Silent Witness (TV Series) Southbay: Part 1 (2023) User Reviews

A massive improvement.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 2 February 2023]

Jack comes to the assistance of his former mentor on a murder case, but is removed when the powers that be arrive, all is not well at Southbay.

Finally, after suffering some of Silent Witness's worst ever episodes, it finally kicks into gear with Southbay, it's not a classic, but it is a huge improvement.

The story was excellent, it's what I've come to expect from writer Ed Whitmore, he has always delivered. Really intriguing to see Jack pitched against his former colleague and mentor.

This was actually well paced, well produced and well acted, it just got on with things. It very much had the end of series vibe, I can't help wondering if they got the running order of this series very wrong.

Can I just ask, the sign language teacher that's been operating at The Lyell, have they been offering some kind of turbocharged training plan? Clara, she'd been badly served this series, she's always sat in that waiting room.

I really hope the conclusion is on this level.

8/10.

That's more like it!

[ksmauafua · 1 February 2023]

Now I see why the first eight episodes were low ratings. They didn't have those twists and turns that belong in crime dramas. Also the characters felt like they were just there for the numbers.... BUT episodes 9 and 10 brought back to life....in my humble opinion. The writing has to make the viewer connect with the actors in there roles and 9 and 10 definitely did. Too bad we had to watch all first eight episodes before it got real interesting. If they can just keep the writing up to that standard then the show will just continue to live for years to come.....because it has it's own signature.

Improving finally

[mjrowbory · 6/10 · 1 February 2023]

What's this, suspense, misdirection, characters, plot twists and turns, forensics?!

Seems like someone has finally gone and read some crime drama 101 books, or maybe watched some of the older episodes....

It's still not really back to the same quality though, perhaps the writers are either simple, or assume the audience are. There are too many wooden scenes where the cast sit round a desk and laboriously take turns to explain something basic to us, almost like a children's pantomime.

And also, sorry to say this, the BBC have plenty of opportunity to raise the profile of people without hearing, but creating a random character who turns up every episode for some reason, despite not having anything to do with the forensics team is just quite painful to watch. Seriously, it would even get tired on Holby City, which is where melodrama belongs.

So, in conclusion, finally more crime drama, and less melodrama. But still work to be done, I'm really not interested in the tedium of the characters lives, just get them finding killers!

I'd say part 1 is a 6, and I'll push the boat out with a generous 7 for part 2 of Southbay.

Not believable

[samnewman-70187 · 1/10 · 2 February 2023]

There are too many mistakes. There are too many people who are involved in the investigation who could be considered as unable to help with the investigation due to their personal connection. The investigation is into the family of a police officer, so all of that officers colleagues would not be allowed to investigate in rel life. In real life the people who knew the deceased would not be allowed to be part of the investigation into the death. As with the rest of this series it seems that silent witness has moved away from reality and moved into the realms of making up stories which cannot be believed due to the lack of real life accuracy.

Still bad, just a tiny bit less so

[per-181 · 3/10 · 31 January 2023]

This seems to be the "best" two-parter in this series so far. But considering how abysmal the previous episodes have been, that's not saying much. If there will be a Series 27 of Silent Witness, I won't bother watching it.

By now, it's not only totally unrealistic, with pathologists doing police's job all the time. It's also extremely annoying, in every way possible, with outrageously far-fetched plotlines.

Nowadays, half the time it's like a silent movie soap opera, with more sign language than actual talking. This is accompanied by overly (very much so) dramatic music, even in scenes where there is no drama to be seen for miles.

Add to that the new character Velvey, who appears to be the dim-witted love child of Eeyore and Jar-Jar Binks.

By the way, I really hate the pretentious theme tune. That operatic voice is worse than fingernails down a blackboard.

Time to bring this to an end.