Yes it's back!! And with a bang!!
Wednesday night saw the return of the long running series which started way back in the year of 1996. Back then it was the well known Amanda Burton playing the lead of Sam Ryan. She was then joined further down the line in 2002 with William Gaminara ... Read review
Advantages: likeable characters, good music and storylines Disadvantages: not enough episodes in series
Yes it's back!! And with a bang!!
Wednesday night saw the return of the long running series which started way back in the year of 1996. Back then it was the well known Amanda Burton playing the lead of Sam Ryan. She was then joined further down the line in 2002 with William Gaminara as Leo Dalton and Tom Ward as Harry Cunningham. Sam finally left in series 8 and that was when we met up with new character Nikki Alexander played be ... ...only enlisted to help analyse bones.
It's been just over a year since the drama has been on our telly screens and I can safely say it's been a long time coming. The team of forensic pathologists set out in each programme to provide evidence/clues of how these people died in suspicous circumstances. The actual programme is in fact based on Prof. Helen Witwell. The writer of Silent Witness had known her when she was serving as a police ... more
Yes it's back!! And with a bang!!
Wednesday night saw the return of the long running series which started way back in the year of 1996. Back then it was the well known Amanda Burton playing the lead of Sam Ryan. She was then joined further down the line in 2002 with William Gaminara as Leo Dalton and Tom Ward as Harry Cunningham. Sam finally left in series 8 and that was when we met up with new character Nikki Alexander played be Emilia Fox. Although at first she was a palaeontologist and only enlisted to help analyse bones.
It's been just over a year since the drama has been on our telly screens and I can safely say it's been a long time coming. The team of forensic pathologists set out in each programme to provide evidence/clues of how these people died in suspicous circumstances. The actual programme is in fact based on Prof. Helen Witwell. The writer of Silent Witness had known her when she was serving as a police officer.
As it has been noted before and will continue to do so if more series are produced, most of the police work is done by the pathologists themselves, mainly because the detectives are clearly useless and need a lot of pushing into the right direction. It is usually Leo Dalton who picks up on things which might of gone un-noticed or links things together. An idea that maybe a dog might have traces of wool in its teeth after savagly attacking somebody. Or a tiny pin prick or a broken nail etc.
Despite it being about three pathologists, there aren't too many unbearable scenes when they are cutting up the bodies and delving inside of them. In fact the most graphic ones are before they've been stripped down, like a young man dying of asyphixiation and being covered in what was obviously a lot of blood from his own body and from a cracked skull.
The storylines make in a slightly unassuming way an opportunity for the main characters be involved. You can guarantee that if somebody is suffering from a major wound by sheer coincidence Leo, Harry or Nikki will be close by.
Series 12, in my opinion like all the other ones, is far too short. I wait, longily for 12 long months, only to find out that there are only 4 programmes. Ok so each story is split into at least 2 episodes but it still indeptly annoying. Even more frustrating is that they insist on putting the second concluding part of a story on the very next night. Now this may seem like a great idea as it means you won't have forgotten anything. All the relative and necessary information is stored so things will click into place. By doing this, is means it's finished it about 4 weeks!!! Not nearly long enough. This is probably why it has been so successful. In that unlike other crime dramas because it's so short, viewers won't get bored of it because it's been dragged on and on. But surely one more programme isn't going to hurt!
The characters, and I don't care what anybody says, are very likeable. Leo, although it may not be too obvious to the untrained eye, is a charming and caring man. Especially in the last 2 series where it has come across a lot more than in previous ones. Sometimes, I'm big enough to admit this, he may seem cold and unmoved but that's what you've got to admire about him. That he can distance himself from important cases. Harry is equally nice and I have to say can have some cracking one liners. There isn't much more I can say about him along with Nikki, aside from when she was first introduce I saw her as being a bit of a drip!
Secretly I have been longing for the last 4 years that Harry and Nikki would become an item. As sad as that may sound, I have a slight feeling that that will not be happening in this series despite my hopes. A paramedic of the name of Ryan caught her eye in the first two programmes and despite the fact that Nikki told him to go away after he made some disagreeable comments, I have a slight suspicion that this won't be the last we've seen of him.
However love seems that it might be coming along for Leo in this 12th series which I think is only right. After all why should it only be the youngsters who get the relationships! I am unsure as to how it wil develop as we have not yet seen this lady who he likes asode from a two second clip in the advert!
It is always nice at first to admire how the characters have also changed in appearance since their last viewing. More so Nikki. Series 11 she appeared gauntly thin, very pale skinned and slightly ill. It might be the make up, her lovely new brown and wavy hair or simply the lighting but she looks much more healthier!! And Harrys got a new haircut! Not quite sure about the fringe but I'm hoping it will grow on me!
The catchy theme tune, (yes I think it is catchy!), is composed by Sheridan Tongue and I do like humming along to it at the beginning and end of each programme.
Silent Witness is appealing to a lot of people of all ages. Yes it is based on crimes which have been comitted but it still has different plots interlinked into it. Relationships, social life and doing things for the community they live in. It is the one criminal drama which since I've become an avid watcher which I have failed to lose interest in. Sometimes you don't get the outcome you want. Like the first story of series 12. You want this nasty piece of work to get sent to jail for ever but naturally a few times you aren't going to get evidence to stick. So they may only get 3 years rather than life for other crimes surrounded around the main murder.
Advantages: Thoughtful - well-plotted Disadvantages: Hate the character
Silent Witness has now become a relatively long running BBC crime series. The show stars Amanda Burton as Dr Sam Ryan, a criminal pathologist who usually plays the key role in solving a featured crime – in most episodes a murder. The storylines involved in most episodes tend to be nothing more unusual than any other crime series. As the stories develop, there are the usual token twists and convolutions that you would expect from any classic ... ...of the investigative work is actually completed by Dr Ryan. So is the series worth taking time to watch? Yes and No.
The element that sets these stories apart from most other police series is the science. Dr Ryan is normally requested to carry out the autopsy of a victim killed in mysterious circumstances. The autopsy scenes are generally carried out in some detail – more so in some episodes than others - and Dr Ryan very quickly notices details ...
LostWitness 14.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of BBC1 - Silent Witness
Advantages: 2 part stories shown in the same week Disadvantages: Some lame plots
BACKGROUND This BBC1 series started in about 1997 and it originally centred around Professor Sam Ryan (Amanda Burton). She worked as a pathologist ie did post mortems on dead bodies. Usually, there was a crime involved and she found out what happened to the victim or victims, often ignoring the instructions of higher (usually male) members of staff.
As Dead Ringers put it "My name is Professor Sam Ryan and I'm always right".
Since Amanda Burton ... ...more ensemble piece and I feel it benefits from this. The people seem more human without their being any gender issues, for instance. Also, the last proper series starring Amanda Burton was very political - government workers were murdered, for instance and it dealt with intrigue, rather than the lives of ordinary people. CHARACTERS
Emilia Fox who plays apprentice pathologist Nikki Alexander joined last year. She joins Dr Leo Dalton (William Gaminara) ...
Mel27 10.08.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of BBC1 - Silent Witness
Advantages: Well written and involvong Disadvantages: Perhaps not especially true to life
The SILENT WITNESS series from the BBC is based around the central character of Dr Sam Ryan (Amanda Burton), a top forensic pathologist who inevitably plays a central role in solving the many cases that come her way. The series is adapted from the novels of Nigel Mcrery.
Dr Ryan, originally a home office pathologist working in Cambridge (coincidentally where she graduated from - not just anybody is our Sam) to progress to become a high ranking professor ... ...But she still finds time to solve those muders with a damn site more speed and efficientcy than the police officers with whom she works, bless her. Does this woman never sleep????
Joking aside though, this is usually an interesting and involving series. The crimes have plenty of twists and unusual aspects to them, with the indenty of the criminal normally well concealed until the final revelation (made by Sam, of course). This should appeal to most ...
Collingwood21 25.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of BBC1 - Silent Witness
