Silent Witness new series (spoiler if you've not seen tonight's)

[PortalooSunset]

What the actual?! It gets more unbelievable every series. Now they expect us to believe that despite never once having even so much as hinted at it in the 18 years she's been in the show prior to that by less than a couple of years she was not only married but suffered a still birth?? Crazy.

Not sure if I've had a glass too many of OHs birthday single malt or if it's beyond complicated 🤪. Manipulating DNA? Really?

Totally ridiculous - I've given up.
The script seems stilted and the acting is awkward.

Not just married… but married to the bloke ‘what dunnit’ in Broadchurch to boot 😂

ridiculous nonsense. Obviously I’ll keep watching 🤣

I switched channel about 25 minutes in of yesterday's episode 2, it's absolutely terrible. Also the blossoming romance of goody two shoes Nicky with rough and ready Jack almost seemed embarrassing to watch. Feel sorry for Simone having to work with the lovesick duo.

Must say I was surprised about the ex-husband, kept trying to think if I'd missed an episode over the past years where I would have known that! 🙄

Will not be bothering with the rest of it. Shame, as it used to be quite good with Harry and Leo in it.

God yes. And the fact you are supposed to remember who any of these people are. It's crime fluff: I don't watch it to get invested in the characters and none of them make enough of an impression to particularly remember even a season later.

It took me most of the first episode to remember Simone's backstory and I'd completely forgotten the jack/nicky kiss. Mind you, I usually craft at the same time, it's a great programme for only half paying attention 😀

Saw episode 1, thought I'd recorded episode 2 so did a good deed whoever said no good deed goes unpunished is absolutely right.
I hadn't set the recorder 🙈

We can't get the BBC IPlayer, sadly, though I'd be willing to pay an annual fee.

Caught the last 15 minutes or so, so missed the beginning onwards.
Could someone please do a quick recap please.
Thank you

I just can’t believe they’ve decided to make Sam Ryan some criminal mastermind. If you’re going to bring back the heart and soul of Silent Witness, make it so she saves the day with her scientific genius, not because she has turned into a baddy!

Who, Nikki??

I thought the last series was terrible but this has really plunged new depths.
During lockdown I watched quite a lot of the old series (they’re all on iPlayer), and it reminded me how good it used to be. Quite gritty too, when it started. Now it’s more of a feeble soap about the love life of a middle-aged pathologist where people’s characters and histories can be completely re-written for the sake of a storyline.

I reckon she's going to turn out to not be bad! I reckon it's the daughter in law who is manipulating the DNA

History has repeated itself! When Sam originally left we were meant to believe she had a 30 year old son she’d given up for adoption. Having binge watched all the episodes, she absolutely definitely hadn’t had children until it was thrown into her final episode to be the reason for her leaving 🤦🏻‍♀️

For some reason one of the credits caught my eye - Intimacy Co-ordinator. Co-ordinating Jack and Nicky's snog, I assume. It must be quite a conversation stopper socially when they reveal what they do for a living.

My theory is that they're not manipulating the DNA, they're manipulating the database so that Faulkner's DNA apparently matches that of the samples they've planted.

I refuse to think Sam is a baddy, she's got some deeper motivation, hence bringing in Nikki to ensure her plans come to fruition.

But I agree the back story for Nikki is ridiculous. I remember when she first turned up, she was a keen but quite ditsy type. No hint whatsoever of a troubled recent past.

I haven't really watched since Amanda Burton left, but I tuned in for her return. Not convinced by some of the acting and hope Sam isn't going to turn out to be the bad guy.

Did anyone watch it last night? They seem to have gone for a different approach for this season? So the Sam and Nikki's ex storyline is going to run across all episodes but there are going to be less complex cases to solve in the interim? Yesterday's episode seemed to be from an entirely different drama really, didn't you think?

I found last night's episode very odd.
Is there a new writer or director ?
The soon to be retired detective looked far too old to be about to retire.
The interaction between Simone and her grandmother was strange.
The detective telling the child what he thought had happened instead of getting the child to tell him.
The "happy clappy" litter picking neighbours 🙄
It was really obvious how that would turn out.
Interviewing the mother alone.
Surely she'd have a solicitor ?
Or another interviewer there too ?

Not up to the usual high standard.

@LadyEloise1 agree with all your points. What on earth is the no-longer-so-saintly-Sam up to?

I fell asleep -would never have happened in the old days!

It's a totally different storyline tonight, with a focus on Jack's past (haven't we been there a few times previously?).

I almost fell asleep during yesterday's episode. It was obvious from the start who the killer was. Not particularly enjoying this backstory and sad that they've changed the format to show different cases each episode. I've been watching older seasons and I can't believe how much Nicky's character has changed. She used to be so easy going

The woman caring for Jack's father, Margaret is Frances Tomelty, ex wife of Sting.

@LadyEloise1 I thought it was FT, having recently seen her in an episode of the CTM (where she had the festering ulcer on her face) but forgot to check the credits.

She was in it before as Harry’s mum! Always thought Nikki was much better suited to Harry than Jack.

@icecreamgirl94 well that's a bit ridiculous isn't it (re Frances Tomelty playing Harry's mother previously)? Well remembered. Yes, agree that Nikki and Harry were a much more believable couple.

I am struggling with the new format - still on two consecutive nights but unrelated cases, but a couple of arcs running through all episodes so far. The Lyell is missing the "head honcho" figure and I miss Clarissa. It's drifting in so many ways, like the writers have stuck the script in a dinghy and waved it off....