Silent Witness

Silent Witness has been going on for several seasons already. I think I’ve been around for three of them, but that was late in the series. It started some time in the 1990’s. In any case, if you’ve seen Crossing Jordan you’ll have some idea about the genre.

Personally, I like Silent Witness better. I do have one, only one, which is unfortunate, favorite character, in each series, but usually I prefer the British series.

It’s set in London at a university (probably University of London, but what do I know? They might have more than one.), at the department of pathology of whatever they call it. Two pathologists work under a professor (well, there might be more pathologists, but the viewers get to follow these two). They perform autopsies and help the police solve criminal cases or eliminate the natural deaths from their lists.

Unlike in the American equivalent, there are no particular ‘effects’. There’s no cop returning in each episode (like Woody, played by Jerry O Connell). Instead there are new cops in each episode.

Sometimes, but not often, you get to take a look at the personal lives of the pathologists. That’s not always pleasant. For instance at the beginning of one of the latest seasons, Professor Dalton loses his wife and daughter in a very tragic accident. A car hits a cafe, killing everyone or almost everyone in there.

In Crossing Jordan, almost all the main characters irritate me. The ones in Silent Witness don’t.

It’s an interesting series and sometimes also exciting. I don’t think I can mention anything negative about it. Except for one thing, maybe. My constantly stressed out sister says she’s having trouble focusing on the episodes. They’re quite long. Movie length. Possibly they were meant to be shown in two parts. That would make it a longer series with shorter episodes. Like Crossing Jordan. Personally I prefer finished storylines. The only thing making movie length episodes a little tiresome is the commercial breaks.

In any case, I can really recommend this series if you like the cop series genre (or the pathologist, forensic subgenre). This one is just a little different. One detail: there’s a very beautiful song playing at the beginning and the end of the show. It sounds like gregorian chant or at least some type of religious music. I’m no expert, but I do know I find it really beautiful. One more thing. I think Harry, the youngest male pathologist, is kind of cute, if not really hot, if that means anything to anyone. 🙂