Silent Witness: fans complain they’re ‘totally lost’ over confusing season 27 episode Death by a Thousand Hits

Silent Witness fans were quick to complain about the latest two part episode, Death by a Thousand Hits, which aired this week on BBC One.

Viewers of the popular show felt lost after watching the penultimate season 27 double episode story which aired on Monday and Wednesday evening - the schedule change from a Tuesday evening air date was caused by FA Cup coverage.

But it wasn’t the change to the TV schedule that had fans of the crime drama up in arms - it was the confusing plot.

What was Silent Witness episode Death by a Thousand Hits about?

The two episode story followed the pathology team as they investigated the death of a Burmese man on a deserted beach following a massacre in Myanmar. They are left to piece together what happened at the crime scene and uncover why the victim was killed.

The second episode revealed that Home Office worker Elinor Shaw was being blackmailed and was forced to tamper with evidence. The team also learned that tech company Kaskade were involved in serious police corruption, which they managed to prove in the end.  

We learn that footage showing the dead man’s involvement in the massacre was faked and that the Kaskade app was designed to make people mad, with deadly consequences. A hitman was sent to kill May, the wife of the first victim, but bungled the hit and was himslef killed.

Eventually, Mark Foster, the head of security at Kaskade is linked by fingerprints to the dead hitman, proving that he was at least partly responsible for the victim’s murder, and Foster is arrested.

Why have viewers complained about the latest Silent Witness episode?

As you can probably imagine from the episode description, the latest two part story was very convoluted and hard to follow. The episode got into the nitty gritty of recent tech dilemmas such as artificial intelligence and deepfakes which made the plot even trickier to navigate.

Some viewers said they were totally lost by the instalment and it likely didn’t help that the episodes were released two days apart due to the schedule disruption caused by the FA Cup, making it even harder to follow the storyline.

One viewer shared on X: “I honestly thought this was a bloody brilliant episode! Until I got totally lost.”

Another complained: “Just catching up on episodes 7&8 and I'm not sure I know what went on there. Got a bit confusing towards the end. Only takeaway is that I will "trust no-one" , that's a definite.”

A third viewer said the latest episode left them ‘a bit baffled’ while another way very too the point, writing: “This year’s episodes are getting worse and worse, there hasn’t been one week where the storyline has been realistic or any good”.

When is the Silent Witness season 27 finale on TV?

The final episodes of season 27 are another two-parter. The episodes, King’s Cross Part 1 and 2 will air on Monday February 12 and Tuesday 13 at 9pm on BBC One.