Silent Witness (TV Series) Familiar Faces - Part 1 (2023) User Reviews

Better than last week's.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 10 January 2023]

A group of youngsters stumble across a grizzly scene, a truck full of dead and half dead people, the team initially think the people on board were being trafficked.

After the very poor previous episode, my expectations were lowered going into this one. In fairness it was definitely better than last week's incomprehensible story, but it wasn't perfect. As a viewer I felt as though I was being preached at several times, I know the show has always been political, but it was overdone here.

The story, I'll be honest, I thought it was very, very good, I loved the sense of mystery, plenty of questions arose, what happened on that truck, and who are the bad guys?

Gabriel and Velvy, I'm not sure about either yet, neither are coming across particularly strong yet, maybe a storyline each may make them more interesting, so far just a little lost in comparison to Nikki and Jack.

Best element had to be DI Torres, I thought Nadine Marshall gave us the best guest Detective for quite a while, she was really good, she had some presence, I really did like the character, totally feasible.

A mixed bag, but the story was a strong one.

6/10.

Poor writing and production.

[JimUK69 · 6/10 · 10 January 2023]

Police woman was useless, A. Goes off on search without the armed backup. B. Goes into industrial cold room without checking door won't close behind her. C. Idendifies a black Jeep escaping and doesn't spot it, clearly parked, when they first visit the flower nursery. D. Stands by a busy road with suspect in handcuffs, and heavy lorries going past, without holding on to her. Ended up trying to tell her as I could totally guess what would happen! I've watched and enjoyed Silent Witness for many years, but finding latest season not as good as it has been. Will stick with it in the hope of stronger storylines.

Boring police characters and simplistic storylines

[jvhague · 5/10 · 10 January 2023]

How did the writer come up with such boring DI characters? They are thin as a pancakes. Series 26 so far is such a let down. The writing is poor, and so boring! If this trend continues, the series will come to end after all these years. Come on BBC sort it out!

The writer seems to be unable to create suspense or tension through the narrative and storyline. I get the impression that if they think by asking the characters to frown or looked shocked that will do!!

Let's talk about the DI in the episodes 3 and 4. Have you ever seen a more stupid police officer in your life? It's like something from Police Squad. How are we supposed to take her seriously? I'm sure the actor is so much better than this writing!!

Such a letdown

[gcfromTheCity · 4/10 · 25 July 2023]

Previous seasons of this show in many instances were fascinating. But whoever is scripting this season's episodes is really letting us down. Perhaps my high anticipation is coloring my perception, but what I have seen so far is terribly disappointing. For one thing, the dialogue seems stilted and often does not sound like actual conversations of real people. Colleagues who know each other well don't talk to each other in complete sentences to explain things that each of them already knows. So odd. Worse, though, in episode three of this season the scripting of the police action is completely implausible. Without giving everything away, the actions of the lead investigator are amateurish and dangerous, to herself and to others. Would a London chief detective really be so foolish as to act individually in dangerous situations rather than immediately requesting backup? I don't think so. On the other hand, the plot idea is excellent and could be quite fascinating. And of course the stars of the show continue to do well in spite of being hobbled by whoever wrote their dialogue. In past seasons this show has been in most cases quite realistic. Not this time. Sadly.