahead" for Dr Nikki Alexander and Jack Hodgson.

Viewers have enjoyed watching their relationship develop and they are firmly an item in Silent Witness season 27, which continues next Monday 15 January with episode three on BBC One at 9 pm.

Nikki and Jack splitting up would cause massive heartache for fans but Emilia instead says we've got plenty of fun moments between the pair to look forward to. While the couple are generally either looking at dead bodies or quizzing bad guys, we can expect some serious flirting ahead.

"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," says Emilia. "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."

Emilia adds that she loves working with David Caves, who plays Jack. "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."

The opening story, which guest-starred John Hannah, was an absolute corker. And the next two-parter, titled "Grievance Culture", also looks like being a cracker, featuring guest stars John Thomson and Kevin McNally. The BBC teases: "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?"

After an enthralling opening to Silent Witness season 27, we have the concluding part of the story entitled "Effective Range" (please note spoilers ahead!).

Following the first episode, we have loads of questions! Where is Calvin Dunn? Is the apparent serial killer alive or dead? Is he behind the dead body in the church? Or did someone else carry out the crime?

And what is the deal with Beck (John Hannah)? Did he murder his wife and dump her body? And if so, why did he alert the police to his crime after all this time? There's something that doesn't feel right about Beck, but could he simply be a man in deep grief following his wife's murder?

Well here's what happened in episode two...

A skeleton

Episode two opens at the reservoir with Nikki and Velvy looking at the skeleton of Beck's wife. DCI Ford suspects Beck killed his wife and used his knowledge of Calvin Dunn's murders to cover his tracks. 

Nikki tells the team they need to work quickly as the body will disintegrate after all this time. Meanwhile, we see Beck look at a photo of his wife. Is this because of love or guilt? 

Nikki inspects the body at the Lyell. She establishes from dental records that it’s Beck’s wife. It appears someone is watching Nikki. Turns out to be Beck. Beck appears vague and confused. And Nikki shows him out. Beck warns Nikki she needs to watch out for herself. Gabriel is concerned and suggests Beck might be trying to corrupt the evidence.

Jack has his doubts Beck is the killer. Why would he point the police to the body, he wonders. They find evidence that Dunn was on Beck's boat, which suggests he killed Beck's wife and not Beck. Ford is upset by the news as she feels responsible for the murder of Beck's wife. She says she told Beck to go on TV during the original murder investigation and that led to Dunn killing Beck's wife. Nikki says it's not her fault. 

We go back to the creepy interview with Dunn, who is again seen toying with the police.

Back in the present, Gabriel tells Nikki that he's discovered Calvin was working for The Pentagon! Calvin apparently leaked records of his own work online and, as Nikki points out, that was six years after he vanished and was believed to be possibly dead.

Dunn had an accomplice!

Nikki visits Beck. Nikki notices Beck has notes posted everywhere. Nikki tells Beck the body is Zoe's. Beck tells Nikki he has Alzheimer's but doesn't want anyone else to know. He says he doesn't want to forget his wife. At the lab, Velvy finds a washing line like the one Dunn used, which again points to Dunn being the killer of Beck's wife.

In the woods, we see a man hanging up dead birds and he has the red washing line. Is this Calvin Dunn? Velvy discovers DNA on the washing line used to wrap the sail in. But it's not Calvin's DNA. So whose is it? And they've also found the same DNA at previous Dunn scenes. It appears he had an accomplice!

Ford interviews Dominic, the victim who got away. Dominic is shocked by the idea that Dunn might have had an accomplice. Dominic angrily hangs up the call. 

They still haven't identified the victim at St Margaret's. They discover via horse hair that the victim is called Mason and he worked at some stables. We discover Mason had problems. They find out he called 999 shorly before his death. They listen to Mason's 999 called. They discover they sent a single person to help… Lee! And Velvy rings Jack saying that the secondary DNA matches at the crime scene matches Lee! Lee was with his dad when he killed.

We then cut to Lee in the woods! Lee was helping his dad then, says Jack, and he could be helping him now. We go back to Lee's interview when he was eight and he scarily says he helps his dad with everything!

Nikki uncovers evidence that Mason died before he was strangled. She believes someone wanted them to think that he was Dunn's victim and that's why they used his strangulation method.

Ford interviews Lee, who says he tried to save Mason, who suffered an epileptic fit. Lee admits he strangled Mason when he was already dead to make Ford think his father was back. "Why Lee? To punish us for not finding him. So it was all you?" says Ford. Lee cries as Ford says he was with his dad as he killed. "I helped him" admits Lee. Ford tries to reassure Lee that he's not his dad.

Is Calvin Dunn alive?

Nikki goes to visit Beck. Now, is this a good idea Nikki? You have a track record of vising people alone when you shouldn't and getting in trouble!

Nikki tells Beck he was right and Calvin wasn't the modern-day killer. Jack sends Nikki a text: "Beck’s DNA was at the Dominic scene. He was there!" Nikki rather than running (sensible option!) confronts Beck about why he was so sure Dunn was dead. She asks him how Dominic got away. "Calvin Dunn gave a voluntary DNA sample, and when it came back as a match to the victims, you'd have known before anyone, even before the police. Did you go after him, Charles? Was it you who stopped the attack on Dominic? That’s how you know Calvin Dunn is dead. You killed him!"

Nikki thinks of calling Ford, but has second thoughts as she suspects Beck might be about to attempt suicide. She goes to the bottom of a very creepy outbuilding. She calls out "Charles". And finds someone locked in a cage! It's Calvin Dunn! Beck isn't a killer but he has locked Dunn up for years.

"It took three years for him to start talking," says Beck. "After three more he had nothing left to say!” Beck then locks Nikki in! Charles Beck then dies by suicide. 

Jack rather than telling Nikki she's a complete idiot for placing herself in obvious danger, nuzzles her. 

The episode ends with Mia visiting her brother Lee in prison and his girlfriend presenting him with their child. Nikki takes the odd decision to visit the reservoir and lobs in a stone. Perhaps she and Jack should have just had that long lunch as he suggested!

Silent Witness season 27 is here at last, with the first episode proving a cracker (warning this recap contains spoilers about the opening episode).

Teasing the story, Emilia Fox, who plays Dr Nikki Alexander says: "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."

A sneering serial killer

The episode begins in 2004 with a police recording of an interview with Calvin Dunn (played by Leo Starr), who is one seriously creepy chap. "Now that we're all comfortable, how can I help?" he smiles. We then move on in time to 2024 with a police car in High End Woods. The officer reveals they've heard reports of screams. 

We then go back to the police interview in 2004 with Dunn. He claims to have been at home looking after his children. The interviewer then asks him if he’s familiar with St Margaret's Church. "It’s up by High End Woods," he replies. So we have a connection between the 2004 and 2024 scenes. 

Back in the present, a policeman says, "What the hell is that?". On closer inspection, the two officers see it's dead birds. 

We return to the police interview, where the officer says: "We found dead birds hanging outside St Margaret’s." Dunn laughs and she asks him if it's funny"? He replies: "It is to me love". "Detective Constable, actually," she says. "DC Ford, why that's funny?." He says, "Some mad bastard has killed four people and you're worried about some birds."

The two officers walk into St Margaret's and discover a dead man kneeling. He has something wrapped around his neck.

The victims

We again meet the officer who did the 2004 interview, Jane Ford (Josette Simon), now in the present day and about to retire. When she's told a body has been found at St Margaret's she races out of the office.

Nikki and Jack are in the lab. They quickly talk about a case before Jack says they should consider skiving off for a long lunch. That's not going to happen!

Elsewhere, we then see Lee, a paramedic, who's Dunn's son. 

Back at the Lyell, Velvy tells Nikki about the body. He says the male victim was strangled by a red washing line. Nikki and Jack share a knowing look before Jack says: "Calvin Dunn". "That must be 20 years ago," says Nikki.

In the church, they find no ID on the body. The washing line is tied in a distinctive knot, the same knot, Ford says, that Dunn used. Ford recalls the Dunn case saying there were four victims — two male and two female. They were "found strangled and placed in churches in the west London area". She adds that a fifth victim was abducted, but her body was never found. There was also a sixth attack on someone called Dominic who escaped.

Dunn was interviewed four times, but never arrested. Ford says by the time they matched his DNA to the crime scenes he'd vanished without a trace. Ford thinks he's back and says it can't be a copycat as they never told the public about the knot type. 

During the post-mortem, carried out by Nikki and Gabriel, they note the hands are bound by a cable tie. "Fingerprints came back negative,” says Gabriel, so they can’t identify the victim still.

Ford and Jack discuss Dunn, with Ford revealing that Dunn worked for an American weapons company on something top secret. Could they have helped him to disappear?

We learn that Dunn's eight-year-old son Lee provided him with an alibi. We see the 2004 interview with young Lee, who says he was watching Millionaire with his dad.

Back in the present, Ford says Calvin didn't have a type. She says he selected his victims on availability and reveals that his last target, Dominic, was a sex worker. Ford warns there could be more victims. 

Ford goes to talk to Lee. Lee says he warned her over and again that her dad never disappeared. Lee is deeply troubled and apparently feels guilt over providing his dad an alibi.

"You’re not your dad, Lee" says Ford. Lee asks her if she's told Beck? "Not yet," says Ford. "Poor bastard has been waiting 20 years, he has a right to know if Calvin is back," says Lee.

Meeting Beck

We see John Hannah's character Beck for the first time in his house with a picture of his wife, whom Dunn apparently abducted and killed. Her body was never found. Beck performed the post-mortem on Dunn's victims and Dunn seemingly killed Beck's wife in revenge for this as Beck was part of the publicity campaign to catch him.

Meanwhile, in the woods, Velvy finds a leather glove. 

Ford says she needs help to speak to Charles Beck, a pathologist. Nikki says she knows who he is, they were at medical school. They go to see Beck. Beck has been trying to track his wife for years. He's not at his house, they find him at a sailing club. Earlier a reference was made to the washing line knot being one a sailor might use, is there a connection to Beck?

Beck claims Dunn is dead and he's not their modern-day killer. He says he believes his wife's body is in a reservoir. Ford says that looked and found nothing. Ford and Nikki learn that Dunn's DNA is on the leather glove.

We see a young mum pushing a baby who turns out to be Mia, Lee's sister. Ford breaks it to her that her dad might be back. The camera switches to an angle that suggests someone might be watching Mia.

Going back to the 2004 police interview; Jack watches and we learn Calvin likes a serious amount of sugar in his tea! But more importantly Cara spots that he's calling the police "idiots". Jack wonders if he left the glove on purpose. Nikki is concerned Calvin could attack Cara and warns Jack to keep her away from the case.

Nikki goes to see Beck. He now works in forensic botany. Nikki is disturbed to see the body of a rabbit. Beck explains that he puts out netting, "but the buggers still get through". Previously Nikki had spoken about how killers often start with killing animals. Is this a second hint that there might be more to Beck? 

Beck is convinced Dunn's dead. When Nikki tells him about the glove, he accuses her of evidence contamination. 

Ford updates Jack that they still can't find Dunn. Ford goes to a break-in at Mia’s house. Jack is there. Mia gets a phone call apparently from her father. Jack then sees live camera footage of a man in the garden. Jack and Velvy give chase, only for Velvy to get in a kick in the face.

A new body

Nikki takes a piece of moss found in an overshoe belonging to Dunn to Beck. Beck says it's a rare type of moss and found at the reservoir which he believes contains the body of his wife.

The police search the water and find a body. "Poor Charles," says Nikki. "Really," retorts Ford. "The body was wrapped in the sail from Charles Beck’s boat! And we have CCTV of Zoe Beck with bruises all over her face the day before she disappeared." Ford says Beck claimed she got them sailing. Ford suspects that Beck used his knowledge of Dunn's killings to get rid of his own wife and make it look like Dunn did it.

Is Beck a killer? But why would he help the police find the body? Wouldn’t he keep quiet after getting away with it for so long? Or has guilt hit him? And where is Dunn?!

Many people have come and gone through the Lyell Centre's glass doors, but the one constant on Silent Witness over the past two decades has been Emilia Fox, who celebrates the 20th anniversary of her first appearance as forensic pathologist Dr Nikki Alexander this year! 

The longest-serving cast member, Emilia is reunited with David Caves, who plays Nikki’s partner and colleague Jack, and relative Lyell Centre newbies Velvy Schur (Alastair Michael) and Gabriel Folukoya (Aki Omoshaybi), in Silent Witness season 27, which begins on Monday, January 8 on BBC One at 9 pm.

We caught up with a youthful-looking Emilia, who reaches another milestone later this year when she turns 50, to dissect the new series and pick over the bones of her ongoing love affair with Silent Witness… 

What's the first two-part investigation about? 

Emilia Fox: "A body is found in a church, and the detective investigating thinks it relates back to a case from 20 years ago. Nikki meets the pathologist from the original case, who is played by John Hannah. We were so lucky to have him playing that part!" 

What other guest stars should we look out for?

Emilia: "In episodes three and four, Kevin McNally plays a university professor, and John Thomson appears as a detective. It was hard to keep a straight face acting with John, because he can make you laugh all day long!"

Are there any particularly shocking cases in the new run? 

Emilia: "One of the hardest was the case in which eight bodies are found at King's Cross station. The prosthetics are extraordinary, and you can't help but think: 'This happens in real life —  people are found in mass graves.'"

Silent Witness prides itself on being topical. Are you keeping up that tradition? 

Emilia: "We have an episode about social media ‘deepfakes’ and big tech. There's also an appearance by a robot, which provoked an interesting conversation about the future of artificial intelligence."

Are you a fan of social media?

Emilia: "I've had good experiences on it, through being able to connect with the audience who watch this show. But now, as the parent of a teenager, I’m negotiating the good and the bad!" 

What's the best thing about being in such a long-running series?

Emilia: "It's an absolute privilege to play a character for a long time, get to know them very well and be put in these different situations that create new challenges. But at the heart of it is this family who love working together!"

How do you look back on your 20 years in the show? 

Emilia: "When people ask me: 'What's the thing that you're most proud of?', it's very easy to say Silent Witness, because I still look forward to coming back to it!"

Do you get squeamish about cutting up bodies and organs?

Emilia: "I don’t, because it's just so fascinating! I’m like: 'Oh my God, a heart is like this, and we’ve got that inside us!' I’m more squeamish if an accident happens at home!" 

Can you give us an example?

Emilia: "Well, my partner [TV producer Jonathan Stadler] dropped some secateurs on his foot, and it looked really bad. Unfortunately my reaction when a disaster like that happens is to laugh nervously!" 

Silent Witness returns to BBC1 and BBC iPlayer on Monday 8 January at 9 pm. 

Silent Witness star Emilia Fox has revealed whether there's any truth to a fan theory about her detective series, Signora Volpe.

Signora Volpe is an Acorn TV drama that sees Fox playing Sylvia, an ex-MI6 operative who is drawn back into the sleuthing world whilst paying a visit to her sister in the village of Umbria in Italy. The three-part series recently debuted on the UKTV Drama channel and is due to conclude tonight at 8 pm.

As the title translates to "Mrs. Fox" from Italian and her character is called Sylvia Fox, some fans had posited whether the series had actually been named after the Silent Witness season 27 star or not. 

As it turns out, Sylvia Fox having the same name as the lead actress was pure chance, as Emilia Fox explained on Twitter: "It was actually a coincidence — it was already written when I came to it — and we tried all sorts of other names out for Sylvia and the title, and then decided this one still suited her and the show best. Thank you for noticing the coincidence!"

Even though the pair sharing the same name was a coincidence after all, Fox has shared that there is at least one similarity between herself and her Signora Volpe character. 

In our interview with Emilia Fox about the show, she said: "Like Sylvia, I'm in my 40s, which is when you think about your first half of your life, what you've done in it and what's going to happen in the second half. 

And I've realized that I'm distinctly unqualified to do anything other than what I've been doing for the past 20 years!"

Fox will next be on our screens in Silent Witness season 27, reprising the role of Dr. Nikki Alexander, a part she's been playing since 2004. Little is known about the latest instalment at the time of writing, though there at least hopes that Nikki and Jack Hodges (David Caves) will still be going strong together next time around.

Signora Volpe concludes tonight at 8 pm on the Drama Channel. All three episodes are available to stream on-demand on the UK TV Play app, and the drama is due to return for a second season. 

Silent Witness is due to return for its 27th season in 2024. You can catch up with past series on BBC iPlayer. Already caught up? Check out our picks for the best BBC dramas and the best Acorn TV shows if you're looking for something new to stream.

Silent Witness season 27 saw Emilia Fox return as Dr Nikki Alexander and it proved to be a wonderful series, with some star guest turns from the likes of John Hannah and Neil Pearson.

Teasing the series before it aired, the BBC said that Nikki and Jack Hodgson (David Caves) face "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".

All the talk before the series was about what would be next for Nikki and Jack, who are an item as the series began.

Talking about the first case, Emilia told us: "A body is found in a church, and the detective investigating thinks it relates back to a case from 20 years ago. Nikki meets the pathologist from the original case, who is played by John Hannah. We were so lucky to have him playing that part!" 

Teasing about what's next for Nikki and Jack, David said before the series aired: "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."

Silent Witness season 27 release date

Silent Witness season 27 started on Monday, January 8, 2024, on BBC One at 9 pm. The entire series has now aired. Please note all episodes are available on BBC iPlayer.

Silent Witness season 27 cast

Emilia Fox returned as Dr Nikki Alexander, a part she's remarkably played since 2004. David Caves returned as Jack Hodges. Alastair Michael again played Velvy, with Aki Omoshaybi back as Gabriel. Plus Rhiannon May returned as Cara.

Four Weddings and a Funeral actor John Hannah guest starred in the first story alongside Josette Simon who plays DCI Ford. In the second story Kevin McNally plays a university professor, Peter Cherry, and John Thomson appears as  DCI Warren Bull.

In episode 5 Nadine Marshall returns as DI Sarah Torres, who was seen in the last series in "Familiar Faces" part two. Later in the series Julie Graham, Neil Pearson and Hermione Norris all appeared.

Plot

Nikki and Jack were in a good place at the end of the series. Jack was seen lifting Nikki up in his arms on the beach. We'd expect more hard-hitting plots but hopefully, Nikki and Jack will remain together.

Emilia says she actually makes plot charts to keep track of what’s going on in each series. "I find it really helpful. We often film out of sequence, and so you have to remember what information the character already knows during certain scenes, because otherwise — and particularly at the speed that we film — we're coming into scenes thinking 'Where are we in this story?' and 'Was that in the last script or was that here?’" 

She also revealed that the one time she goes to clothes shops is for Nikki's costumes. "I only ever go to the shops when I go costume shopping. We all have an influence on what we wear in the show. It’s a contemporary show, and certainly I've found the pathologists we have met have very particular styles of dressing. That’s part of the fun of the character, and it seems to be a part which people address on social media a lot — hairstyles and what we’re wearing."

Teasing the plots in the new series, the BBC says: "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.

"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."

What happens in episode 1?

The episode begins in 2004 with a police recording of an interview with Calvin Dunn (played by Leo Starr). We then move on in time to 2024 with a police car in High End Woods. The officer reveals they've heard reports of screams. 

We then go back to the police interview in 2004 with Dunn. He claims to have been at home looking after his children. The interviewer then asks him if he's familiar with St Margaret's Church. "It’s up by High End Woods," he replies. So we have a connection between the 2004 and 2024 scenes. 

In the present day, the police find a body in the Church. We meet DCI Jane Ford (Josette Simon), who carried out the original interview with Dunn and is convinced he's back killing again. Nikki is not so sure. Ford recalls the Dunn case saying there were four victims. They were "found strangled and placed in churches in the west London area". She adds that a fifth victim was abducted, but her body was never found. There was also a sixth attack on someone called Dominic who escaped. Dunn vanished before he could be charged. 

We meet John Hannah's character Charles Beck. His wife was apparently abducted and killed by Dunn, but her body was never found. Beck performed the post-mortem on Dunn's victims and Dunn seemingly killed Beck's wife in revenge for this as Beck was part of the publicity campaign to catch him. Beck is convinced Dunn is the modern-day killer though as he thinks he's dead. The episode ends with Beck's wife's body being found in a reservoir. Ford is convinced Beck used his knowledge of Dunn's crimes to cover the fact he killed his own wife. Nikki is not convinced.

What happens in episode 2?

The big question here is is Beck a killer? And is Dunn alive? We won't reveal exactly what happened, but our full episode 2 recap has all that detail. 

Jack has his doubts Beck is the killer. Why would he point the police to the body, he wonders. They find evidence that Dunn was on Beck's boat, which suggests he killed Beck's wife and not Beck. 

The finally ID the victim in the church. His name is Mason and he worked at some stables. The team work out that Dunn had an accomplice. Nikki heads off to see Beck to work out what really happened to his wife and Dunn. It leads to a dramatic conclusion with plenty of twists.

What happens in episode 3?

The team's investigation into a suspected suicide 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 sinister turn and the interview panel begins to be targeted. Could a member of the Lyell be next?

What happens in episode 4?

Events continue to spiral at the university and Cara becomes collateral damage, while 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?

What happens in episode 5?

The team investigates when the mummified corpse of a woman is found in a flat after being dead for a year. They draw on all of their forensic and pathology knowledge to find out the truth of her identity and what happened to her. Even if the world had forgotten her, the Lyell are determined that she must get justice

What happens in episode 6?

Nikki and Jack start to wonder if the latest death is linked to their original body. DI Torres searches for a stalker and Cara is shocked at Velvy's living conditions

What happens in episode 7

As the team investigates the death of a Burmese man found on an abandoned beach, his young pregnant wife desperately hopes he is still alive. Nikki and Jack find themselves in uncharted territory as they piece together the perplexing crime scene that poses more questions than it answers.

What happens in episode 8?

Nikki makes a breakthrough that leaves the team questioning who they can and can't trust. The Lyell is compromised in an unexpected way as the team strive to find the truth about the man on the beach and why he was killed. 

What happens in episode 9?

The episode sees Nikki, Jack and the team on the trail of a serial killer. It's the most shocking case yet of the series and opens at a museum next to King's Cross station. Workmen go to fix a floor but on lifting up some floorboards they discover a body.

What happens in episode 10?

Nikki continues to try and identify the last of the remaining bodies, hoping it will uncover any connections and find a motive, while Jack and the police look into several 20-year-old missing persons cases which might reveal the identity of the man dubbed "The King's Cross Serial Killer".

The series ends with Jack proposing to Nikki! And she says yes, bless. A Silent Witness wedding to open the next series?

Is there a trailer?

Yes, see above.

Silent Witness will return for another season after the BBC has teased that the story isn't over just yet.

Now that Silent Witness season 26 has drawn to a close, Jack Hodgson actor David Caves tweeted that it was "almost" over... which definitely points to more episodes heading our way!

Taking to Twitter, the actor wrote: "That’s almost all folks! Thanks for your support and positivity throughout this series of #SilentWitness - we really do appreciate it. Hope you enjoy eps 9 & 10 as much as I did. See you soon."

His tweet also has a clapperboard at the end which definitely points to more episodes being in production, so hopefully, we'll get more news from the BBC over the coming weeks.

For now, Silent Witness season 27 is certainly looking likely especially since BBC Studios retweeted David's tweet, so we'll just have to wait patiently to learn more about the new cases that the Lyell centre team will be assigned.

Last season, we saw Jack, Nikki, and the team drawn into the underworld of a notorious mafia group, the Ndrangheta, while being assisted by the National Crime Agency (NCA) so there was plenty of drama in store.

A lot happened throughout season 26 such as a man's mysterious fall from an office block, searching for evidence in liquified human remains, and an investigation into human trafficking, so in classic Silent Witness style there was a lot to uncover and mysteries around every corner.

However, despite all this grim stuff, love was in the air for Jack and Nikki and their growing romance has been a subplot for quite some time, with audiences desperate for them to finally admit their feelings. 

Emilia Fox told Hello Magazine: "The audience has waited for ten years, and they are an incredibly loyal, generous, kind and loving audience, who have invested in the Jack and Nikki relationship. I think everyone agreed what we didn't want to happen was to put them together and then immediately bust them up."

We're not quite sure what to expect in upcoming Silent Witness storylines so we'll just have to wait to see what's in store...

Silent Witness season 26 is here with Emilia Fox as Dr Nikki Alexander.

The latest series, which sees Nikki and Jack in danger as they take on a huge criminal network, follows on from the show's hugely popular 25th-anniversary special series.

That featured the return of original star Amanda Burton as Sam Ryan, once a much-loved figure on the show but a character who behaved extremely suspiciously throughout the latest series!

Following the first two-part story, the second two-part story, featuring a guest turn from EastEnders legend Jack Ryder, sees an abandoned lorry found at a quarry with several dead and dying people in the back. 

At first, it appears to be a case of sex trafficking, but it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems. With the survivors refusing to speak, Nikki and the team must use their pathological and forensic skillset to identify the deceased and piece together what happened...

Meanwhile, the third two-part story sees the team "thrown into the dark side of social media where nothing is as it seems and the perfect profiles of the influencers they are investigating raise disturbing questions".

And the fourth two-part story sees Jack come to the aid of an old friend, and him being sucked into a difficult case, where he is pitted against his former mentor. As Nikki and the team start to create a picture of what happened, they learn nothing is as it seems. Dealing with a family of serving police officers, they have to tread carefully, as their relationships prove to be another obstacle for the team to overcome.

Here's everything we know so far about the new series including a trailer, which contains spoilers if you've not seen the latest series...

Silent Witness season 26 release date

Silent Witness season 26 began on BBC One on Monday, January 2 at 9 pm. Episodes can also be watched via iPlayer. The next episode is on Monday, January 30 at 9 pm on BBC One. The story concludes on the Tuesday evening, also at 9 pm.

It will be released at a later date for US audiences on BritBox.

Who's in the cast?

Emilia Fox is back as Dr Nikki Alexander, a part she's remarkably played since 2004. Amanda Burton, though, is unlikely to return as Sam Ryan. The final scenes in the last series very much looked like Amanda saying a permanent goodbye to the show, although you never know. Asked if she could be tempted back by Nikki, Sam replied: "This place was my family, but I've got a new one now and speaking of which I must go." 

David Caves is back as Jack Hodges. Aki Omoshaybi (The Pursuit Of Love, Queens Of Mystery, Real) joins as Gabriel Folukoya, an academic, neurologist, and pathologist who has spent much of his career in innovative research, primarily in the field of data analysis.

Aki says: "I couldn’t be more excited to be joining such a long-running and much-loved series. Gabriel has much less practical experience than Nikki and prefers to computer model an autopsy than to slice a body open, but deep down Gabriel knows he needs people like Nikki and Jack. He's at a juncture in his life where he needs to make changes, to open up more, to allow himself to be more vulnerable.”

Alastair Michael (Ridley Road, Snatch) joins as Velvy Schur, the Lyell’s new APT (Anatomical Pathology Technologist) trainee, as recommended by Clarissa Mullery. Velvy has recently left his ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and is now finding his own path, balancing his career and his faith, which he still holds very dear to his heart.

Alastair says: "I’m delighted to be joining the cast of Silent Witness. We meet my character Velvy as he is on a really interesting journey from within an Orthodox community into a wide secular society. He is still acclimatising to the change and conflicted about the life he left behind, but he is eager for new knowledge, new experiences, and new friendships. This curiosity can sometimes get the better of him and it might even ruffle some people's feathers. So, it'll be fun to see how that plays out in the Lyell."

Jack’s niece Cara Connelly (Rhiannon May) also returns in a more regular part.

Silent Witness season 26 plot

Everyone will be keen to see what’s next for Nikki and Jack, who looked very cosy together at the end of the latest series. But then Nikki being Nikki of course gets a text from her ex Tom who appears to be about to bump off Oscar (David Leon) in the final shot of the series! Will Tom return in the new series? We sort of hope not as it would be nice for Nikki to find some happiness, but she never seems to catch a break!

The BBC has finally teased some plot information about the first episode: "When a man falls from a high-rise building, the Lyell team are drawn into the criminal underworld of notorious mafia-group, the ‘Ndrangheta’. Aided by the National Crime Agency (NCA), Nikki and the team set out to uncover the truth.

"As they descend deeper into the murky depths of the investigation, Nikki soon finds herself embroiled further and further in the mafia’s web."

What happened in episode one of Silent Witness season 26 episode one? 

When a man falls from an office block the questions is was he pushed? Or as Nikki puts it to Jack, “Did he jump or was he pushed, Miss Marple?” The pair, who are still very much in love, discover the National Crime Agency is interested in the dead body as there's links to a huge criminal Mafia-style gang. Cue a trip to a pig farm where the gang make a gruesome discovery about a missing officer. When Nikki discovers an SD card within a body, she worries what to do with it when she gets a threatening note saying she must destroy it or face the consequences...

What happened in episode two?

Wow, even by Silent Witness standards this a grim plot! The team search for evidence in liquified human remains. Lovely! With the Italian gang seemingly having eyes everywhere Nikki and Jack find themselves in grave danger. In an episode that has echoes of Line of Duty, they learn they can't trust anyone. 

Jack finds that at the heart of the story is a group of orphans and Nikki works out they are being wiped out one by one. Having survived an explosion, Nikki finds herself off the grid as she tries to put the final pieces of the puzzle together. It turns out that people are being killed because they know who the gang's high-profile asset is within the police. 

What happens in episode three?

Nikki, who seems in a cheery mood generally now she's with Jack, grimly jokes that the team is on "a day trip to Kent" as they are called to look into some dead bodies found in the back of a lorry. 

The police and Nikki's team believe the victims have been trafficked across Europe, but then they oddly discover no evidence that the lorry has crossed the continent. The survivors are rushed to the hospital, but are they all victims? Or is a trafficker among them? 

The trail takes the police to a young offenders hostel and EastEnders fans will notice that one of the workers there is played by none other than former star Jack Ryder, aka Jamie Mitchell.

The police rush to the hospital to apprehend a suspect, but the suspect has just fled which leads to a crazy chase...

What happened in episode four?

The team continues to try and work out who's good and who's bad in this complex story about human trafficking and drugs. It also addresses health tourism. Eventually, the team manages to work out the events that took place in the lorry. We also discover that Jack Ryder's hostel worker character far from helping was actually involved in the drug operation. We see him being led away towards the end of the episode. Meanwhile, Jack's niece says she plans to follow in his footsteps with or without his help. 

Is there a trailer?

Yes, one has dropped at last. And it looks like being a cracking series...

Now here's looking forward to Silent Witness season 27...

Last night's episode of Silent Witness has got fans talking after they spotted a very familiar face in BBC drama. 

The third episode of Silent Witness season 26 saw Nikki and the team faced with a new mystery after an abandoned lorry was found at a quarry with several dead and dying people in the back.

It soon became clear this was not the sort of people trafficking case that the police are sadly used to. But despite the drama unfolding on screen, fans were distracted after spotting Jack Ryder, better known to soap fans as EastEnders legend Jamie Mitchell, in the cast. 

Of course, Silent Witness is no stranger to welcoming recognizable actors to the cast as guest stars over the years, and for this episode, Jack was playing the role of Frank Turner, a man who ran a youth probation hostel.

Fans were quick to spot the famous actor, despite the fact he looks very different from his EastEnders days, and took to social media to share their excitement... 

Jack was just 17 when he joined EastEnders in 1998, with his character's death going down in soap history when he was killed off on Christmas Day in 2002 when love rival Martin Fowler accidentally ran him over outside the tube station.

But this isn't the first time we have seen Jack back on our screens since he left EastEnders. The actor joined the cast of Holby City in 2018 as Consultant General Surgeon Evan Crowhurst and has also starred in Kay Mellor’s drama In The Club and also Doctors.

As well as a successful stage career, Jack now also writes children's books.

Silent Witness continues tonight, Tuesday, January 10 on BBC One at 9pm. 

EastEnders airs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7.30 pm on BBC One — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on episodes on BBC iPlayer now. 

Silent Witness star Emilia Fox has confirmed there'll be a new season of the BBC crime drama, as fans are no doubt hungry for more after the 25th-anniversary special.

In fact, now that Silent Witness season 25 has aired, Emilia told Hello Magazine that the show was in production and added: "Well, we're definitely making it now. I think I'm allowed to say that, probably not allowed to say much more than that, but we are making series 26 now."

Right now that's all we know about the return of Silent Witness, as exact plot details for the upcoming season have not been revealed but at least we definitely know it's going ahead! So we'll have to be patient and wait for further details.

The 25th season of Silent Witness has already aired in the UK and the US, and saw the return of Amanda Burton where she reprised her role as Sam Ryan, with fans growing suspicious of her at first.

But it was later revealed that Sam had gotten herself involved with some shady people and was not in fact a bad person, with the season ending on a cliffhanger that definitely leaves room for more episodes.

• How to watch Silent Witness season 25 online anywhere in the world

The cliffhanger ending saw Nikki's ex-husband Tom Faulkner (Matthew Gravelle) seeking revenge for being framed for murder by Oscar Harris (David Leon), and Nikki received a text saying "I can't let it go. I’m sorry," before Tom entered Oscar's prison cell. 

So it's likely that season 26 will pick up shortly after these dramatic events, and we might be seeing more of Nikki's ex as he was only revealed to us last season, where fans were devastated to learn about Nikki's past.

Speaking about the cliffhanger ending, producer Nick Lambon told Digital Spy: "I like it when stories aren't completely tied up in a neat bow, because life isn't really like that. Let the audience fill that gap.

"I think when you are working on a long-running series like Silent Witness, you need to work hard not to completely close too many stories down." 

Silent Witness is available on BBC iPlayer in the UK and BritBox in the US. 

Silent Witness celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion Amanda Burton, who first appeared in the lead role of pathologist Sam Ryan in 1996, made a surprise return in the Britsh series, which now has a US release date after already airing in the UK.

Amanda appeared as Sam in 54 episodes before leaving the show in 2004.

Talking about her return ahead of the series, Amanda said: "I am so excited to be returning to Silent Witness and stepping back into Sam Ryan’s shoes — with a difference! Audiences can look forward to plenty of twists and turns as they discover what Sam’s been doing since leaving the Lyell."

Emilia Fox, who’s returned as Dr Nikki Alexander, added: "It is such a delight and thrill to be working with Amanda. To have Sam Ryan back again at the heart of the show is the greatest way of all to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Silent Witness."

Here’s everything we know about the series including what's next for Nikki and Jack…

Silent Witness season 25 release date

Silent Witness season 25 will be released on BritBox in the US on Tuesday, July 12.

The series has concluded in the UK however, you can catch up on past series as well as this season on BBC iPlayer.

• How to watch Silent Witness season 25 online

Who's in the cast?

As well as Emilia Fox and Amanda Burton, David Caves returned as Jack Hodgson. Plus Genesis Lynea is back as Simone Tyler. 

Emilia Fox has said she still adored being part of the show: "I love it as much as ever. From day one, I've always said I'll stay as long as I enjoy it, and I still really enjoy it. The audience and I have been through a lot together.

"I never take for granted the privilege of being part of Silent Witness. Now that I'm also an executive producer, I really value it as part of my personal life as much as my professional life. It's had a huge impact on me."

Meanwhile, Genesis Lynea said: "Simone's back story comes back and bites her on the nose. Does she ignore it and shove it under the carpet, or face it even though it really hurts? I'm glad she goes towards the pain. She is replaying incidents from her past which explains who she is today. It's heavy, but it's great that we can do that on Silent Witness."

David Caves has also revealed which episode stood out to him from this series. He said: "There is a great episode set in Belfast. Jack's brother is a loose cannon and he's gone AWOL again. We explore the story of Jack's niece in Belfast. 

"It's tricky to talk about without spoiling it, but needless to say, family secrets come out of the closet. The family stuff has been fantastic to play. That's the real heart of the character – without that, it could be rather dry and procedural."

What's the plot?

Well, the big talking point before the series aired was the return of Amanda Burton and of course Nikki and Jack!

Speaking about Nikki and Jack's budding romance ahead of the season, Emilia said: "The kiss begged the question of why these two people who have worked together for so long and love each other and are single were not already having a relationship...

"The lovely thing is that the audience have wanted Jack and Nikki to be together. It's great that they have invested so much in that relationship. We wanted to play Jack and Nikki adapting to the transition and going through ups and downs. That's something the audience will enjoy without putting a label on it. Do they maintain their romance? You'll have to wait and see."

You can read on for recaps of the season 25 episode but warning — there are HUGE spoilers ahead!

What happens in Silent Witness season 25 episode one?

In the first episode of Silent Witness season 25 we saw the Lyell team joining Sam Ryan, although Nikki found herself unsure if she could trust her. The team are figuring out what had happened to the Health Secretary after they were assassinated following the launch of Sam's company.

Meanwhile, Jack and Nikki grow closer after spending the evening in a hotel bar drinking together, before eventually going back to Nikki's hotel room. But Jack keeps complaining about these headaches, which has left fans concerned.

What happens in Silent Witness season 25 episode two?

In the second episode, the team start to make progress with the Health Secretary case as some DNA evidence is found on the bullet casing, and it turns out Nikki has a surprising connection to the suspect.

We learn that the man in question is Tom Faulkner, who is Nikki's ex-husband and the father of their stillborn child, something that Nikki had kept a secret and opened up to about Jack. The loss of their child resulted in their marriage breaking down, and Nikki is willing to give him a chance to prove their innocence.

Meanwhile, Nikki's still suspicious about Sam's involvement in the case, and the audience sees the episode end on a cliffhanger when Sam stole one of the blood samples that Nikki had collected from the assassin's hotel room, before making a call asking to meet with someone on the other end of the phone. But who?!

What happens in Silent Witness season 25 episode three?

Sam was having dinner with her family when she received a message from Tom, before slipping away to hear what he had to say.

We now know that Tom had acted as Sam's security detail in Stockholm, where they both worked for the UN. During this time, a politician had been murdered, with Sam brought in to do the post-mortem.

Upon meeting up, Tom confronted Sam about the vial of blood she had swiped from Nikki. She had collected several samples from the assassins' hotel room but assured Tom she was on his side.

However, Sam's motives remain unclear and there could be some shady goings on dating back to when she worked for the UN, but we'll have to wait and see whether she's trying to right her wrongs or if she's truly villainous. 

What happens in Silent Witness season 25 episode four?

As Nikki and Simone investigate a burned body, Jack receives a call telling him that his dad, Conor has collapsed in Belfast.

The news forces him to fly to Belfast, where he makes the devastating discovery that Conor has a heart condition that he never told him about.

Margaret, an old friend of Conor's, tells Jack that the condition is getting worse and Jack soon finds out the real reason as to why his dad was in Belfast — to find Jack's mum, Eleanor, who he believed to be dead.

While Jack goes to fulfil his dad's dying wish for him to meet Eleanor, Jack is forced to tackle buried family secrets and the truth about what happened to his mum and why she made the choices she did.

What happens in Silent Witness season 25 episode five?

Sam has gone missing, and was last spotted on CCTV following journalist Oliver Meehan, who was later found dead outside his flat, but did she have anything to do with his demise? Right now, we have no idea!

There are also rumors that Sam and her husband Jomo Mashaba (Hugh Quarshie) could've used corrupt money to build Unitas Health, which Oliver was investigating, and things got heated when Jomo's son David (Lloyd Everitt) paid him a visit.

The two got into a fight, where David panicked and thought he'd killed Oliver so threw his unconscious body off a balcony which did, of course, kill the journalist. But while David was directly involved, could Sam have been pulling the strings? Right now we don't know.

In the final moments of the episode, David and his wife Fiona has been promised protection if they'd give key information that would lead police in the right direction, but a lorry caused the car to crash and it's unknown if anyone made it out alive. 

So it's possible the team has lost a very important lead which might help the case and track down Sam, meaning viewers will have to tune in to find out what's going on in the big finale.

What happens in Silent Witness season 25 episode six?

In the big finale, we learned that Sam Ryan was not actually a bad person and she had gotten herself involved with some shady people instead, which had led fans to suspect her.

Sam's company UNITAS had teamed up with Vigil Networking, and there was some suspicious goings on as boss Ethan Daley needed someone within the government to lobby through the company, and that's where Oscar came in. 

It also transpired that Ethan was responsible for the Health Secretary's death in episode one, after discovering she was planning on blocking a contract, and had DNA samples fabricated in the process.

But just when we thought things were wrapped up for good, and with Oscar behind bars, Nikki discovered a mystery phone in her pocket and there was a text from an unknown sender which read: "I can’t let it go. I’m sorry" which means there could be more to this case than meets the eye...

How many episodes is Silent Witness season 25?

Six episodes, so less than the usual 10.

Is there a trailer?

Yes! A full-length trailer is available for the 25th anniversary if you haven't seen it yet.

Not only is Amanda Burton well and truly back as Sam Ryan but the romance between Nikki and Jack is already packed full of drama — have they hit the rocks already?

Plus there is the usual edge-of-your-seat plot twists that we have come to know and love from the series... 

Before the main trailer was launched we were treated to a short clip that sees Nikki answering a phone call from... wait for it... Sam Ryan! Yes, Amanda Burton truly is back!

• Silent Witness season 24
• Best BBC dramas

Silent Witness season 25 is over but fans are baffled by the complexities of the most recent storyline, especially involving who sent that mysterious text in the final moments of the finale.

Ever since Sam Ryan (Amanda Burton) returned on the scene, everyone's been suspicious of her behaviour as she works with Dr. Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) and Jack Hodgson (David Caves) on a new case in Silent Witness season 25.

We learned that Sam and her husband Jomo (Hugh Quarshie) had launched a company called UNITAS, which was working closely with another company that was breaching data protection rules called Vigil Networking, and this had led fans and characters alike to wonder what her true intentions were.

Thankfully for long-time Silent Witness fans, Sam hadn't turned to the dark side and she had simply got involved with the wrong people, including Oscar Harris (David Leon) who had proven he wasn't afraid to bend the rules.

Oscar was working with Vigil Networking boss Ethan Daley needed someone within the government to lobby through the company, and that's where Oscar came in. It also transpired that Ethan was responsible for the Health Secretary's death in episode one, after discovering she was planning on blocking a contract, and had DNA samples fabricated in the process.

After weeks of confusion around who was actually responsible for the Health Secretary's death, Oscar's now behind bars but it's far from over after a mysterious text was discovered in a phone that had been slipped into Nikki's pocket.

The message from an unknown sender read: "I can’t let it go. I’m sorry", ending on a cliffhanger and suggesting a new season is on the cards, but with so many moving parts fans of the series are baffled by what's just happened.

So there's been some real mixed responses from fans around the new season, but hopefully we'll get some answers to the finale's cliffhanger next time Silent Witness is on our screens, for now though we'll all have to wait patiently!

The new season celebrated the 25th anniversary of the popular BBC drama with returning character Sam Ryan being a nice surprise for fans.

Speaking to What to Watch, actress Amanda Burton said: "It was so special to work with Emilia on the coming together of those two massive beasts of forensic pathology! We both got a real kick out of it, and had a twinkle in our eyes! 

"The actors who come in and take over any show bring with them their own loyal fan base, and Emilia has a massive following."

Silent Witness season 25 is now available in full on BBC iPlayer.

Silent Witness continued this week with viewers tuning in to the penultimate episode, and fans are all wondering what has happened to Sam Ryan (Amanda Burton) as her behavior continues to be suspicious.

With Silent Witness season 25 drawing to a close soon, fans are now desperate to find out what's going on with Sam following her highly anticipated return to the series, with some worried that she could've gone to the dark side. 

The forensic pathologist has gone missing, which is leading fans to question whether or not this was staged or if she's actually in danger, as everyone's wondering where she's gone and what she's up to before the big finale.

Even more troubling, Sam was last spotted on CCTV following journalist Oliver Meehan, who was later found dead outside his flat, but did she have anything to do with his demise? Right now, we have no idea!

There are rumors that Sam and her husband Jomo Mashaba (Hugh Quarshie) could've used corrupt money to build Unitas Health, which Oliver was investigating, and things got heated when Jomo's son David (Lloyd Everitt) paid him a visit.

The two got into a fight, where David panicked and thought he'd killed Oliver so threw his unconscious body off a balcony which did, of course, kill the journalist. But while David was directly involved, could Sam have been pulling the strings?

Taking to Twitter, everyone's talking about Sam Ryan and speculating what might be going on, hoping we'll get the answers from Silent Witness sooner rather than later and answer the mystery around her disappearance. Is she dead, in hiding, or something else entirely?

On top of this, we know that Sam has been avoiding her husband Jomo so there's some sort of rift between the two, but it's unclear whether or not he has anything to do with Sam's disappearance.

In the final moments of the episode, David and his wife Fiona has been promised protection if they'd give key information that would lead police in the right direction, but a lorry caused the car to crash and it's unknown if anyone made it out alive. So it's possible the team has lost a very important lead which might help the case and track down Sam.

We'll have to tune in to the last episode to learn what's really going on, and it's an intriguing synopsis that reads: "Nikki is unsure who to trust, leading her to conclude that getting the truth will put her colleagues and everything they love in danger. 

"As they get to the heart of their investigation, and with the world they hold dear teetering on a knife edge, the Lyell team confront their threats to preserve the credibility of DNA."

Silent Witness concludes on Tuesday, June 7 at 9 pm on BBC One. Episodes are also available on BBC iPlayer. For full listings, see our UK TV Guide.

*WARNING — spoilers for Silent Witness season 25, episode four below*

Silent Witness viewers were in tears and applauded David Caves’ ‘brilliant’ performance in emotional scenes during last night’s episode (Tuesday, May 31).

Jack Hodgson, who is played by David Caves, was forced to face tragedy in Silent Witness season 25 last night as his dad, Conor (Richard Durden) sadly passed away, which left him crushed.

As Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) and Simone Tyler (Genesis Lynea) investigated a burned body, Jack was forced to travel to Belfast after hearing that Conor had collapsed.

When he arrived, he met Margaret (Frances Tomelty), an old friend of Conor’s who told him that Conor’s heart condition was getting worse.

Jack was unaware of Conor’s heart condition as stubborn Conor never told him, which left him stunned by the revelation.

As Jack sat at Conor’s bedside, Conor decided to reveal some huge secrets about the Hodgson family’s past, including Jack’s mum, Eleanor.

Conor dropped the bombshell that Eleanor may not be dead like he thought and was in Belfast to try and find her before his heart condition got worse.

He begged Jack to track her down and while discovering the dangerous truth about his mum’s job, he managed to find her with the help of Margaret and his niece, Cara Connelly (Rhiannon Jones).

Jack found Eleanor living in a care home after a breakdown and was wracked with nerves to meet her for the first time in years.

When he realised she didn’t recognise him, Jack found it hard to keep it together and was desperate for answers to why she left them and chose a dangerous job over her children.

Eleanor was furious with him and was adamant that she had no family, before shouting at him to “go away.”

A shattered Jack returned to Conor’s bedside and put on a brave face, telling him that the visit with Eleanor was good. 

As Nikki showed up to support Jack, he wept as Conor passed away surrounded by his loved ones.

After the ordeal, Jack and Nikki shared a heartfelt moment, meanwhile emotional fans took to social media to commend David’s heart wrenching performance…

Silent Witness continues on BBC1 at 9pm on Monday, June 6. Episodes are also available on demand via BBC iPlayer.

Silent Witness is finally giving Jack and Nikki a chance at love, but fans were definitely left confused after one scene in Monday night's episode.

Recently, fans have seen Jack Hodgson (David Caves) and Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) getting closer in Silent Witness season 25, and in a previous episode, we saw the duo spend the night together.

With things heating up between the pair, they went on another date to the delight of fans, but some viewers were a bit baffled by how the scene unfolded as they went out for dinner together.

Jack and Nikki went for a 'dining in the dark' experience which was probably fun for the characters, but not so much for fans at home who got to see the scene from their point of view, with their screens also going black for the duration of the date.

With the scene so far removed from some of the intimate bar scenes we've seen for the budding couple, fans weren't impressed with the decision for the pair to go out and have dinner in the dark, as it didn't have the same effect for those watching.

The decision even worried some TV fans, who thought their screens may have been broken or there was a broadcast issue, so it hasn't gone down very well...

Meanwhile, fans are concerned about Sam Ryan's (Amanda Burton) true intentions as she's returned to the series, especially after she betrayed Nikki's ex and suspect Tom Faulkner (Matthew Gravelle) despite claiming she was "on his side".

It's been an emotional rollercoaster for Silent Witness fans as Nikki opening up about her past and her former relationship with Tom added a whole new layer to the character, and now more than ever long-term fans of the show just want the forensic pathologist to be happy.

Meanwhile, others are concerned about Jack Hodgson's health after multiple headache complaints, so there's a lot going on even before we have Sam Ryan to contend with.

Even Amanda has teased her character might not be able to be trusted, saying in a statement: "Audiences can look forward to plenty of twists and turns as they discover what Sam’s been doing since leaving the Lyell."

Silent Witness continues on BBC1 at 9pm on Tuesday, May 31. Episodes are also available on demand via BBC iPlayer.

Silent Witness star Emilia Fox is one of the UK's most popular actresses, with a career spanning over 25 years. Born into a family of thespians, Emilia followed in her parents' professional footsteps and made her first TV appearance as Georgiana Darcy in the iconic 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. 

Since 2004, Emilia has played forensic pathologist Dr Nikki Alexander in Silent Witness and describes her character as the best friend she could ever have. The gritty crime drama is now back for Silent Witness season 28, which fans hope will see her character finally tie the knot with co-worker Jack Hodgson (David Caves).

Off-screen, Emilia is a proud mum of one and is with television producer Jonathan Stadlen. Here are a few other things you may not know about the star...

Emilia Fox is a member of the Fox dynasty

Emilia Rose Elizabeth Fox was born in Hammersmith, London, on July 31st 1974. The daughter of acclaimed actors Edward Fox and Joanna David, performing clearly ran in the genes, as both Emilia and her younger brother, Freddie (who played Mark Thatcher in The Crown) have chosen the same career. And it’s not just Emilia’s immediate family who are stars of the stage and screen. 

Her paternal grandfather, Robin Fox was an actor, theatrical agent and chairman of the English Stage Company, and her grandmother, Angela Worthington was an actress and daughter of playwright Frederick Lonsdale. 

Emilia's uncle, James Fox has appeared in a wide range of film and TV productions, and her cousins Laurence, Jack and Lydia are also actors. Laurence is probably the most well-known, having played DS James Hathaway in ITV's Lewis for 11 years, and has more recently made headlines as a political activist. 

She's an accomplished musician

Emilia studied at the independent Bryanston School in Dorset, where she excelled in music — playing the cello, piano and trumpet. As a youngster, Emilia dreamt of becoming a cellist, inspired by her mum and dad’s friendship with the renowned musician, Jacqueline du Pre, whose life was tragically cut short by multiple sclerosis.

Devoted to her music and academic studies, Emilia admits she was a fish out of water at secondary school. In an interview with The Guardian she revealed, "I was playing the cello and getting picked up by my mum while other girls were at the bus stop with their skirts hitched up, going clubbing."

She didn't intend to become an actress

After finishing school, Emilia went to read English at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, and it wasn’t long after starting she was called to audition for the role of Georgiana, the younger sister of Mr Darcy in the critically acclaimed TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

At the time, 19-year-old Emilia was acting in plays for fun and had no burning desire to make a living out of it. However, acting alongside the likes of Colin Firth — who she remembers talking to about the books she was studying — changed all that and just two years later she landed the lead of Mrs de Winter in Rebecca, opposite Charles Dance.

Since then, Emilia hasn't had a year out of work and boasts an impressive CV, which includes a role in the 2002 film The Pianist, directed by Roman Polanski, several period productions and treading the boards as Queen Isabel in a theatre production of Richard II.

She’s had a few famous other halves

After being engaged to comedian Vic Reeves in 2000, Emilia went on to marry British actor Jared Harris, but sadly it ended in divorce. Emilia’s next leading man was actor Jeremy Gilley, with whom she had daughter Rose, born in 2010, but the couple parted ways shortly afterwards. Emilia was also romantically involved with hot-headed chef Marco Pierre White between 2012 and 2016.

The star is now with TV producer Jonathan Stadlen, and opened up about their relationship to the Mail Online, saying: 

"It's a life-changing thing when you fall in love like this, and I look forward to a day-by-day lifetime of discovery with him. You can never say for definite, but I feel so hopeful. There has been no doubt or hesitation.”

Emilia and her partner make a daily sweet 'romantic gesture' each day

Emilia recently clarified that she isn't officially married to her partner Jonathan, but he asks her every day to marry him and she says "yes" in a romantic gesture. Emilia chose to clarify this recently due to a negative press report.

At the end of a long Instagram post (below) on the subject she wrote: "Out of pure, kind, thoughtful, romantic, generous love (all qualities @jonathanstadlen possesses in abundance) — Jonathan asks me every day to marry him (in the kitchen, or the garden, or wherever we might happen to be in an every day context) — and out of love, every day, I say YES. It is a sweet, romantic gesture for eachother every day. But we are not officially married, because we want to choose to be married to eachother every day. We wear a ring as a sign of our love and commitment to each other."

She's co-starred with her mum

Despite being part of a famous acting dynasty, Emilia insists her parents are very down to earth and her school friends were always disappointed by her un-showbizzy home life.

As well as starring with her mum, Joanna David, in Pride and Prejudice, the pair also appeared together in Channel 4’s Celebrity Gogglebox. And Joanna’s potty mouth was a huge hit with amused viewers.

Laughing about her mum’s use of expletives, Emilia said to Daily Mail: "I’m sure they had to cut out quite a lot because she’s got a really filthy mouth. She’s shocking! People have very strong opinions about what you must be like [as a Fox]. And until now not many have been able to see that Mum is funny and larger-than-life. I enjoyed filming it with her.”

She's a Dawn French fan girl

Emilia met legendary comedian Dawn French when they worked together filming Sky 1 series Delicious. The pair might have played on-screen love rivals, but they struck up a firm friendship, and when asked who her three dream dinner party guests would be, Emilia didn’t hesitate in saying Dawn would be one.

In case you’re wondering her other two are, the second is eminent criminologist Professor David Wilson. Emilia and David worked together on the 2021 series In the Footsteps of Killers, and she has said she finds him so fascinating they’d need a 25-course meal. 

And rounding up Emilia's dream dinner companions is her old school buddy, Ben Fogle, who’s also made a name for himself as a successful broadcaster and adventurer.

She’s witnessed a real-life post-mortem

During her years filming Silent Witness, Emilia has carried out autopsies on countless pretend corpses and learned a lot of complex medical lingo in the process. She’s also been able to watch real-life pathologists working on human bodies, an experience that she found thought-provoking and humbling.

Having played the same character for 20 years, Emilia has grown rather attached to her alter-ego and has described Nikki in interviews as the ‘best friend she could have’. “She’s a great ally and a great strength and I love spending time with her,” Emilia told The Mail on Sunday.

“She makes mistakes and questionable decisions, but that makes her more human. I look forward to seeing what she’s going to get up to.”

She learnt Italian during lockdown

Multi-talented Emilia can already speak French and German, but during the Covid pandemic she decided to put her spare time to good use by learning Italian. The star thought she’d be able to put her new linguistic skills to the test when she was offered a part in the detective series, Signora Volpe, set in Italy. However, that wasn’t quite the case.

In a recent chat with You, Emilia revealed: “I got this lovely job and thought: “Oh, my Italian will flourish and I’ll be fluent by the time I come back.”’ Little did I realise I would be learning English lines solidly from beginning to end… but it was lovely being surrounded by the language.” 

In Signora Volpe — which aptly translates as ‘Mrs Fox’ — Emilia plays Sylvia, a former MI6 spy, who ends up getting drawn into a murder investigation.

Emilia enjoys the simple pleasures in life

Down to earth Emilia says it’s the small things in life that make her happy — like eating pizza in her local pub, painting garden furniture, and getting weirdly obsessed with cleaning products. 

In an interview with The Guardian she described her perfect Sunday as being:

"A walk in our local park, or my husband Jonathan takes the dogs out while I do a workout at home.  Jonathan has a boat, so we might go rowing on the Thames with Rose and all the dogs. If my parents are in town it’s a good time to see them."

Emilia and Jonathan are huge dog lovers and own three adorable pooches - long-haired miniature dachshunds, Dolly and Clive and jackapoo Sailor. 

Emilia Fox's fact file

Frequently asked questions about the TV star... 

Instagram: @emiliarosefox

Twitter: @EmiliaFox

We work hard to ensure that all information is correct. Facts that change over time, such as age, will be correct, to the best of our knowledge, at the time of the last article update.

Silent Witness fans were devastated after Dr. Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) opened up about a stillbirth she had when she was younger after a case brought up an unexpected connection.

In the most recent episode of Silent Witness season 25, DNA evidence meant that Tom Faulkner (Matthew Gravelle) was identified as a suspect in the Health Secretary murder, and it turns out he was Nikki's ex-husband and father of their stillborn child so it brought up some very painful memories for her.

Speaking to Jack Hodgson (David Caves) about Tom and what she went through, Nikki revealed: "We were having a baby and I lost it. It was a stillbirth at eight months. It was devastating, I spent my 21st birthday in hospital.

"When I got out, I knew it was over with Tom, I just wanted to be on my own and start again. Wipe the slate. He lost his child and then he lost me, and I barely looked around to see if he was still standing."

Due to this traumatic event that broke apart Nikki's relationship with Tom, the forensic pathologist felt she owed it to him to try and prove his innocence given the fact she'd treated him so coldly, as he claimed he had nothing to do with the murder and had even been set up.

Of course, Silent Witness fans had no idea that Nikki had ever been married as this is the first we've seen of Tom, so they were devastated to learn about her past. Many took to Twitter to comment...

Silent Witness fans have been on a bit of an emotional journey recently, as they were also concerned for Jack's health following some subtle clues. With Nikki and Jack growing closer, and dark truths coming to light, it's hard to know what's in store for the leading duo.

Meanwhile, Sam Ryan is still on the case and we're not sure whether she can be trusted, especially as Nikki already has concerns about her. But is she right to be suspicious of the newcomer? 

Speaking to What to Watch, actress Amanda Burton told us that returning to the Silent Witness set felt like "coming home", adding: "It was genuinely a really, lovely thing to step into Sam's shoes again and to catch up with who she is now and where she is in her life. 

"I loved the fact that she was still very much pioneering and busy and connected — that meant a lot to me."

Silent Witness continues on BBC1 on Monday, May 30 at 9 pm. Episodes are also available on BBC iPlayer.

Silent Witness is back with a brand new season and new cases to solve, but fans seem concerned about Jack Hodgson (David Caves) following multiple headache complaints.

Jack and Dr. Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) return for Silent Witness season 25 and we've also welcomed pathologist Sam Ryan (Amanda Burton) back for the first time since 2004. So it's a full house and lots going on, meaning some viewers didn't clock that Jack seemed to be struggling.

The first episode saw Sam Ryan summoning the Lyell team to help after the Heath Secretary was assassinated, but Nikki is unsure if she can trust her so there are already tensions between the two.

Throughout the course of the episode, Jack seemed bothered by a headache which at face value may seem like a minor ailment, but some fans on Twitter are worried that this points to a wider health problem.

With Jack being on our screens since season 16, he's been a major part of the Silent Witness universe which has led fans to worry that something could happen to him to add even more drama to the beloved BBC series.

Sharing their thoughts, fans have now questioned whether subtle references to Jack's headaches could point to "something more serious". Or is it simply a red herring?

During episode one, Jack and Nikki reconnected after sharing a kiss in season 24, where they appeared to pick up where they'd left off. Together they spent the night in the hotel bar, drinking and listening to music.

By the time they decided to leave, they lingered in the corridor as Nikki brought up their kiss that had to abruptly end.

She said: "It feels about a million years ago now but... what happened in the taxi. After the flood. I was worried that... Did I overstep the mark? Only because, I kissed you, then you had to go."

It turns out that Jack felt the same way as she did, insisting it was "always bad timing" before deciding to follow Nikki into her hotel room where the two spent the night together.

With things hotting up between the duo, could Jack's headaches cause complications down the line? We'll have to wait and see...

Silent Witness continues on BBC1 on Tuesday, May 24 at 9 pm. Previous episodes are available on-demand via BBC iPlayer.