Customer Reviews

Silent Witness - Series One & Two - 8-DVD Box Set (Buried Lies / Long Days, Short Nights / Darkness Visible / Sins of The Fathers / Blood, Sweat and Tears / Cease Upon The Midnigh) [Reg.2]

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It is important to check the region number when buying a DVD of this series. I have seen a Region 1 (USA/Canada) of the first series (Four stories) but not of both 1 and 2 together like this set. This specific set is encoded for Region 2 (UK/Europe). Unless you have a region free or region 2 DVD player you will not be able to view Region 2 discs. However, it is possible to change the region a limited number of times on most dvd-rom or dvd-r units in computers.

Anyway, this set contains both series 1 and 2. Each episode runs about 2 hours. When these were originally shown on US tv they were split into two one hour shows. The first series is Buried Lies (premier); Long Days, Short Nights; Darkness Visible; and Sins of the Father. The second series is made up of Blood, Sweat and Tears; Cease upon the Midnight; Only the Lonely; and Friends Like These.

Amanda Burton, who portrayed pathologist Sam Ryan in the first seven series and the first episode of the eighth, was my original reason for watching this series. Her sang froid in dealing with bodies reminded me of the early Kate Scarpetta novels. Burton's character has a traumatic past, her father was blown up by an IRA bomb, a difficult family including a mother suffering from dementia, a sister who is resentful that Sam seems to have escaped to a exciting and fulfilling life, while she is trapped in a low level job with a sulky teen-aged son. The mysteries are entertaining although if you get queasy looking at body parts or corpses this is not the show for you.

The supporting cast is also very good. The first two series are also set in Cambridge which gives lots of scope to contrast Sam's working life with her cultural life.

This set is highly recommended and I hope that the series is soon available in the US in Region 1 encoding.

In my opinion this is one of the best mystery series from the BBC. If you like the US series "Bones" you won't disappointed in this one. I think "BONES" was copied from this series to make it in the US,as this series was first aired in 1996 on the BBC.
There are at least 5 seasons of this series and we can hope that some day they will all be released in the US.
This set is released in PAL for region 2 and will not play on most DVD players in the US unless you know how to make it work. To find out go to your search engine and search for "DVD player convert PAL to NTSC" or terms of your choice. You will want a site that will tell you how to reprogram your DVD player, most can be reprogrammed. I am telling you this as there are a lot of excellent programs available in other regions.

"Silent Witness," is an outstanding British mystery television series, produced by the British Broadcasting Company in association with the American Arts and Entertainment network. It stars Amanda Burton, who was voted the most popular TV actress in Britain for this show in 2001, was nominated again for this award in 2003, and was nominated for the IFTA Award for Best Actress in a TV show, again for "Silent Witness," in 2004. It is a police procedural, and was an original creation by Nigel McCrery, who also wrote some of the strongest episodes; debuted in Britain on February 21, 1996, and is filmed on location in Cambridge, and Cambridgeshire. This set consists of eight DVDs, comprising all of seasons one and two.

Amanda Burton (The Helen West Casebook) stars as Dr. Sam Ryan, crusading forensic pathologist. She's ably supported by William Armstrong ("Capital City") as Dr. Trevor Stewart, and Sam Parks (the "Jurassic Park" series) as Fred, at the forensics laboratory. On the first series, the sizzling cop shop cast is headed by Clare Higgins (Hellraiser - Bloodline) as D.S. Farmer; and John McGlynn (the "All Creatures Great and Small" series) as Tom Adams. The Ryan family, which adds so much to the mix, is played by Doreen Hepburn (The Playboys) as Mum Beryl Ryan; Ruth McCabe (My Left Foot) as Sam's sister Wyn Ryan; Matthew Steer as Wyn's out of control teenage son Ricky Ryan; and Woolf Byrne, whom we see only in flashback, as the paterfamilias.

On the second series, the Ryan family is represented only by McCabe as Wyn. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown to me, perhaps budgetary, half the outstanding members of the supporting cast are gone. Dr. Stewart's wife is gone, and we are left wondering what happened to his baby for a while. The cop shop, also a source of great drama in the first series, is now headed by the blandly handsome Mick Ford (How to Get Ahead In Advertising), who plays Detective Superintendent Peter Ross, and does double duty as Sam's beau; and Nicola Redmond (The Phoenix and the Carpet) as D.I. Rachel Selway: her looks are more interesting than she is as an actor. There are also fewer strong guest stars in the second series..

Amanda Burton was born and raised in a Protestant area of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and the Ryan family has been given an appropriate, riveting backstory. They too are from Protestant Northern Ireland, and Ryan pere, a high-ranking Protestant policeman, was murdered one morning, in front of his family; the Irish Republican Army had rigged his Land Rover to explode at ignition. We were informed that this has had some pretty drastic effects upon them, as you might expect; driving Mum Beryl into dementia, depriving sister Wyn, an intelligent woman, of the will and resources to make a meaningful career for herself; creating a wild child nephew Ricky, and causing Sam to take up the study of the dead, rather than the living. Furthermore, Sam is rather obsessive about her work; presumably as the result of her father's death; to her, "a dead body isn't a person. It's a puzzle. A story - with a beginning, a middle and an end." We therefore sometimes find her exceeding her brief, conducting her own inquiries outside the lab, interviewing witnesses, and generally making things sticky for the cops she's got to work with.

We see a lot of blood and guts on these shows, so be forewarned if that sort of thing will bother you: the show's packaging itself warns of strong forensic detail and bloody violence. I myself preferred the mysteries of the first season; the mysteries of the second telegraph their villains, but they do continue to be interesting to watch, reasonably original, and female-oriented. They are:

"Buried Lies." Examination of the body of a six-year old girl, who is assumed to have fallen from a rope swing over a river and drowned, suggests other possibilities.
"Long Days, Short Nights." The cops are sure they've arrested the right man for a gruesome, apparently ritual killing. Sam isn't. Features particularly strong performances from guest stars Colin Salmon ("Prime Suspect") as Sebastian Bird ; Ronald Pickup("The Hound of the Baskervilles") as Dr. Richard Owen, and Emily Mortimer ("Young Adam") as Fran.
"Darkness Visible." The death of a homosexual man in police custody looks like the work of his cellmate. But Sam isn't so sure, and the station wishes to avoid any suggestion of a cover-up. Features a particularly strong performance from greatly-praised TV actor, guest star Ken Stott ("The Vice," "Rebus") as Sgt. Bob Claire.
"Sins of the Fathers." A charred body is found in the ruins of a Vietnamese restaurant; Sam must decide whether it was murder or an accident. The case affects her deeply and results in tragic consequences. I found this episode extremely powerful; it also lingers in my memory.
"Blood, Sweat and Tears." An apparently fit and healthy young boxer dies in the ring: Sam's suspicions are aroused.
"Cease Upon The Midnight." Sam's postmortem upon the body of Stuart Evans reveals a suspicious needle track on his foot. He was too ill with AIDS to have administered this to himself, so who did? Who would?
"Only the Lonely." A young woman is found strangled with her own tights. Ross would love to connect this case to an older, unsolved one: Sam isn't so sure.
"Friends Like These." The body is found of an older woman who was frequently seen walking her dog. Ross and Sam disagree about this one.

One way or another, this series is one of the better forensic TV series available, and certainly one of the better female-headed, female-oriented series, as well.

They are still making this hit series over in the uk. Even though burton left to do other shows. This series needs a proper u.s. release and it's on season 13. Anyways this show really is well written and produced and internationally it's the best show about a female pathologist out there. Now it's about a team of pathologists but for the first 8 series ( burton didn't want to be typcast so she left then) it was about this character as played by amanda burton. I have the first four seasons and would recommend them to anyone who likes superior tv , These were not filmed in widescreen though so don't expect it , however you do get 5.1 sound. The prints look great and are well preserved. With season one starting in 1996 you get a feel for what it was like at that time forensically. DNA took many months at least to get a result back and science and techniques are obviously not as advanced as even 2006 by a long shot. Things changed alot even during that period. Anyways if you have a allregion dvd player and want one of the better forensic shows on tv out there then this is the one for you. Of course we get alot of stories revolving around the lead characters life for added drama too but Burton is such a excellent actress that noone could mind that fact. This is much better than her stint on "the commander' series that came after she left "silent witness' too. So lets get this out over here.

I saw this when it was on PBS.....waiting and waiting for US release. A source in the UK says there are 13 sets.
This show and a few others we are waiting for US release.

This is a problematic series to obtain on DVD and one might have better luck with tv and/or online tv. It is an excellent British forensic pathology show which continues for many seasons, running into the double digits. The characters change over time in the series but that does not detract from it. All characters are compelling. If you were to compare this series to the American CSI franchise, there is no comparison. This is not a glitzy show, like CSI, which plays loud rock music while showing all of the newest forensic toys and gadgets. This is instead well written and thought out scripts about death, loss, solving questions about death, all wrapped around superior character development. The scripts tackle difficult issues and do not resolve into a nice neat package like they do on CSI. I can't praise this series enough. For those thinking of entering the field as their profession, this also gives a less glamorous look at what such a life might really be like. Personally, I like the later years of this series, from say series 9 forward into the teen numbers-present day. I like the characters better and also the science has improved tremendously in these later years. One needs to fully explore streaming, downloading, cable, etc., for securing these series as it will be a long wait for dvd issuance.