Silent Witness 2026: When the BBC crime series will return to our screens this year
Silent Witness has been a fixture of January television viewing for a while now - but its absence this year so far was a surprise.
The crime drama, centred on a forensic pathologist group which assists police investigations - the Silent Witness of the title being those facts in a crime which may not be immediately apparent - is due to return for its 29th series.
The first eight series saw Amanda Burton (as Dr Sam Ryan) take the lead role, but since then Emilia Fox (as Dr Nikki Alexander) and for a decade or David Caves (as Jack Hodgson) have taken main billing, with a revolving support cast.
In the last few years Silent Witness has taken the form of two-part episodes, shown on Mondays and Tuesdays, and starting on the first Monday of the new year. This year however, nothing appeared at the beginning of January, with nothing mentioned in the schedules.
BBC sources said in the first week of January that while this series is ready to go - and that publicity is in hand - fans are not likely to see the series until February. At that stage it did not appear that any firm date had been allocated - or if it had, it was a closely guarded secret.
No reason has been given for the change in routine - not that the BBC necessarily needs to give one - but a look at the schedules suggests why. The BBC has several dramas this month - Lynley was on last night, The Night Manager has returned after a decade, Waterloo Road is back, and Traitors, while not a drama, is understandably taking up a lot of primetime evening space given its near universal popularity and huge viewing figures.
But those of us who hold a candle for the goings-on at the Lyell, for the secrets revealed under lab conditions by bodies undergoing a post-mortem examination, and for the minutiae of scene examinations and men and women in white suits well.... it was a slightly frustrating few weeks.
When Silent Witness will return in 2026
But now the BBC has confirmed a start date for series 29 of Silent Witness. It will again be shown in two-part episodes on Mondays and Tuesdays, and will start on Monday, February 2 at 9pm - its usual time slot. So take a deep breath - things are returning to normality.