Witness

An exit is seemingly on the cards for Jack Hodgson in Silent Witness but how will this affect the show for good? Super fan Jasmine Allday gives her verdict

Call it a TV journalist’s intuition – but I can feel it coming. An exit is seemingly on the cards for Jack Hodgson – played by David Caves – on Silent Witness and every moment he’s on screen recently has drawn the same conclusion for me.

I’ve been watching Silent Witness for half of my life, when Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) and Harry Cunningham (Tom Ward) were leading the charge at the Lyell Centre. It was always a ‘will they won’t they’ storyline with Nikki and Harry to the point that I’d be screaming at my TV and praying they finally realised.

So when Jack stepped foot in the Lyell Centre, FINALLY I was getting my wish. It was clear both Jack and Nikki matched each other in every way and it was a long road of flirty glances and close calls until they finally got together.

What makes this show so lovely – and different from similar ones – is the dynamic between the characters. Nikki and Harry initially, and the late Leo Dalton, and now between Nikki and Jack.

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Jack joined in series 15 and was a great addition to the cast, with everyone unsure how Harry could be replaced. Finally – in the 24th series – Jack and Nikki confessed their feelings for each other with a kiss. Not that we had to wait until the next series to find out what happened to them and if they were going to succumb to the relationship they both clearly wanted.

In series 27, we got a proposal between the pair – something fans from the start of the show will have wanted. Nikki finally happy and with someone who loved her, the world could rest.

However, a move to Birmingham following their wedding at the end of series 28 has seemingly caused quite a stir for the pair. It’s clear there’s trouble ahead as Jack finds himself preyed on by the people pulling the strings with AI deep fakes claiming he is racist.

With his job potentially in trouble – and spoilers revealing he faces a very uncertain fate – it looks like we could be seeing the end to the character of Jack Hodgson for good.

We’ve waited years for Nikki to find her happy ever after, let’s not kill him off and ruin their chance so soon after they got together. There’s a happiness and lightness in Nikki we haven’t seen in years and whilst the programme is very much about the job they do, it’s also about the people behind the job and their lives.

If Jack goes, don’t let Nikki’s sparkle go with it.

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Silent Witness viewers spotted a “huge flaw” just minutes into Tuesday’s episode

Viewers of Silent Witness believed they’d identified a “huge flaw” just moments into Tuesday’s (February 17) pulled episode.

The 29th series of the enduring BBC crime drama premiered earlier this month, with Emilia Fox and David Caves returning as Dr Nikki Alexander and Jack Hodgson, joined by Maggie Steed and Fran Mills as Harriet Maven and Kit Brooks.

The programme has now relocated to Birmingham, delivering five compelling new investigations across ten instalments. Silent Witness has recently experienced multiple schedule changes, after this evening’s episode was withdrawn from broadcast last week in light of a horrific incident that occurred in Birmingham.

A BBC representative informed TV Guide at the time: “Due to the attack in Birmingham over the weekend, this week’s episodes of Silent Witness will not transmit as planned and instead they have been replaced with two episodes from later on in the series,” reports the Express.

Just a week after the adjustments, the programme made its comeback to BBC One this evening, airing the opening chapter of The Enemy Within.

During the episode, the forensic specialists were tasked with examining a fatal knife attack in Birmingham. Initially, the incident seemed to bear the hallmarks of racial motivation, but as enquiries progressed, the team gradually discovered evidence suggesting a probable perpetrator.

As the team persisted in pursuing clues, racial tensions rapidly intensified throughout the city. At the same time, Jack discovered that his new gym mates weren’t who he thought they were, whilst Kit started having second thoughts about her relationship with DC Jonno Magath (Gerard Kearns).

The episode boasted a star-studded cast list, with guest appearances including Chris Reilly (Slow Horses), Selin Hizli (Am I Being Unreasonable?), and Phaldut Sharma (EastEnders).

However, just moments into the episode, BBC viewers spotted a “huge flaw”. Many fans believe that the episode was originally intended to be the series opener, after Nikki was shown cheerfully walking through the new Bowman Centre, whilst Harriet kept getting lost on her way to work.

“Does anyone actually know which order the episodes are actually supposed to run in because I assumed this one was just swapped out for Creekwood last week but seems to make more sense as the first episode of the series before Alice Hill?” one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Another added: “So we can all agree this was originally meant to be episode one, right?” whilst a third said: “I’m sorry but where did all these people working there suddenly come from.”

A fourth fan echoed the sentiment, saying: “I’m so confused by the order of these eps. This looks like the first ep not last week’s. Huge airing flaw or what?”

Silent Witness is available to stream on BBC iPlayer

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Silent Witness fans should watch another crime drama set in Scotland.

The alternative forensic drama for Silent Witness fans is the perfect binge.

Devotees of Silent Witness are being encouraged to discover another forensic drama that debuted on the BBC in 2021, following recent scheduling adjustments to the latest instalments.

The crime thriller centres on three female forensic experts – Emma Hedges (portrayed by Molly Windsor), Sarah Gordon (Laura Fraser) and Kathy Torrance (Jennifer Spence) as they piece together evidence in a murder investigation and secure a conviction.

Traces unfolds in and around Dundee, though viewers might find it intriguing that most of the BBC production was actually shot in Bolton, Manchester.

Created by Val McDermid and Amelia Bullmore, the drama tracks Emma Hedges, a laboratory technician returning to her native Dundee for a fresh position.

Beyond her professional duties, she harbours a personal quest to uncover the truth surrounding her mother’s killing.

Initially broadcast on Alibi, both series subsequently transferred to BBC One, with the final episode of the 12-part run transmitted in 2024.

Fraser portrays Sarah Gordon, a Chemistry professor at the University of Tayside who becomes Emma’s superior at SIFA.

Spence takes on the role of Kathy Torrence, a forensic anthropology professor at the University of Tayside and fellow SIFA colleague.

Viewers flocked to IMDb to express their opinions on the programme, with craigpetterson noting: “Set in Dundee, Scotland, great performances by the cast. Keeps the viewer hooked until the end.”

They added: “Congratulations to Alibi for commissioning and producing such a high quality production in Scotland.”

Barryrd enthused: “I was glued to Britbox watching the first season of this highly enjoyable show. This great drama consisted of several episodes and showed how a young woman, who lost her mother as a child, struggled valiantly to find out the truth of her mother’s death.

“The story had me transfixed to my screen and highlighted the science of forensics which is such a fascinating part of solving crimes in the 21st century.”

Bella-10103 praised the series as “addictive”, adding: “Binged watched this over a couple of days, absolutely loved Traces.”

Lyninbyron summed up: “I binge watched in one day. I had to! Riveting story, great cast but missed quite a bit of the dialogue due to fast, garbled lines.

“That said, I rate it a 10 for being excellently written. Series two please, can’t wait. Congratulations to all involved.”

Traces is currently airing on NOW.

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Available for over a year

In the 1970s and 80s the sport of darts was booming in the UK. It was on TV almost every week and the sport’s stars were household names.

But by 1989 the sport was in decline, and the world championship was the only event that was still televised.

The sport’s top players blamed the British Darts Organisation for failing to keep the game on TV and broke away to form their own competitions in 1993.

This rival tour became the Players Darts Council in 1997, which is now responsible for the sport’s biggest tournaments.

John Lowe MBE is a three-time world darts champion and was one of the rebel players. He’s been speaking to Tim O’Callaghan.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those fascinated by sporting history. We take you to the events that have shaped the sports world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes, you become a fan in the stands as we take you back in time to examine memorable victories and agonising defeats from all over the world. You’ll hear from people who have achieved sporting immortality, or those who were there as incredible sporting moments unfolded.

Recent episodes explore the forgotten football Women’s World Cup, the plasterer who fought a boxing legend, international football’s biggest ever beating and the man who swam the Amazon river. We look at the lives of some of the most famous F1 drivers, tennis players and athletes as well as people who’ve had ground-breaking impact in their chosen sporting field, including: the most decorated Paralympian, the woman who was the number 1 squash player in the world for nine years, and the first figure skater to wear a hijab. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the tennis player who escaped the Nazis, how a man finally beat a horse in a race, and how the FIFA computer game was created.

(Photo: John Lowe at the 1993 Darts World Championship. Credit:Mark Leech/Offside via Getty Images)

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