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 The
dead are still telling tales as the 10th series of BBC One's chilling
crime drama, Silent Witness, unveils a brand-new collection of
scalpel-sharp, two-part stories. And, with its unerring flair for
topicality, the series' storylines this time include people trafficking
and animal rights extremists.
Here, Emilia Fox – who joined
the cast in 2004 as apprentice pathologist Nikki Alexander, following
the departure of Dr Sam Ryan (Amanda Burton) – tells Doreen Brooks why
she loves working on the series ... and reveals that there's a hint of
romance for Nikki.
It's 9am in Los Angeles and
Emilia, who married Jared Harris, son of the legendary Richard, last
July, is enthusing about her continued role in this edge-of-the-seat
drama in which victims of sometimes appalling brutality share their
final secrets with a dedicated team on an unquenchable search for the
truth.
The flaxen-haired star, daughter
of actors Edward Fox and Joanna David and niece of James Fox, is
incisive about the series' appeal.
"When I went to see an
autopsy, that really told me what is so fascinating about Silent Witness
as a programme," she declares. "Actually going through the
body is a detective process of finding out how and why someone died by
looking at each organ and a slow unravelling of that story.
"But I think what Silent
Witness does is to combine that element of discovery – the
intelligence of the science - with the chosen subjects. They're often
topical so they seem very relevant to what's going on in the world
today. And the fact that they're two-hour dramas means you have
something to really get your teeth into over two nights."
The first episode, Cargo,
follows the plight of Chinese immigrants and made a great impact on the
cast.
"Because it's about Chinese
immigrants it was a story that I found very touching," explains
Emilia, who stars alongside William Gaminara, as Professor Leo Dalton,
and Tom Ward, as Dr Harry Cunningham. "You felt very sympathetic
towards the characters involved and also it made you think, 'God, this
is actually going on'."
In episode three, Body Of Work,
Nikki and Harry share a kiss – so could love be lurking in the far
from romantic setting of the mortuary and its Silent Witnesses?
"It's a very ambiguous
kiss," says Emilia, injecting her own syringe of ambiguity into her
answer. "You're not quite sure what it means in the context of how
it happens; you're not quite sure whether it has got a romantic
intention."
And she stresses: "They
obviously like each other a lot but they are in a workplace and whether
one should begin that relationship within the workplace because it makes
all sorts of other complications..? But they definitely get on very well
together. Whether something will happen or not, I don't know," she
adds tantalisingly.
Emilia Fox"And I loved Body
Of Work because that was very much Harry and Nikki's story," she
explains. "We're interlinked and that's always fun. Because
sometimes we go off on our own cases and we hardly see each other
throughout the filming of the episode, so it was rather lovely that the
three of us [including William Gaminara] were much more together."
Emilia enjoyed the topicality of
the final episode, Schism, in which she's kidnapped by the leader of an
extremist animal rights group.
"It couldn't be more
relevant with what's going on in Oxford at the moment," she says.
"They [the programme makers] really listen to the comments that
people have had about the series and try to please what is a
fantastically loyal audience. Everyone is very aware of how lucky we are
to be still making Silent Witness and want to make it as enjoyable as it
has always been."
The role of Nikki appealed to
Emilia from the start.
"I think that it's lovely
to be asked to be part of a series which has been very successful, and I
was very aware of not being the person who was seen to come in and take
over from Sam Ryan, because you can't replace Sam Ryan. But I watched a
lot of the episodes that they'd done from the beginning and I really
enjoyed them – it's a series I would enjoy watching if I'm at home. I
think that's important because then it means that you get very involved
in the storylines.
"I really liked what they
had planned for Nikki and that she was quite a lively character,"
she explains. "I thought it was interesting that she had a past in
pathology in South Africa but had chosen to be an archaeological
pathologist, which means that they can always use that in the
storylines. It was one of those jobs which seem too good to be
true," she laughs.
The evolvement of Nikki has been
the subject of "long discussions" ahead of the series being
filmed at the end of this year.
"She's quite an impulsive
character," says Emilia, "and I think she relates, sometimes
to her detriment, very quickly to the people who are involved in the
story. So she sort of dives in, with good heart, but sometimes without
caution."
Emilia, who attended Oxford
University and speaks French and German, recalls attending an autopsy as
part of her initial research.
"Funnily enough," she
confesses, "you're your own worst nightmare: you'll be very
embarrassing and faint or be sick. But in fact, because what they're
doing is so riveting, you stop seeing it as something gruesome and
become involved in the detective process.
"I think that's what
happens when you watch the programme; any of the sort of gory bits are
replaced by a fascination with how it's going to help you find out what
the episode is about."
Despite its darkness, the series
does have its lighter moments.
"All the time!" says
Emilia, who also plays the cello and piano and is skilled in martial
arts. "A lot of pathologists come on set to advise us and they've
always got a fantastic sense of humour. They say you have to, because
otherwise, what you're dealing with is so dark you'd spend your life
miserable and very depressed. So they've really encouraged us to find
the humour in it but without being insensitive to the subject."
Emilia has worked with Tom
before, when they both appeared in the BBC's classic drama Pride And
Prejudice in 1995, although their paths never crossed.
"I don't think we were even
in the same room together – but it's where both our careers
began," she muses.
Since then, London-born Emilia
(31) has travelled into the past for other period dramas including Mrs
de Winter in Rebecca – a role her mother had played in 1979 – The
Scarlet Pimpernel, David Copperfield, Helen Of Troy, Henry VIII,
Gunpowder, Treason & Plot and The Virgin Queen.
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