The WORST episodes of Silent Witness

#1 - Duty of Candour (1)

Season 21 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/15/2018

A woman is murdered and the forensic evidence takes the team to a cosmetic clinic where the victim had been receiving various treatments seemingly for free, but Nikki and Silva are frustrated by the CEO of Hamilton Ashe hospital when he blocks access to Karen's medical records. Meanwhile, when his daughter Rosie turns up at the Lyell as her mum is in hospital over a pregnancy complication, Thomas must play the doting father for a few weeks - a role that does not come naturally.

#2 - Duty of Candour (2)

Season 21 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/16/2018

Nikki comes face-to-face with Simon Laing once again as the motive for the murders appears to be blackmail. The hospital computer database has been hacked and Clarissa and Max follow the forensic clues to a teenage hacker called Splinter. The danger comes much closer to home, however, when Nikki receives a threatening text with a picture of Rosie.

#3 - One Day (1)

Season 21 - Episode 7 - Aired 1/29/2018

While two care home staff are chasing Kevin McDowd, a young man with learning disabilities and sociopathic tendencies, Nikki and Jack examine a fatal road accident where the deceased is Kevin McDowd's mother. The investigation led by police sergeant Button should be straightforward, but the forensic evidence suggests foul play.

#4 - One Day (2)

Season 21 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/30/2018

The team are determined to uncover the truth about unexplained deaths of patients at a care home. They are desperate to rescue Serena and return her to safety. Unbeknownst to her colleagues in the Lyell Centre, Clarissa allows herself to be admitted to the care home in order to investigate. Her determination to find out what happened at the care home leads her to uncover a shocking truth, but puts her life in danger.

#5 - A Kind of Justice (2)

Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 6/8/1999

#6 - Moment of Surrender (1)

Season 21 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/8/2018

Nikki struggles to come to terms with life back home and seeks out fellow pathologist Sally Vaughan for support, only to learn she is nowhere to be found. National Crime Agency investigator Guy Bernhardt asks Nikki to help him by employing pathologist David Cannon, the chief suspect in Sally's disappearance. As Jack, Clarissa and Thomas share concerns about Nikki's wellbeing, a body found in a reservoir is linked to a murder case from 16 years previously. Return of the crime drama, starring Emilia Fox, with Julian Rhind-Tutt and Alex Macqueen.

#7 - Greater Love (1)

Season 16 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/7/2013

British Army Corporal Scott Lambert requests Leo's expertise in identifying human remains unearthed in Afghanistan, believed to be those of his brother Daniel, who went missing in action five years ago, suspected of being captured by the Taliban. Anxious Leo, Nikki and Jack head for the war-torn country in search of the truth about the soldier's mysterious disappearance. Staying in a compound by a small town with ex-military security officer Sean Nugent and his detail, the team discovers that there is far more at stake than simply identifying a soldier's remains. The crime scene is preventing the completion of a vital charity water sanitation plant project, spearheaded by inspirational Afghan charity worker Fawzia Joya. And although initially understanding of the team's mission, when ruthless Taliban attacks begin to threaten their investigation, she fears the construction delay will jeopardise the project's completion, putting thousands of Afghan lives at risk from contaminated water.

#8 - A Good Body (1)

Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 6/15/1999

When a fire breaks out in an art centre in Cambridge, Michael Connor turns to Sam to help, who goes back to Cambridge to investigate the deaths. Twelve bodies are found, but they have trouble identifying some. As they attempt to identify Body 10, it becomes linked to an old murder case.

#9 - Gone Tomorrow (2)

Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 5/31/1999

#10 - Only the Lonely (1)

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/21/1997

Sam is called to the scene of a woman found strangled with her own tights. Superintendent Peter Ross believes that it is connected to an old unsolved case, but Sam is not so sure. The dead woman was suspected of having an affair with Alan Whyte, and soon his body is also found.

#11 - Domestic (2)

Season 15 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/9/2012

Harry and Nikki delve deeper into the tangled lives of the inhabitants of Magnolia Drive.

#12 - Kith and Kill (2)

Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/6/2002

#13 - Sins of the Fathers (1)

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/27/1996

Dr. Sam Ryan's advice is sought on when the arranged marriage of a Vietnamese student, Tran, to an older man goes tragically wrong when a charred body is found in the burnt out restaurant owned by Tran's father - The victim is the man which Tran was forced to marry. Sam investigates the murder.

#14 - Terror (1)

Season 12 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/15/2008

The team investigates an armed raid on a suspected terrorist cell in which two terrorists and a police officer are killed. When Nikki's findings point to a bungled raid with innocent lives being lost, people start to pass the buck. Fighting hostility and closed ranks, she beguiles her way into the police armed response unit to try to uncover what might have gone wrong. Harry is given the task of identifying one of the victims.

#15 - Life Licence (1)

Season 19 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/18/2016

An ex-convict is killed and suspicion lands on a recently released child killer.

#16 - Domestic (1)

Season 15 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/8/2012

Harry is disturbed to be called to a crime scene at the home of a family he knows, and finds the bodies of the mother and her teenage daughter, while her stepson lies in a coma - although her toddler has been left unharmed. The police suspect the woman's husband to be the killer - but the pathologist is not so sure of his guilt. The double-murder investigation reveals more about the tangled lives of the inhabitants of Magnolia Drive

#17 - Fallen Idol (1)

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/2/1998

Sam is called to the scene of the death of a Gemma Boyd, who appears to have fallen down the stairs. Sam believes that she has actually been pushed and sets out to find her killer.

#18 - Brothers in Arms (2)

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/23/1998

#19 - Redhill (2)

Season 15 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/23/2012

The team continue to investigate the murder at the notorious Redhill prison where the efforts to control the drugs trade on the wing continue. Harry and Nikki take a good look into Detective Inspector Bridges’ past, and make a significant discovery.

#20 - 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, her husband, Roly, is the prime suspect. However, as Nikki, Jack, and emotionally fragile detective, DI Kate Warren, piece together mounting evidence, inconsistencies lead Nikki to believe Roly's innocent. She's desperate to reunite him with his traumatised daughter, Emma, who faces a life in foster care if her father is imprisoned. Isolated in her quest to prove Roly's innocence, Nikki is defeated when Roly is charged with murder, and about to lose his daughter forever. But when Nikki and Leo unearth several old murder cases where the victims' fingertips were cut off, they begin to suspect Roly is the new target of a serial killer. The spotlight soon falls on ex-cop Alan Lane, who served eight years for killing his wife, Imogen, despite her body never being found, only her severed fingertip.

#21 - And Then I Fell in Love (1)

Season 15 - Episode 11 - Aired 8/19/2012

Nikki stumbles across a sinister underworld where teenage girls are groomed for sex and forced into prostitution.

#22 - Familiar Faces (2)

Season 26 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/10/2023

The Lyell team work together to find out why the lorry was found with bodies inside and a dead driver at the wheel, and are truly shocked to discover where it leads them. Gabriel becomes emotionally invested and is presented with an ethical dilemma, and Jack gets a surprise visit.

#23 - Running on Empty (2)

Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/26/2003

#24 - Fear (2)

Season 15 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/30/2012

Leo is determined to learn the circumstances about the death of Eve Gilston. Nikki and Harry manage to find the nun who performed the exorcism but are surprised by what they find. Eve’s mother Beth Gilston is confronted by Leo and che omes close tod iscovering the truth about what actually happened the night before her daughter died.

#25 - Divided Loyalties (2)

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 4/15/1998