Silent Witness series 29: Start date confirmed as forensic drama returns in 2026 for its 30 year anniversary
Nikki and Jack will be back for another series of the long-running forensic drama, but when?
Silent Witness fans may be wondering where series 29 has gone as it’s about time Emilia Fox and David Caves make their return as Nikki Alexander and Jack Hodgson in 2026 – but now BBC One has finally confirmed the start date.
The forensic series – the longest running crime drama currently airing on TV anywhere in the world – usually arrives in early January. But this year there’s been an unexpected delay.
2026 will see the crime drama celebrate its 30th year anniversary, and there’s no reason why it won’t run for many more years. The series continues to have legs. As well as a complex mystery to solve every week, there’s a revolving-door of cast members and, of course, the ever-evolving relationship between Nikki and Jack.
They got together in the 25th anniversary season in 2022, after sharing a kiss at the end of series 24 in 2021. By the series 27 finale, they were engaged, and series 28 saw them get married. Who knows what the future holds in Silent Witness series 29 – babies perhaps?
Here’s everything we know so far about Silent Witness series 29, including plot, start date, guest cast, and new location!
Will there be a season 29 of Silent Witness?
BBC One has confirmed that Silent Witness will return for its 29th series. Series 29 will air in 2026 – marking 30 years since the show first aired in 1996. Surely that calls for a little celebration?
The 2026 run began pre-production early in 2025 in Birmingham, with filming beginning in March 2025. In fact, according to Production List, the cast and crew started filming on March 31, 2025. This is a big change for the cast and crew of the show, as it previously filmed in London.
The ever-popular forensic drama will follow on from series 28 when Nikki Alexander and Jack Hodgson got married after years of will-they-won’t-they teasing.
When is the start date for series 29 in 2026?
The new series of Silent Witness – series 29 – will air on Mondays and Tuesdays on BBC iPlayer and BBC One from Monday, February 02, 2026.
The new run was expected to start in early 2026, as the crime drama historically starts in early January every year. Unless, of course, there’s a pesky pandemic in the way.
Series 28 started in early January 2025, while series 27 started in the first week of January 2024. So fans had every hope of expecting to see series 29 land in January 2026.
The new series will now start after the Lynley finale, which is currently going out on Monday nights. Which everyone knows is Silent Witness night. Lynley will draw to a close on Monday, January 26, 2026. So Nikki and Jack will be back on Monday, February 02, 2026.
The series generally has 10 episodes which go out every Monday and Tuesday for five weeks, in two-hander episodes.
Who’s in the cast?
Emilia Fox and David Caves will be back as newlyweds Nikki Alexander and Jack Hodgson. Emilia has played Nikki ever since 2004, when she replaced Amanda Burton as the leading character.
Jack joined nine years later in 2013. There have been dozens of seminal characters over the course of the series’ run – including William Gaminara as Professor Leo Dalton (2002-2017), Tom Ward as Dr Harry Cunningham (2002-2012), Richard Lintern as Dr Thomas Chamberlain (2014-2020), and Liz Carr as Clarissa Mullery (2013-2020).
Series 28 saw another bunch of cast change hands. Gone were Rhiannon Jones’ Cara Connelly, Aki Omoshaybi’s Professor Gabriel Folukoya, and Alastair Michael’s Velvy Schur. Instead, newcomers Harriet (played by Maggie Steed) and Kit (Francesca Mills) joined the cast.
The new team will all return in series 29, alongside the usual cast of guest stars who complete every episode.
Who guest stars in Silent Witness series 29 in 2026?
This series, Nikki and the team are joined by some more famous faces in the guest cast. These include:
- Riot Women’s Ben Batt.
- Boiling Point’s Vinette Robinson.
- Am I Being Unreasonable? star Selin Hizli.
- Shameless’ Gerard Kearns.
- Unforgotten’s Phaldut Sharma.
- Emmerdale’s Chris Coghill.
- Happy Valley’s Mollie Winnard.
- Ripper Street’s Lydia Wilson.
- Slow Horses’ Chris Reilly.
- Tyrant’s Adam Rayner.
- Fool Me Once’s Dino Fetscher.
- The Bill’s Cat Simmons.
How many episodes is it?
As usual, Silent Witness will be back for five captivating new stories, told over 10 episodes.
Each episode is an hour long. They will go out on Mondays and Tuesdays as is stated in The Silent Witness Bible.
What will happen?
This year, the team will no longer be in the Lyell Centre. Instead the doors to The Sir William Bowman Centre of Excellence in Birmingham will officially open for the first time. This follows the new job Nikki was offered last year.
The team has now relocated to Birmingham and Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox), Jack (David Caves), Harriet (Maggie Steed) and Kit (Fran Mills) face some of their toughest cases yet.
Why is Silent Witness so popular?
Emilia Fox believes the appeal of the show lies in the premise of the show itself. She says it’s “testament to the creator, Nigel McCrery”.
The actress said: “To look at solving crime with a lead female pathologist in a man’s world was inspired and original. Finding clues through the body was a new way of looking at crime solving, and it gave it a real humanity.
“In finding out how someone died, you learn about their life. A show about death makes you think about the meaning of life. It’s got more depth to it than just solving who did it. It’s got so many different layers looking at humanity.”
Meanwhile, co-star David adds: “Aside from the fact that the stories are very good, what the writers really do so well is come up with different takes on subjects.
“You would have thought that by now we would have exhausted the canon of crime and murders, but the writers always find new angles. It’s not just simply a clinical show about pathology and solving crimes, it’s a show about relationships.”
The pair also revealed that they have a real life friendship off-screen, which surely helps with their on-screen chemistry!
Is Emilia Fox quitting the show?
Emilia Fox, who looks 18 but is in fact 51, has previously revealed she has no plans to leave the BBC One series.
The daughter of actors Edward Fox and Joanna David said in 2023: “I never expected to still be playing Nicki Alexander [so many] years later, but I still love the show as much as when I first started on it.”
She added: “So, it’s really thanks to the loyal fans of Silent Witness and the enthusiasm for the show means that it is still [being] made. And I love it, and if audiences love it, and then hopefully it will carry on being made.”
However, Silent Witness series 28 left us on something of a cliffhanger. The final episodes saw Nikki Alexander faced with a tricky dilemma. In episodes 9 and 10 – entitled I Believe in Love Part One and Two – Nikki had a ‘secret’ meeting with the Home Office about a new job in Birmingham.
Talking to fiancé Jack, she explained: “They were sounding me out about setting up a new centre of excellence.”
She went on to admit that the finer details still needed to be ironed out. In later scenes, viewers saw Nikki seemingly sat in from of Home Office officials discussing the role further. However, she was visibly uncomfortable to learn that they planned to force The Lyell boss Harriet Maven to “retire” – even though she didn’t want to.
She told them: “I would love to make it work, but I can’t. We’re a team. I’ll only do it if Harriet is in charge.”
Viewers also saw Harriet and Kit receive an email about the Sir William Bowman Centre of Excellence in Birmingham. While it seemed obvious that Kit had been offered a role on the new team, a cloud of trouble crossed Harriet’s face. Had she been included or let go?
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