[Closed] Silent Witness - late starter...

Just dire and getting worse. I keep giving each new series a try and being monumentally disappointed with the quality of the writing and, 50% of the acting.

Of the regulars, they're mostly good apart from the squinting, moody forensic Irish chap; he's shit.

Cops fall into a number of predictable categories:
1, Shouty east-end geeeeeeeezah
2, Home-counties posh type
3, Disgruntled lower rank who are smarter than their senior officers
4, Complacent senior officer who wants the easiest result even if it means fitting someone up
5, Overlooked officer trying to make a name for themselves
6, The one who seems a bit lost

Sometimes they combine some of these. Either can be male or female.

Episodes work as such:
1, Show crime
2, Show team making blindingly obvious statements which probably seem smart if you're writing the same show 4-5 times a year and are phoning it in
3, Opening credits
4, Introduce slightly-too-obvious potential perpetrator
5, Spend the bulk of the first episode leading to a reveal (usually at the start of the 2nd episode) that the one identified in #4 is not the killer
6, Member of the team drops some revelation on a relative of one of the victims as some sort of human interest that in real life would be so far from acceptable it's untrue (i.e. recent episode, telling a bloke that his supposed nephew was really his son)
7, Spend the second episode introducing the actual killer

Yes I've watched quite a few episodes. But I hate myself for it.

My missus loves it - atlaz is correct ,they are becoming rubbish. So much so, my missus watches them alone as I keep spoiling them for her.ha.

I get consistently surprised how involved the " independent forensic consultant team" get with the general investigation including interviewing suspects and generally hanging out with the police while they are investigating... is this realistic?

I still watch it but it seems far removed from the realities of this sort of work and not sure I really enjoy it.

Endeavour on the other hand is excellent. Am I getting old?

Yep, as above. Used to be good & have been getting progressively rubbish-er and ridiculous-er...

The whole premise of them being on the pathology team doesn't work, as they are running here, there and everywhere doing the job of the entire Police force.

I love Atlaz's somethingion of the general plot...

But, yeah the Wife enjoys them & she controls the zapper to all intensive purposes....

It falls in to the same trap as all forensic type crime shows in that they rely heavily on what I call the "Shite-o-scope"

It works thusly.....

A horrible murder has been committed in bizarre and unusual circumstances and the only clue left by the cunning and forensicaly aware killer is a huge, steaming turd exactly in the center of the victims kitchen floor.
A 20 minute, evidence gathering, shit scraping, centrifuging montage later...........they feed the processed residue of the jobby into the Shite-o-scope which has an improbably fancy and complicated 3d holographic user interface.

Beep.
Whirr.
Rapidly rising % complete bar.
Pixellated photograph which gradually resolves.........
... to give a readout of the Killers DNA, (which they are instantly able to recognise just by looking at it on the screen), detailed personal information, current satellite tracked location and hitherto undiscovered Hi-Def CCTV footage of the crime itself.(from multiple camera angles and professionally edited)

CSI was the absolute worst for this.

The whole premise of them being on the pathology team doesn't work, as they are running here, there and everywhere doing the job of the entire Police force.

Frequently they actually catch the murderer whilst plod eventually catches up and arrests them.

This latest batch has been tripe. The police are pathetic. The peripheral actors are dreadful.
Still, Fox is fit.

perchypanther - Member

CSI was the absolute worst for this.

The worst....? Or the best? 😀

The way that could resolve a high def colour image of the perp' from a 3x3 greyscale blob of pixels sure was impressive!!

I get consistently surprised how involved the " independent forensic consultant team" get with the general investigation including interviewing suspects and generally hanging out with the police while they are investigating... is this realistic?

With regard to the peripheral actors being rubbish, what about the long term missing girls mum the previous week? When she was having a nightmare whilo in prison - astoundingly awful!

Thought you guys might like this.

Really Interesting stuff...... Did you know that somewhere in London there is a dead pig dressed in human clothes!

The Infinite Monkey Cage:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b064yglg

Really Interesting stuff...... Did you know that somewhere in London there is a dead pig dressed in human clothes!

Don't tell our former PM...

oh and Emila Fox is very 53xy !

Not for me , skeletal combined with shite overacting isn't what I call sexy .

I'm not sure about this series, think a couple of the episodes have been good but this last one felt completely ripped from a CSI episode from probably 10 years ago (to the point where I knew what the next scene was) and the previous one the mum/dad's acting was beyond cringe-worthy.

Shame as I really like it (MUCH prefer it compared to Sherlock) but it's starting to end up more like the over stretched CSI/generic american crime series, where it used to be reasonably original.

Also anyone seen Delicious? Thought that was pretty ok even if it was only 4 episodes.

I've watched a little bit of it but it does seem pretty crap, with no real explanation of why the pathology team seem to be acting as police detectives most of the time.

I've watched the last couple - my Mrs likes crime dramas and fantasy stuff, and compared to some of the other stuff she watches Silent Witness isn't too bad.

Would take it over Game of Thrones, Sherlock (the recent series of that really was sh*t) or Vikings any day of the week.

Run of the mill Brit TV cop/murder stuff. Watchable if nothing else to do, but nothing to get excited about. Apart from them big ol' brown doe eyes..

Apart from them big ol' brown doe eyes..

Yeah, she's the best one in it.

[img] [/img]

It really is unbelievable dross now, I did enjoy it in the past but now it's just corny rubbish. Will the last one of this series see them off on the usual foreign jolly where one of the team is almost killed.

[i]Yeah, she's the best one in it[/i]

*swoon*

paulneenan76 - Member
Still, Fox is fit.

Preferred her before she got really skinny. Like when she was in "Consuming Passion" 8)

Not a patch on the original 1996 series with Amanda Burton. Way, way beyond its shelf life now in my view, as is Sherlock, Luther, The Fall, to name a few.

However, enjoyed the latest Missing and looking forward to Broadchurch returning.

Given that, what are the STW collective watching/catching up on/boxsetting at the mo?

Really like the Scandi Dramas (The Bridge, Follow the Money etc) but think have pretty much exhausted that genre for the time being.

Given that, what are the STW collective watching/catching up on/boxsetting at the mo?

Not found anything decent for since last GoT series ended and we finished The Wire. Everything since has been 'meh' (to be fair, after The Wire, anything is going to be 'meh'). To be honest, I'm not sure we've finished a single series of anything.

Saying that, Taboo is quite good fun, enjoying that.

I lie; the two series of Gomorrah were good, if unremittingly bleak.

AS part of the STW Chub Club, i,ve been watching box sets on my cross trainer.

Quite enjoyed Misfits on All4 and have just got bang up to date with No Offence.
Like Shameless for cops.

Yeah, No Offence is also good fun.

Quarry. Watch Quarry you fools!

Is it a mining documentary?

There is a quarry in one episode if that's what you're after!

Ooh, lovely.

There is a quarry in one episode if that's what you're after!

Massive plot hole.....

hairylegs - Member

Given that, what are the STW collective watching/catching up on/boxsetting at the mo?

I thought Broadchurch, the second series, was pretty poor and unrealistic.

Yes the main Doris is mighty fine. Actually that applied for the one in no offense as well.

Given that, what are the STW collective watching/catching up on/boxsetting at the mo?

Just watched the West Wing again (took about 2 months). Quite appropriate given what's been going on over the pond.

Another vote for taboo. Also watched The Bureau and Braquo (French tv) as they were pretty good. Tried The Following but it started silly and got sillier.

No Offence is definitely a good one too. I liked Line of Duty for the 2 or 3 seasons so far.

One I'm watching is Bakstrom,on Netflix . Has a few amusing moments.
Every time I see it I think of folk on here.ha.
& Taboo plus 100.
Versailles was pretty amazing too.

Met miss fox on a few occasions. She is tiny. Does a nice kiss on the cheek though 😉

My Mrs is in one of them...and no she doesnt play a corpse before you ask!!

My Mrs is in one of them...and no she doesnt play a corpse before you ask!!

No. As I recall she was a scene of crime officer accused of some wrong doing.

Does anyone else turn all the lights in the office off when working in the evening? I like it as a comedy show.

Saying that, Taboo is quite good fun, enjoying that.

Juat did a search as could not believe there wasn't a thread already. Brilliantly made, superb makeup and costumes. BBc period drama at it's best, Ridley Scott, Tom Hardy, Edward Fox (hardly recognisable !) excellent quality ...

Some of the worst acting ever seen in the small screen ...

jambalaya - Member
Saying that, Taboo is quite good fun, enjoying that.

Juat did a search as could not believe there wasn't a thread already

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/taboo

Last night's was the biggest load of utter codswallop I have sat through for a very long time.

I can't even bring myself to list the manyfold reasons it failed.

Yeah, I'm not impressed with the latest series and last night was rubbish. Will have to watch tonight though to see how shit the end is and to see if she actually dies.

Death in Paradise on Thursday though, now that doesn't disappoint!!

Agreed. I'm going out tonight so I won't see it live, and almost certainly not waste my time with catch up. I'll check back here tomorrow to [b]spoiler[/b] see if she's actually dead.

Murder in Paradise on Thursday though, now that doesn't disappoint!!

The only island in the world where you're more likely to be murdered than you are to meet an overweight, unattractive woman.

see if she's actually dead.

They found her emaciated skellington buried in the desert.

Couldn't tell if she was alive or dead.

The only island in the world where you're more likely to be murdered than you are to meet an overweight, unattractive woman.

I'd take my chances if Florence was going to show me around!

Couldn't tell if she was alive or dead.

Completely rubbish now, so much so I get enjoyment out of recording each episode and deleting it...unwatched...haa

Unforgotten on ITV though is brilliant

What a bag of shite that was.

Dire.....

She must have heard seagulls etc. with only a mouldy timber wall between her and her elements? Could you get a mobile signal, if you were actually buried?

Jumped the shark many seasons ago, this show...

Which clever people spotted the fact they filmed this tripe in Tenerife, not Mexico? Not me...

And if she was buried she would have been in total darkness when she switched the phone off...

It was pretty desperate. Even the ladies maid from Downtown Abbey as the Mexican doctor couldn't save it.

Taste The Soil, Dammit!!!

NNNNNIIIIICCCCCKKKKKKYYYYYYYYY.......

What was the point of the shot of the boss bloke imagining Nicky on the slab - purely to provide a 'what happens next' shot at the end of episode 1??

Wow. Talk about awful. It's hard to know what was most stupid.

utter shit, worst in a long time and that is saying something

Gary_M - Member
It really is unbelievable dross now, I did enjoy it in the past but now it's just corny rubbish. Will the last one of this series see them off on the usual foreign jolly where one of the team is almost killed.

Come on own up your the writer aren't you?

retro83 - Member
utter shit, worst in a long time and that is saying something

This.

I remember in previous seasons it being pretty good.

Last nights was just dire.

Yes I know there are other things on, No one is making me watch it etc .....

Used to be good. Past tense. Regrettably still going.

Death in Paradise is far superior on all fronts (although that is definitely now due to replace Kris Marshall).

I get consistently surprised how involved the " independent forensic consultant team" get with the general investigation including interviewing suspects and generally hanging out with the police while they are investigating

purely to provide a 'what happens next' shot at the end of episode 1??

I couldn't understand it at all. Awfully written shite but more or less adhering to my plot plan earlier in the thread.

Some other questions:
How was it she spent all that time in a box without realising the bit where her head was was effectively in the open?
Do all 3000 year old burial mounds have metal air vents?
Why didn't the people trapped under the ground in the scrapyard realise they were literally buried under 1cm of dirt and why didn't the truck cave the hole in?
Why did I watch it?