Emilia Fox teases 'very emotional' scenes for Nikki and Jack in Silent Witness and it’s making me anxious-excited for season 29

As something of a Silent Witness super fan I’m always excited to hear what the show’s longest-serving cast member Emilia Fox has to say about the show and I’m not quite sure how to feel about her new revelations. Speaking to woman&home for our March issue, the actor shared some tantalising hints about what to expect for her character Nikki in Silent Witness season 29 when it starts on 2nd February.

Last season the pathologist finally tied the knot with forensic scientist Jack Hodgson (I, for one, am very much pro the Nikki-Jack romance) and the newlyweds are facing a lot of change in the new series. For a start, Silent Witness has now moved locations to Birmingham and Emilia told us, "Jack and Nikki have some very emotional stuff in season 29."

Now what should fans make of that? I’m part-excited, part-nervous to find out and hope that there isn’t trouble in paradise already. Settling into a new life, new job and new city is a lot for anyone, so all I can do is hope that the pair find their way through things and emerge stronger.

Emilia Fox has also opened up to the BBC, revealing that this move "has quite an effect on Jack and on their relationship". In her mind, every series has an overarching theme of sorts and whilst season 28’s was love, she thinks it’s "trust and what we can believe in and what’s real" for the new instalment.

Jack (played by David Caves) has some "big storylines" to come and even if they don’t directly involve Nikki, as his wife and long-time colleague, she’s sure to be drawn into things to support and advise him.

They’ve already faced so much together, from Nikki being threatened by the mafia group, Ndrangheta, in season 26 to Jack’s brother going to prison and discovering he had a niece, Cara Connelly.

After Emilia, David is the cast-member who’s been on Silent Witness the longest, with Maggie Stead and Francesca Mills joining last year as Harriet Maven and Kit Brooks.

"I’ve now been doing it for I think 21 years and if you told me the first year I did it that I’d still be doing it 21 years later, I don’t think I would’ve believed you," Emilia told woman&home. "No matter how complicated it can be and of course the subject matter is not a laughing subject matter at all. So hence, when we’re not actually playing the scenes, then we do have a laugh with each other and Maggie and Fran are very, very funny, as is David Caves."

You might think, or in my case worry, that playing one character for so long might make Emilia wish she could do something else. However, she explained how each season is different, sharing, "I love the familiarity of playing Nikki, but I like that we also do five different stories and they all are very different because they have the writers’ signature on them."

"We don’t choose that and we don’t choose the direction in which our characters go, but they are like presents when you read the scripts and think, ‘What am I going to be asked to do next?’" she said.

Emilia continued, "Having done Silent Witness for the length of time that I have, it looks as though I’ve played it safe. It’s not safe because, within it, I’m asked to do all sorts of things. In this series, I did something that was pretty out there, which I can’t share in case it spoils the story, but I went for it! I think being impulsive is really important in life."

So we can expect scenes for Nikki and Jack and an “out-there” moment for the pathologist too. The first episode air-date can’t come soon enough!

Silent Witness season 29 starts on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 9pm on 2nd February.