Crime shows come and go in increasing numbers, but the one constant over the past thirty years has been BBC One. Silent Witness. The aging forensic drama made a strong return for its 27th season with a twisty double episode written by series veterans Doody Appleton and Jim Keeble.
It all started today with the discovery of dead crows hanging from a cemetery tree like a collection of creepy Christmas baubles. In the church itself, a dead man prayed before the altar after being strangled with a wax rope.
This gruesome theatrical scene was interspersed with footage of police interrogations from 2004: arrogant suspect Calvin Dunn (Leo Staar) smirkingly answering questions about four murders carried out in the same manner as the one committed in the church twenty years later. Dunn was never charged and later disappeared after DNA evidence proved he was the killer. Has he now returned to his old habits?
This was not a question from our usual forensic investigators, Dr. Kelly. Nikki Alexander and Jack Hodgson (Emilia Fox and David Caves), who constantly reminded viewers that they can only examine the physical evidence in front of them. Such speculation was left to an officer named DCI Ford (Josette Simon), who conducted the first interviews with Dunn in 2004. She immediately canceled plans for a retirement party when news of the church murder broke.
John Hannah was another guest star, playing the pathologist who performed the initial autopsy. His wife also disappeared in 2004 and is believed to be another of Dunn’s victims. Why was he so convinced that his wife’s body was in a nearby tank and Dunn was long dead?
But if he’s dead, who broke into Dunn’s daughter’s house and left messages on her phone that matched her father’s? And then there’s Dunn’s son Lee (Anders Hayward), who provided an alibi for his father as a child and is now a traumatized adult working as a paramedic.
You’re not looking Silent Witness for his brilliant dialogue or psychologically compelling characterization. But most of the time he manages to tell a straightforward story. There were a few questionable moments, such as Jack’s deaf niece Cara (Rhiannon May) accidentally seeing a recording of Dunn’s 2004 police interview on her uncle’s laptop and seeing Dunn utter the word “idiots” to his interrogators.
But it was a small thing that did not detract from the thread that likely continued to develop. And I would give it the highest honor that can be given to a crime novel – I was very curious to find out who did it.
Armchair detectives might wonder whether Dunn is alive, since that would require aging actor Leo Staar – but it shouldn’t be beyond the reach of a good make-up artist and modern prosthetics.
As it is, I rather admire Fox’s commitment to the role of Nikki – she took it over in 2004 – which has long eclipsed Amanda Burton’s original eight-episode series as the title character. She’s such a strong presence on the show that it took a long time for Fox to cast her in another cozy crime drama in 2022. Signora VolpeIn it, she played a disillusioned British spy turned detective in sunny Tuscany.
But it’s good that the actress has returned to her place. This means she stands next to murky bodies of water in the dead of winter while police divers look for more bodies to photograph and rummage through. Fox probably already knows enough about his job to do it in real life.
Source: I News
I am Harvey Rodriguez, an experienced news reporter and author with 24 News Reporters. My main areas of expertise are in entertainment and media. I have a passion for uncovering stories about the people behind the scenes that bring the entertainment world to life. I take pride in providing my readers with timely and accurate information on all aspects of the entertainment industry.