Silent Witness season 28 will see Emilia Fox return as Dr Nikki Alexander for a fresh set of tough cases and she will surely be up against at least one serial killer!
The BBC has confirmed that the long-running hit will be back in January 2025, as the show that started in 1996 — yes, 1996! — continues to go from strength to strength. The new series will feature five brand-new stories, told over ten episodes.
Two new cast members are joining. Maggie Steed (Paddington 2, Rivals) will play Harriet Maven — the new Head of The Lyell Centre — while Francesca Mills (The Witcher: Blood Origin, Worzel Gummidge) will play Kit Brooks, a Crime Analyst who works with Jack (David Caves).
At the heart of the most recent series has been the growing relationship between Nikki and Jack Hodgson (David Caves). It will also be interesting to see if Nikki has any more natty knitwear in the new series! Speaking about Nikki's outfits, Emilia once said: "I only ever go to the shops when I go costume shopping. We all have an influence on what we wear in the show. It's a contemporary show, and certainly, I've found the pathologists we have met have very particular styles of dressing. That's part of the fun of the character, and it seems to be a part which people address on social media a lot — hairstyles and what we're wearing."
Here's everything we know about Silent Witness season 28…
Silent Witness season 28 release date
Silent Witness season 28 will begin on BBC One on Monday, January 6 at 9 pm. The second episode airs the following night, Tuesday, January 7 at 9 pm. Episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer. We don't have a US release date yet.
Meanwhile, it's been revealed there will be a Silent Witness season 29 on the way in 2026.
Cast
Emilia Fox returns as Dr Nikki Alexander, a part she's played since 2004. David Caves is back as Jack Hodgson. Maggie Steed joins as Harriet Maven — the new Head of The Lyell Centre — and Francesca Mills joins as Kit Brooks, a Crime Analyst who works with Jack (David Caves).
On joining the cast, Steed says: "I was delighted to be asked to join Silent Witness. I've enjoyed it many times over the years and it's always been the most intriguing and entertaining series going, so it's been a thrill to join."
Francesca Mills says: "I'm thrilled to be joining such a long-running, much-loved series as Silent Witness and I really look forward to being a part of the stellar cast. This will be the 28th Series, and it is still going from strength to strength."
There's been no mention of Velvy (Alastair Michael), Gabriel (Aki Omoshaybi), or Cara (Rhiannon May) so it's unclear if they will feature at all in the new series.
Plot
So spoilers ahead if you've not seen the end of Silent Witness season 27. OK, so Nikki and Jack are engaged which means we could have a Silent Witness wedding. Funnily when Emilia and David were on The One Show host Alex Jones started joking about a Silent Witness wedding and the pair looked quite awkward as Alex had basically guessed what's going to happen. Given Nikki's disastrous relationship history, there has to be a fear that something horrible will happen to Jack. However, we're not sure killing him off would go down very well with the fan base. We don't have any official information yet from the BBC plot-wise, however, we do have the episode titles for the new series and the final two-part story is titled "I Believe in Love… What Else Can I Do?".
That title could be seen as being taken from Carly Simon's 1987 song "Coming Around Again". The song is thought to be about enjoying a belief in love despite losing it — is Nikki going to lose Jack?
It could signify that the characters go their own ways after the failure of their relationship but are still optimistic they can each find love in the future. The song was penned for the movie Heartburn starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson, which is about a doomed marriage. Not a great sign again for Nikki and Jack!
Now, a more positive spin on the song reference is that it's referring to Nikki's many past romantic failings but this time the love is for real. What does seem clear from the title of the final two-part story is that these will be key episodes for the future of Nikki and Jack.
Is there a trailer?
No, not yet.
Silent Witness season 28 behind the scenes and more
Silent Witness is a BBC Studios Drama production. The executive producers are Suzi McIntosh for BBC Studios, Nawfal Faizullah for the BBC, and Emilia Fox. Seán Gleeson is Producer. BBC Studios handles global distribution.
