The WORST episodes of Silent Witness
Every episode of Silent Witness ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Silent Witness!
Forensic pathologists face personal and professional challenges in a moody, tense thriller that moves from the crime scene to the lab.
#1 - Duty of Candour (1)
Season 21 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/15/2018
A series of tragic events are linked to the hacking of a hospital database and the subsequent blackmailing of patients.
#2 - Duty of Candour (2)
Season 21 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/16/2018
The team wonder if the hack is the only danger as they come under threat. Jack has to decide how to get closure.
#3 - One Day (1)
Season 21 - Episode 7 - Aired 1/29/2018
After a fatal traffic accident, suspicion falls on a care home resident, but is the suspicion justified?
#4 - Grace of God (2)
Season 29 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/24/2026
Nikki and the rest of the Bowman team must race against the clock to prove Jack innocent before they are also found guilty of their own transgressions.
#5 - One Day (2)
Season 21 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/30/2018
The team continue to investigate the truth around the care home deaths. Clarissa's determination to find out the shocking truth puts her life in danger.
#6 - Shame (2)
Season 29 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/3/2026
After the case takes an unexpected turn, the death of a second victim brings the team closer to uncovering the truth, and Nikki finds herself in danger.
#7 - Only The Lonely (1)
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/21/1997
The murder of a married woman who was having an affair seems straightforward. Friction develops between Dr Ryan and the police when the evidence complicates their case.
#8 - Sins of the Fathers (1)
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/27/1996
Tragedy strikes after a student asks Sam for advice over her arranged marriage, and then sees her family torn apart.
#9 - A Kind of Justice (2)
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 6/9/1999
Sam challenges the police after an indepenedent postmortem into McNally's apparent suicide. Further deaths take place.
#10 - Greater Love (1)
Season 16 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/7/2013
Human remains found on an Afghan water supply project send Leo, Nikki and Jack to the war-torn region to establish if it is a missing British soldier.
#11 - Cease Upon The Midnight (1)
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/28/1997
Stuart Evans is in the advanced stages of Aids when he dies, and his body is donated to science. However a routine toxicology test reveals foul play was at work.
#12 - Moment of Surrender (1)
Season 21 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/8/2018
The team investigate the death of a man found in a reservoir. Nikki and Jack deal with the aftermath of their Mexico trip.
#13 - Only The Lonely (2)
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/28/1997
The murderer makes a direct threat against Sam's life after she uncovers the evidence needed to identify them.
#14 - True Love Waits (1)
Season 16 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/24/2013
When a pub landlady is stabbed to death and her little finger cut off, Nikki is isolated in her quest to prove the husband's innocence.
#15 - Domestic (1)
Season 15 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/8/2012
A puzzling family murder in suburbia deeply affects Harry who has history with the family.
#16 - Terror (1)
Season 12 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/15/2008
The team investigates an armed raid on a suspected terrorist cell in which two suspects and a police officer are killed.
#17 - Friends Like These (2)
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/11/1997
Sam's pursuit of her own theories leads her into dangerous places, both personally and professionally.
#18 - A Good Body (1)
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 6/15/1999
Sam searches for the identity of a victim of a cinema fire. A medical artist helps her reconstruct the face, but the result causes some embarrassment for the police.
#19 - Kith and Kill (2)
Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/6/2002
A new murder turns DCI Ashton's suspicions toward the victim's family and friends, whilst Harry investigates a death that may be linked to the Irons family.
#20 - Gone Tomorrow (2)
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 5/31/1999
All Sam's skills are required when 10 more bodies are recovered from the North Sea, and the piecing together of the jigsaw of evidence begins in earnest with her pathology team.
#21 - Brothers in Arms (2)
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/30/1998
Sam looks for connections between Ian Neal and a killing in Northern Ireland in 1985. Meanwhile DI Connor's wife arrives in Cambridge.
#22 - Star (1)
Season 26 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/16/2023
The team are called in to explore the dark side of social media when a man is found dead at a festival. Is it a drug overdose or something much more sinister?
#23 - Running on Empty (2)
Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/26/2003
Following her discovery of the second body and believing the cases to be linked, Sam is sidelined from the investigation as she attempts to get to the truth.
#24 - Fear (2)
Season 15 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/30/2012
Nikki and Harry track down the Catholic nun behind the exorcism, only to find that John now believes he's possessed - but can he be saved?
#25 - Life Licence (1)
Season 19 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/18/2016
When an ex-convict is brutally murdered, the Lyell team is introduced to a forensic psychologist who works closely with those released from prison on life licence.