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 - 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.
#5 - 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.
#6 - 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.
#7 - 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.
#8 - 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.
#9 - 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.
#10 - 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.
#11 - 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.
#12 - 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.
#13 - Fallen Idol (1)
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/2/1998
A young woman is found dead in an empty house. Why was she there? Sam suspects another person was involved.
#14 - Divided Loyalties (2)
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 4/16/1998
Are the deaths linked to a drug war or is this the work of vigilantes? Sam suspects a personal tragedy is at the heart of things.
#15 - 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.
#16 - 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.
#17 - Tell no Tales (2)
Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/20/2002
As Sam searches for the killer of Marcus Saul, Harry finds himself involved in the tragic death of a student from the medical faculty.
#18 - 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.
#19 - 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.
#20 - 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.
#21 - Domestic (2)
Season 15 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/9/2012
Harry and Nikki discover more about the tangled lives of the inhabitants of Magnolia Drive.
#22 - 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.
#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 - Flight (1)
Season 19 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/11/2016
A young British Muslim returns secretly to the UK, initially suspected of drug smuggling, but soon something much more sinister is feared.