How to Get Cast on ‘Silent Witness’

Created by former detective Nigel McCrery (New Tricks, Born and Bred), Silent Witness first aired in 1996 and centres around a team of forensic pathologists working at the prestigious Lyell Centre in London. This deadly serious bunch helps solve crimes by unpicking the clues provided by the case’s “silent witness,” i.e., a corpse. Anthrax, skulls cemented in concrete pillars, helicopter crashes, and lethal nerve agents—this group has dealt with a lot. 

Each hour-long episode is broadcast on BBC One and regularly gets more than six million viewers. The show is known for its visuals and its successful reinvention over 238 episodes. Silent Witness’ first lead was Amanda Burton, who played the meticulous Professor Sam Ryan from 1996 to 2004. Her character resigned after one of her family members was implicated in a murder, and focus swiftly turned to Dr Nikki Alexander, played by Emilia Fox.  

However, Silent Witness is very much an ensemble show. Notable actors including David Caves, Tom Ward, William Gaminara, and Liz Carr have played crucial roles in the show’s success, keeping the stories fresh. 

Throughout its run, Silent Witness has shown a real commitment to hiring new and diverse talent. Before getting the role of forensic scientist Jack Hodgson, David Caves was a theatre actor who hadn’t done any television. The show cast trans actors to play trans characters in its 2019 series. And Carr, who uses a wheelchair and has arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, played sharp-witted forensic scientist Clarissa Mullery for eight years, later going on to win an Olivier Award after her departure. 

It’s not all been dead bodies either: One of the show’s main draws has been the personal lives of its characters, with one relationship in particular hooking viewers. Nikki and Jack’s will-they-won’t-they storyline has kept hearts aflutter. Speaking to Hello! about her onscreen romance with costar Caves, Fox said, “The audience has waited for 10 years, and they are an incredibly loyal, generous, kind, and loving audience, who have invested in the Jack and Nikki relationship. I think everyone agreed what we didn’t want to happen was to put them together and then immediately bust them up…. I’m all for Jack and Nikki.” So, no cold shoulder there then.

With the 27th series currently filming and due to be broadcast in early 2024, the pressure is on to keep things fresh. But the show’s lead actors aren’t changing; Fox, Caves, Alastair Michael (Velvy Schur), Aki Omoshaybi (Gabriel Folukoya), and Rhiannon May (Cara Connelly) are all returning as key cast members. 

Talking to Hello!, producer Jayne Chard said fans can expect “more colour” in both the sets and the characters’ costumes. In fact, Fox’s Nikki will have a wardrobe refresh to reinstate her “fashion icon” status. The show will also be using virtual production methods for the first time, which Chard said will be “a new and exciting way forward…It’s just going to really expand what we can do in Series 28.” Yep—there’s already confirmation of another series!

If you’re aiming to be part of the team in front of or behind the camera, there’s another change that you’ll need to be aware of. The new series will be filmed in the West Midlands. BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore said, “The BBC is committed to investing in the West Midlands, and this plan will create a future-proof skills base in the region that will fundamentally change the landscape, boosting high-impact content production with the arrival of the hugely popular hit series Silent Witness in 2024. I’m excited about the increased opportunities this will bring to the creative talent in the area.”

Casting is clearly key to Silent Witness; it’s a show that needs great central characters as well as a rolling cast of brilliant actors who’ll appear and disappear from one week to the next. 

Leading UK casting director Andy Brierley has worked on Silent Witness and told Backstage he looks for new talent everywhere. “We’re at the theatre a lot and try to watch as much content as possible,” he said. “Television, film, YouTube, commercials—your casting brain never really switches off.” 

Brierley explained that casting long-running shows forces him to think outside the box. “If anything, it gives me permission to be more creative and, hopefully, surprising with my casting,” he said. “Representation and diversity should be at the forefront of every casting director’s work; but the true joy of a long-running show is that diversity isn’t just a good idea—it’s a natural consequence of constantly needing new stories to tell.”

During the casting process, Brierley and his team send out detailed notes to actors before they audition. He said it’s unusual to meet the director in the first round of auditions, especially with self-tapes, so getting as much information as you can about a project is key. For Silent Witness, that could mean bingeing past series.  

It’s also important to prep in other ways, so that means making sure your headshots, CV and show reel are good to go when the phone rings.  

When it comes to nailing your self-tape, Brierley has a simple tip to follow. “Obviously, there are moments where a more heightened tone is called for, but in general, I prefer simple performances,” he said. “It’s a bit cringe to say that acting is ‘brave,’ but I think having the confidence and skill to peel away the layers and share something of yourself with the audience is enormously difficult and impressive.”

If all that sounds like you, Brierley is open to prospective auditionees getting in touch by email. (You can find his details here.) “I understand that [emailing] can sometimes feel to actors as though they’re just sending stuff into the void,” he said, “but if your email happens to land in the inbox at the right time, it can work. If possible, link to some filmed material so we can see you in action, and if you attach a photo, make sure it isn’t absolutely enormous.”

If you’re keen on joining the cast of Silent Witness, then it makes sense to get advice from actors who’ve been there, done that—and who maybe even got a limited edition “I Played a Corpse on Silent Witness” T-shirt.  

When Caves was asked to read for the role of Jack, he already had substantial theatre credits and was portraying Petruchio in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2012 production of The Taming of the Shrew. He told the Stage that being employed at the time of the audition helped him with his confidence going in—it also helped him with the character.    

Caves described Jack as “confident, brash, and a little cheeky.” He explained, “I thought some of those are similar to Petruchio. Auditions are pretty nerve-wracking, particularly for something like Silent Witness. I was nervous, so I thought, If I can take in the energy of the part I am playing now, that will be helpful, and hopefully, it will get me through.”

The casting staff also gave Caves an in-depth character analysis that he found intimidating. “There was a lot of information about who [Jack] was,” he said. “Too much information can kill things a bit, take the life away, because you just try to play exactly what the author has written, which does not leave you any room to bring something yourself. Having said that, once we were up and running, it was up to me what I wanted to try and do, and the more touches of lightness I could bring to the role, the better.” You can see how his audition turned out here. 

Talking to Radio Times, Fox recalled her audition for Nikki in a lighter way: “I really remember doing the audition. I’d just moved to the area that I live in now and got offered the part, and the studio was five minutes from my house. I thought, My goodness, that was like fate. That was meant to be.” 

So if you think Silent Witness lies in your future, why not give it a go!