Crime drama series Silent Witness dealt with the mostly gruesome cases of police pathologist Sam Ryan, at first a doctor and later Professor, Sam would let nothing get in her way if she thought the police were following the wrong track (and quite often they were). From 2002 Ryan took more of a back seat with the introduction of two new regular colleagues in the shape of Leo Dalton and Harry Cunningham. In the first story of the 8th season Sam Ryan left the series. Her two colleagues, Leo and Harry, who had been introduced in 2002 carried on and a new character Nikki Alexander was introduced as their junior colleague.
Remarkably long running and still one of the most popular shows on television, SW is not always an easy watch and is never shy at dealing with difficult subjects. Series creator McCrery was himself a former murder squad detective and actually based the character of Sam on one of his former colleagues. The show generally runs to 2×60 minute episodes for each story but for seasons three through to five went to a feature length single story format.
production details
UK | BBC One | x60 minutes / Premiered on 21 February 1996
Creator: Nigel McCrery
Title Music sung by Sarah Leonard
Music: John Harle
cast
AMANDA BURTON as Sam Ryan (-2004)
EMILIA FOX as Nikki Alexander (from 2004)
MICK FORD as DS Peter Ross (1997)
NICOLA REDMOND as DI Rachel Selway
RUTH McCABE as Wyn Ryan
RICHARD HUW as DS Tony Speed
WILLIAM GAMINARA as Leo Dalton (2002-)
TOM WARD as Harry Cunningham (2002-)
