Did the actor think she\u2019d still be here nearly 20 years later?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t. No one knew that Silent Witness would still be going now,\u201d she says over Zoom. \u201cTo familiarise oneself with a character so<\/em> well, but always being asked to do new and different things by different writers, I had no idea that would happen.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut I feel very lucky that it has and so very proud to still be part of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She casts her mind back to the very start.<\/p>\n \u201cI really<\/em> remember doing the audition. I\u2019d 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, \u2018My goodness, that was like fate. That was meant to be.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd it was a nerve-wracking thing to do because Amanda [Burton] had left this great legacy with Sam Ryan. <\/span>Having a leading female character in a series drama, that was standout at that time. It was Amanda and it was Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect. They were playing females in male-dominated worlds, and I think they set the path for the rest of us. They are two iconic figures and we must be forever grateful to them, and Nigel [McCrery], who created Silent Witness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Following on from Burton was no small feat and Fox\u2019s main concern was ensuring that Nikki wasn\u2019t just a carbon copy of Sam.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew I couldn\u2019t step into her shoes or take over from that character, but when I spoke to the producers about it, they reassured me that she\u2019d be a completely different kind of character.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n We chat about the show\u2019s evolution through the ages. How does it continue to entice its audience back, season after season, and draw in new viewers, too?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen it through so many different eras now, and I can see when things work, and also when things don\u2019t work so well,\u201d Fox says.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I arrived, it was Harry (Tom Ward), Leo (W<\/span>illiam Gaminara) and Nikki, so they were writing for three pathologists, which is difficult. The characters had such good relationships with one another, and the fun that was created in the moonlighting between Nikki and Harry changed the dynamic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Fox credits Liz Carr (Clarissa Mullery) and Richard Linton (Thomas Chamberlain) for \u201copening up\u201d the world even further as they tackled a varied spectrum of cases, spanning everything from \u201c<\/span>full-on action\u201d to \u201cdomestic-set stories\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSometimes you get a case which is very topical,\u201d she says, praising <\/span>Silent Witness for keeping its finger on the pulse. From people smuggling to the effects of drugs on younger generations, [and] knife crime to concerns about who owns our healthcare data, Silent Witness regularly takes inspiration from news headlines.<\/p>\n And there are also the numerous obscure medical conditions that have been highlighted throughout the series. Variety is the spice of life, after all.<\/span><\/p>\n But there is one constant.\u00a0\u201cThe heart of the show is the victim, the silent witness. Finding out how they died by going through the body and the forensics that go with that, that doesn\u2019t change.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n How extensively the post-mortems feature and the other practical components of what it means to work in that field \u201ccan depend on what audiences want\u201d, Fox explains, adding: \u201cSometimes they don\u2019t want to see so much of the pathology, or sometimes they want more. And the producers listen to that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s also the case with Nikki and Jack Hodgson<\/a>\u2018s relationship. Following Harry\u2019s exit, the cage-fighting pathologist arrived on the scene and gradually worked his way into Nikki\u2019s heart, which has been warmly received by the audience.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople loved the fun that they had and the love they had for each other, and they wanted them to get together. But then, do you really<\/em> want them to get together?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n If you strip the narrative of the unique tension that comes with a will-they-won\u2019t-they dynamic, will the show lose some of its shine? As Fox notes, it can only be sustained for so long. Eventually, there has to be a resolution of sorts.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve worked alongside each other for a decade and they\u2019re both single, and they clearly enjoy being together, apart from should<\/em> they get together because they\u2019re colleagues, what else is in the way? The producers wanted to put them together and see what would happen, and then we wanted to caretake them into not just being broken up, but to retain the flavour which the audience has seemed to have enjoyed, which is that they can still have that fun and they can still have that relationship.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But as we saw in the opening two episodes of season 26 , which revolved around Italian organised crime group the Ndrangheta<\/a>, it\u2019s not all smooth sailing.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThere\u2019s a different pressure on them in that they realise they\u2019re each other\u2019s strengths, but they\u2019re also each other\u2019s Achilles heel if anything happens to the other one. The love they have for each other is put under pressure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Conversation shifts to how long Fox sees herself sticking with Silent Witness. She remains palpably enthused about the BBC drama, and when she\u2019s not playing Nikki, she\u2019s able to explore other opportunities<\/p>\n \u201cI get a change of scene every time a season ends and I can go and do different things.\u201d<\/span><\/p> ![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/Nikki-Alexander-607d5ed.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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