Will there be another season of Silent Witness? The BBC drama is tantalisingly close to reaching a huge milestone

If you’re a Silent Witness fan there’s one huge question that’ll be on your mind right now - will there be another season? The BBC drama’s latest instalment came to a dramatic conclusion on 3rd March and it feels like season 29 had barely just begun. Perhaps that’s only natural given that the schedule means we get two episodes a week and the show is always such a highlight of winter TV.

Just when we need a gripping show to get us through the darker months, Silent Witness appears and now we face months without Nikki, Jack, Harriet and Kit on our screens. In 2027 Silent Witness is set to mark its 30th anniversary and here I reveal whether the show has been renewed for season 30.

Will there be another season of Silent Witness?

Right now there’s been no 100% confirmation that we’re getting another season of Silent Witness, however I would be shocked to my core if it doesn’t return. The drama has been a staple of BBC programming since 1996 and the 30 year anniversary is a huge moment for Silent Witness, so it would be such a shame to bring things to a close before reaching this.

There’s also been a hint that Silent Witness season 30 will be coming, thanks to a post by Bodenham Arboretum on Facebook last month. It featured pictures taken with Emilia Fox (who plays Dr Nikki Alexander) and the caption explained that "Bodenham had the privilege of being chosen as the BBC drama’s Silent Witness base camp whilst filming locally for the 30th series".

They claimed that Silent Witness season 30 would be "screened January next year" and asked people to "watch out for the local landmarks". Of course, until the BBC echoes this in an official renewal announcement we can’t be totally sure, but this does seem to make sense and January is when we usually get to watch each new season.

Silent Witness season 29 was a rare exception, as this started in February and as a long-time fan impatient for more, I hope that it starts a little earlier if season 30 does come in 2027.

Will Nikki and Jack be back in Silent Witness season 30?

*Warning: Some spoilers for Shame Part 2*

Again, it’s not a definite yes - at least not yet - but the finale episode of season 29 gave no indication that Dr Nikki Alexander or Jack Hodgson were being written out. At this point, Emilia Fox has been in the show since 2004 and David Caves since 2013, so they clearly enjoy being part of the long-running drama.

It’s not as if the actors aren’t given opportunities to switch things up as different storylines inevitably change things for their characters and challenge them in new ways. In Silent Witness season 29 we saw the pathologist and forensic scientist handling a move to Birmingham, new jobs at the Bowman Centre and Jack was even implicated in a murder.

That’s plenty of emotional material to sink their teeth into alongside the more general forensic-focused aspects of the show. The final scene of season 29’s last episode, Shame Part 2, is of Nikki standing in the observation area before starting a post mortem and Harriet has asked, "Shall we start?"

The camera zooms in on her face and so the season ends with Nikki very much at the forefront and with work seemingly going on as usual, despite the challenges it brings. To go from this to a 30th season without Nikki or just with an on-screen explanation of her absence as we’ve had before with the likes of Dr Harry Cunningham and Velvy Schur would be disappointing.

The last time we saw her and Jack together was when he saved her from death and he comforted his wife and assured her it would all be ok. As far as things were left, they were still a couple and I would expect to see him back if Silent Witness is renewed.

Harriet Maven and Kit Brooks were also still seen doing their jobs right up to the end of Shame, so it’s likely that they would also return alongside Nikki and Jack in season 30. Yet another aspect which makes me think that the current main cast members will be back is what Emilia Fox said about her tenure on the show in woman&home’s March issue.

"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," she shared. "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?’"

"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," Emilia added.

Silent Witness seasons 1-29 are available to watch now via BBC iPlayer.