Amanda Burton is officially returning to Silent Witness – and RadioTimes.com can exclusively unveil a teaser clip showing the moment Dr Sam Ryan meets Emilia Fox’s Dr Nikki Alexander.
The BBC One drama is celebrating its 25th anniversary series this year, and the broadcaster is marking the event with the comeback of its original star, Burton, who led the series for its first eight seasons as forensic pathologist Sam Ryan.
Six new episodes, beginning this Monday 23rd May, will see Sam Ryan calling on the Lyell team for help 17 years after her own departure – a call necessitated by a high-profile assassination attempt in Liverpool.
In the new clip, the current Lyell team are flown in by helicopter and are greeted by Sam Ryan and her colleagues.
“Good to finally meet you, Nikki,” Sam says, praising her “extraordinary work at the Lyell”.
Nikki demurs: “We’ve just built on your foundations.”
Speaking about Amanda Burton’s return, Emilia Fox said she’d had “such a joyous experience” filming alongside her predecessor, before teasing the circumstances of their on-screen characters’ meeting.
“We follow on from the end of series 24 and Nikki has spent the night at Jack’s house, it’s the beginning of their relationship,” she said.
“She gets a call from Sam asking for help and Nikki is trying to work out why she’s specifically asked the Lyell team. Sam’s company is working on health passporting, which is such a big subject in real life at the moment.”
Amanda Burton said of returning to Silent Witness: “It was genuinely a really lovely thing to step into Sam’s shoes again and to catch up with who she is now and where she is in her life.
“I loved the fact that she was still very much pioneering and busy and connected – that meant a lot to me. I was very, very happy that she wasn’t being tracked down to some sort of remote corner of a British village where she was judging hen competitions.”
To mark the anniversary, RadioTimes.com is also running an exclusive RT Rewind Q&A with Silent Witness star David Caves, which will be published this Monday.
Silent Witness returns on Monday 23rd May 2022 at 9pm on BBC One. Check out what else is on with our TV Guide, or visit our Drama hub for all the latest news and features.
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