Silent Witness (TV Series) Life Licence: Part 2 (2016) User Reviews

Intelligent, gripping, suspenseful, after 20 minutes that is.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 20 January 2016]

Clarissa and Jack seemed very much back on form together, the banter we had between them in the earlier Series had been great, and been missing recently, it was nice to see them get some funny moments again.

Last week's attempted very much to be controversial, this week's tried very hard to cause shock and distress, you could be inclined to use the word sick I guess. The first twenty minutes were a bit grim.

Once again I thought Lyndsey Marshal was excellent as Doctor Sasha Blackburn, a hugely talented actress. I wasn't too sure about Kyle Soller in the early stages as Marcus Chadwell, but on looking back I think he was quite good.

There were enough layers to the storyline to keep you unsure, and guessing until the very last, the writing was creative, you're not short of suspects in this one, you'll keep guessing right to the end.

The first twenty minutes or so I wasn't overly loving, but the second two thirds were exceptional, very gripping viewing. 7/10

Who is killing the killers?

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 20 January 2016]

These comments are based on the whole two part story not just episode two.

When a man who has been released from prison after serving his time for murder suspicion falls on his former cell mate; a child killer who now has a new identity. Both of them were part of a programme for killers released from prison run by forensic psychologist Sasha Blackburn. After being brought in and questioned this suspect goes to the father of the victim and identifies himself; soon both men are dead; it initially looks as if the father killed the man then was caught in the fire he lit to cover the crime… there are anomalies though most notably that the father had no connection to the first victim but the pattern of the attacks suggests that both murder victims were killed by the same man. As the case progresses more suspects arise including a man who is part of Dr Blackburn's programme who was in a relationship and the child killer's accomplice who may be manipulating somebody from inside his prison cell.

This is another interesting case with plenty of suspects to keep the viewer guessing. As one would expect with the genre the most obvious suspects are not involved but when we do learn who is behind the crimes, it isn't too surprising. Having Dr Blackburn involved with one of her group was a bit of a cliché but at least she was just a one story character rather than one of our protagonists. As the story approaches its conclusion there are some impressively tense moments; as these involve non-recurring characters there is no guarantee that everybody will survive. Talking of non-recurring characters it seemed a little odd, but not that surprising, that in the last story Dr Chamberlain got involved with a policewoman who was hospitalised but in this story she isn't even mentioned; while I do enjoy this series it is a pity that a character can be important to major characters for one story then be forgotten afterwards. The cast do a solid job making us believe in their characters Overall a decent mystery with enough suspects and motives to keep the viewer guessing.

Boxful of Nuts

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 8 May 2019]

Pardon the flippancy of my title, but it would seem that there is a suspect list full of psychotic or sociopathic figures. They are centered by a psychologist/pathologist. The are joined by their unhappy, brutal childhoods and their acting in the most violent manners possible. The one suspect is certainly a dangerous, but is he viable? A round robin of violent actions and a child killer in prison make this quite a task when it comes to seeing the reality of stuff. Human emotion can be a very dangerous thing. It certainly is here.

I don't get it

[frieda-92366 · 3/10 · 3 December 2022]

I have read the reviews here and elsewhere, but I don't understand why this 2-parter gets such good reviews. I can follow the series of events and see where they are leading but the whole thing seems lame. The writers are trying too hard to mix together a wide cast of characters and it ends up muddled and tedious. And every time the mastermind in prison took the screen I had flashbacks to Hannibal Lecter, only this guy had none of Lecter's pizzazz. Honestly I could hardly wait for it to grind to an end. There was too much foreshadowing, too.

But Lyndsey Marsha's character Sasha was totally wrong. No prison doctor is going to soft-pedal such monsters and be so wishy-washy about their true nature. She never states anything with conviction. Even the word "psychopath" sounds more like "floral designer". And althought she talks about psychometrics there is nothing to indicate she knows what the word means, or what any of the psychiatric terms mean.

I love Silent Witness...most of the time. I just didn't like this one. Waste of time.