Welcome to the Silent Witness guide at The TVCalendar. Silent Witness is a forensic thriller series, which was first broadcast in 1996, created by ex-police officer Nigel McCrery. The programme originally followed the activities of pathologist Dr Sam Ryan (who was later promoted to professor), played by Amanda Burton. However, Ryan's character departed early in the eighth series in 2004. During the sixth series in 2002, Dr Leo Dalton (William Gaminara) and Dr Harry Cunningham (Tom Ward) had joined the team, and now remained in the series and continued as lead characters following Ryan's departure, with Dalton replacing her as professor. Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) joined the team shortly after Ryan's departure. Orginally set in Cambridge, the main action of the series was then relocated to London. The programme is typically made up of a series of two-part stories, usually with six to eight episodes per series. The tenth series saw the number of stories go up to five. A new series is expected to air on BBC1 in early 2010. So far, only the first two series have been released on DVD in the UK. However, a set of the third and fourth series is expected to be released in February 2010, with the possibility of further releases to follow. Creator Nigel McCrery has also published five novels based on the series, entitled: Silent Witness (1996) Strange Screams Of Death (1997) The Spider's Web (1998) Faceless Strangers (2001) In Search Of Evil (2003)