Silent Witness: Series 12 - Episode guide
Starring William Gaminara as Leo Dalton, Emilia Fox as Nikki Alexander and Tom Ward as Harry Cunningham, medical crime-drama Silent Witness returns to BBC One for a 12th series.
Safe: Part 1
Wednesday 1st October 2008
Leo is stopped for drink driving and finds himself doing community service in a rough part of South London. He has to answer to a tough-talking community worker, AJ, who's not pleased that he's been assigned a "drunk whitey". The kids laugh at Leo behind his back, trying to intimidate him. It is an unsettling experience and he keeps his mouth shut.
Elsewhere in South London, Nikki is called out to a funfair at a local park where a teenage girl has fallen to her death from a ride. The paramedic, Ryan McBride, is more interested in Nikki and doesn't waste any time in asking her out. She focuses on the job in hand, but doesn't say "no". Upon closer inspection, Nikki begins to suspect that the girl may have already been injured when she was strapped into the ride. The site is quickly turned into a crime scene.
The post mortem confirms that the girl had been stabbed. It also reveals that she may have been brutally raped. DS Wallace, the investigating officer, suspects that the rape may have been part of a gang initiation. One of these gangs is headed up by Keenan, who is trying to recruit Levi – one of the young boys from AJ's youth club. Leiv's older brother, Errol, used to "run" with Keenan's crew.
Leo tries to keep his head down, he just wants to do his hours and get out. But when Errol is stabbed near their playing fields, Leo steps in and takes charge, much to AJ's surprise. Leo's quick, decisive action wins him new respect from AJ and the kids, particularly Levi.
Safe: Part 2
Thursday 2nd October 2008
Errol's death has hit AJ hard, in the second and concluding part of the opening story of a new series of the medical crime drama Silent Witness. When Levi stops coming to the youth centre, AJ despairs that he or anyone can ever actually make a difference to the kids' lives. Leo doesn't want him to give up hope. He talks to Levi and tries to encourage him to tell the police what he knows about the murders. But Levi is too scared to "squeal" on Keenan. Instead, he's pushed forward to kill a member of the Somali crew and retrieve Keenan's drugs. Levi is unable to carry through the stabbing and runs away – leaving Keenan and his cohort to finish the job.
A shaken Levi turns to Leo for help and finally confides all that he knows. Leo relays the information to DS Wallace. But the police are unable to secure any concrete evidence against Keenan, who manages to evade their net and corner Levi in the park. He sets his dog on Levi and the vicious attack kills him. Leo is distraught.
Finally, just when it seems that all hope of catching Keenan has gone, the team make a breakthrough. But will their efforts ever be enough to make a difference to the lives of the kids on these estates?
Death's Door: Part 1
Wednesday 8th October 2008
Death's Door: Part 2
Thursday 9th October 2008
Terror: Part 1
Wednesday 15th October 2008
When armed police raid a terraced house in North London, two suspected terrorists are killed, along with a police officer, in the last two-part story in this series of the medical crime-drama. The main suspect, Melik, is left clinging to life in hospital, while his younger sister, Isra, is detained for questioning.
Nikki is first to arrive on the scene. Tranfield, from counter terrorism, commends his teams. Their actions have stopped a catastrophic terrorist attack on London. Outside the house, Nikki meets Isra. She's distressed. She talks of the brutality and recounts how they all had their hands in the air. She says her brother is a lapsed Muslim, not a terrorist, but Nikki takes it all with a pinch of salt.
As the team performs the post mortems, Nikki begins to doubt the officers' account of events. The forensics just don't add up. The dead "terrorists" were taking heroin, and went to a club the night before the raid. No evidence of explosives has been found, and there is a woman ("Jane Doe") who no one seems to know anything about. Nikki begins to question whether they were, in fact, innocent people, and whether the police officer was shot by one of his own team.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) are called, in the shape of Stickley, who quickly uncovers the fact that one police officer, Rhys, is having an affair with the dead officer's wife. He becomes the prime suspect for shooting him, and in firing the first shot, triggering the shootout that left three dead. Meanwhile, Tranfield is worried that Stickley and the IPCC will stall his investigation of an ongoing terror threat, and asks the team to hold back their report. They refuse, and when Nikki heads home from work that evening, her laptop is stolen at gunpoint. Could this be the work of the police?
Terror: Part 2
Thursday 16th October 2008
Rhys is desperately trying to save his career. He's convinced he's been made a scapegoat to cover the mistake made by the Counter Terrorism branch.
Nikki speaks to Isra again as she's a key eyewitness. She's staying with her solicitor, Hasan, since neither parent is allowed to enter the country. Nikki and Isra form a bond – they are both searching for the truth. When Isra's brother suddenly dies in hospital, Nikki breaks the news to her. Accusations fly and paranoia is heightened. Was his sudden death the work of the police, a grotesque attempt to stop the truth from coming out?
Meanwhile, Harry is convinced the police are withholding information regarding "Jane Doe". Using cutting-edge techniques, he eventually discovers her true identity: she was a police officer working undercover for the drug squad. Due to the short notice the armed police were given, they didn't know she was a fellow officer.
Nikki returns to the terraced house to reconstruct events while Leo performs the post mortem on Melik. Leo discovers that the bullet that killed Melik was fired by the gun that everyone assumed Melik himself was firing. Nikki realises that it was Isra who fired the gun – first at the police, then at her brother. Further examination reveals that Isra had been contacting extremist groups via her brother's email and bank accounts, groomed by Hasan. Isra, meanwhile, has gone missing. Hasan provides her with a bomb to strap around herself as she prepares to go clubbing, but Isra has doubts. Will the police be able to get there in time?
Judgement: Part 1
Wednesday 22nd October 2008
Harry is called to a piece of wasteland where the body of a Hasidic man has been found, as the medical crime drama continues. Noach Maraowski, a Rabbi from the Hasidic community, confirms that it's his nephew, Yitshok. Wanting to treat the closed, deeply sensitive community with care and respect, Leo suggests that they respect their wishes and perform a "dry" post mortem – using scans and an external examination rather than opening up the body. Harry reluctantly agrees. The post mortem reveals boot marks covering Yitshok's body; he was clearly the victim of a vicious attack.
Esther, the dead man's wife, says that Yitshok went missing on Saturday evening. Harry finds a forensic link to a group of Polish labourers, one of whom, Aleksi, has footage on his phone of them attacking Yitshok – but the investigation stalls when they discover that the attack happened the night before Yitshok went missing. Harry performs a full post mortem, against the wishes of the community, and discovers that Esther is lying about the time of Yitshok's disappearance. However, she refuses to admit that he went missing on Friday evening rather than Saturday, even though this could help to convict Aleksi.
Harry discovers why when he finds a faded manuscript hidden in Yitshok's belongings. A young Hasidim, Chaim, explains that it is the story of Jonathan and David – a passage of the Torah treasured by gay Hasidic men as it seems to condone homosexuality. Confronted by the evidence, Esther admits that she knew about Yitshok's sexuality. On Friday, when they were supposed to have Shabbat supper with Noach, Yitshok claimed to be ill, but had gone out, apparently looking for sex instead. Deeply ashamed and terrified of his sexuality being exposed, Esther lied about the time of his disappearance.
Judgement: Part 2
Thursday 23rd October 2008
What now looks like a gay-bashing becomes more complex when Nikki calls Harry back to the lab, as the latest story in the medical drama series concludes. She has extracted from Yitshok's body skin cells belonging to his attacker which show evidence of gaucher syndrome – a rare genetic disease prominent in some Jewish groups – but McKenzie reacts badly to her suggestion that the killer could be Jewish.
Then another body is found. It's Chaim. Harry is convinced that the two deaths are linked and, when Noach's own son, Binyomin, is arrested for assaulting a young Pole, Toni, Harry makes an extraordinary discovery. During routine DNA tests, he discovers that Binyomin's DNA matches that of Yitshok's killer. McKenzie protests that there is no motive, and that a Hasidic killer is almost unimaginable, but Harry insists that the science doesn't lie.
But Harry makes a terrible discovery. The DNA of the killer also matches Toni, the Pole. Harry must have contaminated the evidence somehow but it's too late – Binyomin has been arrested, terribly damaging the police's relationship with the community. McKenzie demands Harry be taken off the case, but Nikki sticks by him. Retesting all the DNA, she and Harry realise their mistake. The original DNA samples showed Toni and Binyomin's DNA to be identical, but they now find a tiny difference – which could only be explained if Toni and Binyomin were brothers, from a small gene pool.
Further work reveals that Toni's real name is Ari, and he's Noach's eldest son. A deeply troubled boy, he had struggled with his sexuality and was exiled by his father, finding a home with a group of Polish labourers. Their anti-Semitism chimed with his own mixed feelings about his community, which had forced him to repress his sexuality. When the group attacked Yitshok, and Yitshok had recognised Ari, he joined in the attack...
The Lost Child: Part 1
Wednesday 29th October 2008
The body of a boy is discovered near his school, in the latest two-parter in the medical crime drama series. The headmaster, Noel Hopkins, is one of Nikki's former teachers who she remembers as dynamic and inspiring. A preliminary examination of the body reveals clear signs of abuse and, when the police learn that another boy, Liam, is also missing and was last seen leaving the school with the dead boy, they begin to fear that Liam has been abducted. The team must search the body of the dead boy for clues to find the living...
Leo continues the post-mortem, finding traces of an unknown toxic chemical, while Harry and Nikki go to the boys' houses to collect DNA samples. Liam's home is a grim, run-down flat he shared with his uncle, Francis, a construction worker who is supposedly working away. Despite the lack of female presence, there is make-up in the bathroom among the shaving equipment.
Nikki, meanwhile, stumbles on some hidden photos which show that Liam was being abused. When a fingerprint matches that of the landlord, Eddie Stokes, who has a record for child sex offences, he is immediately arrested – though he claims to know nothing. Noel is also under police scrutiny, although Nikki refuses to believe he is capable of such a thing – even when a past allegation of sexual impropriety from one of his male students surfaces.
A second body is later found not far from where the boys were last seen. It's in bad shape, but they find Liam's bus pass in a pocket. This is now a double murder inquiry and the police arrest Hopkins. When Nikki starts the post-mortem on the body, it soon becomes apparent that this is not a child's body. It's a man in his twenties: Liam's missing uncle, Francis. So where is Liam?
The Lost Child: Part 2
Thursday 30th October 2008
The search for Liam resumes, as the latest story in the medical crime drama series concludes. As the police interrogate Hopkins and Stokes further, Nikki's loyalty towards her former mentor is severely tested as police find a link between Hopkins, Stokes and the dead boy's stepfather. She avoids thinking about this by focusing her attention on Francis's corpse, which contains high concentrations of the toxic chemical found in the dead boy – and also shows that he shaved his entire body. As the police lack any photos of Francis, or any way of tracing where he might have been or might have left Liam, Nikki starts to rebuild what's left of his face.
As day four dawns, Leo and Harry refuse to give up their search for Liam, as they try to identify and locate the source of the toxic chemical. If they can find where the bodies may have come into contact with the chemical, they may find where Liam is being held. Their perseverance leads them to a container hidden in the woods, but no Liam – only chilling evidence that the boys were abused here. They tell Nikki the news, but she already knew they wouldn't find Liam...
Finding Rachel: Part 1
Wednesday 5th November 2008
The team flies out to Zambia to investigate the death of a young doctor, Rachel Harrington, who disappeared two weeks earlier, in the last two-part drama in the series. Rachel's father, Stephen, works in Zambia with Peter, a childhood friend of Nikki's from South Africa. A medic volunteering at the St Agatha's Mission, Rachel had been causing some commotion about sick villagers dying and corrupt government officials being part of a cover-up. Stephen doesn't trust the police or the government to get to the truth.
Driving from the airport, the team is carjacked. When one of the carjackers, Eunice, sees "Rachel Missing" posters in Stephen's car, she reveals that she knew his daughter, and that Rachel tried to help her. But the carjackers speed off as DI Cosmas Hamukoma arrives. Cosmas and Stephen are mutually distrustful.
The next day, Stephen, Nikki and Cosmas set off to the riverbank where Rachel's remains were found. They come across student journalist Emil and his girlfriend, Sian, who are taking photos. Emil claims that Rachel knew who was responsible for the deaths of a number of refugees and, when they talk to Mizinga, a local man who found the bones, his story doesn't add up. Harry and Leo visit St Agatha's, the Mission run by Dr Christopher Andrews and his wife, Harriet. Their daughter, Bethany, reveals that she was meant to be going out with Rachel the night she left the Mission and it wasn't like Rachel to let her down.
Sian turns to Harry after Emil is involved in an accident and the surgeon can't get to the hospital. As Harry struggles through the operation, Sian discovers from Emil's text message log that he was on his way to see Rachel when he was hit ... and that he was sleeping with Rachel. To further complicate matters, back at the post-mortem, Leo and Nikki have discovered that the remains they have are not those of Rachel Harrington...
Finding Rachel: Part 2
Thursday 6th November 2008
Leo returns to the mission to get Rachel's laptop, in the concluding part of Finding Rachel. While her data shows that the villages with sickness were close to the river, Peter had tested the water for her, and all the samples came back clear. Leo also discovers that the day Rachel went missing she was supposed to meet Cossie, a friend from Kafemba.
Peter claims that Rachel asked him for money for the mission in the Polo Club the night before she died. In a room at the Club, Bethany is found dead and possibly raped. Nikki wants to do a post-mortem, but Harriet won't allow her daughter's body to be cut open. The coroner also wants a post-mortem, but is overruled by Katembula. So when Nikki starts the post-mortem she's arrested. Maidstone, a security guard from the mission, has also been arrested, apparently having made a run for it. He confesses to murdering Bethany.
Leo meanwhile, goes to Kafemba to try to track down Cossie, but her husband, Mizinga, says she's away. Leo takes some water samples and later returns to Kafemba with Nikki. Between them, they realise that the woman's bones they originally thought were Rachel's are, in fact, Cossie's. She was killed by her husband for disobeying him and left by the river in his hope of collecting the reward for finding Rachel.
Harry's suspicions over Emil's death are confirmed when Zambian pathologist Doctor Phiri deduces that Emil was injected with a lethal dose of diamorphine, hours after Harry operated. Doctor Phiri also discovers that Bethany was pregnant and died from a concoction taken to induce miscarriage. Maidstone admits to fabricating his confession to protect Bethany's reputation. He also reveals that Chris and Harriet forced him to turn Rachel away from the mission on the day she was killed...
At a refugee camp Rachel had visited, Nikki spots the carjackers and recalls that they drove the same Land Rover as Rachel in a recent photo. Eunice comes forward and leads them to the place where she'd found the Land Rover. In the rubbish tip close by, they recover Rachel's remains. Using Stephen's security pass, Leo enters Peter's offices and persuades a technician to test the water samples. This time the results are very different...
