Silent Witness: Season 1

As to the pro's, concur with the major points made in the positive reviews of this highly-rated crime series.However, Season 1 (this season) has two quality control issues of a kind I've never encountered in any other DVD:1-Although there is a designated button, it does not open said screen to select the English subtitles; since the dialog is fast-moving with of course British accents, American viewers will miss a good part of the spoken words.2-Again there is a designated button for a list of episodes, similarly does not open a screen to see same episode list.As others have noted, the four films in this 2-disc set have sufficient shock value, much to offer in the way of bodies, most mutilated, and in various stages of decomposition; as well as explicit sex and violence.

Amanda Burton is excellent in this series that I viewed ages ago on PBS. I thought it would eventually come out on a region 1 DVD, but to date, it hasn't. Recently I purchased an all region DVD player, and I ordered the first 4 seasons of Silent Witness. Although the quality of the picture is not the greatest, it's good; and the series itself is as gritty and interesting as I remember. Over the years, I've become less tolerant of family situations and drama among detectives, police, and forensics experts in TV series; and Silent Witness does have plenty of emotional baggage. But the cast is excellent, and Amanda Burton is worth suffering the occasional family intrigue (which is sometimes humorous). I have not seen the series after she leaves the cast, but there are several seasons with her as Sam Ryan. They are worth adding to your collection.

Just found out about this show. It's been around since the mid 90's and they are up to Season 18 in the U.K. Okay I thought, something that has been around for 2 decades deserves a chance. So I purchased the DVD and boy was it worth it. Absolutely loved Amanda Burton's character. The stories were great too as they held up and did not seem dated. Thoroughly enjoyable. Bought Season 2 and am working my way through that as well. What is also interesting about this show is seeing Actors who came to prominence later starring here when they were 1st starting out like Idris Elba who starred in the Season 2 Episode "Blood, Sweat & Tears".

I love British mysteries and have been through all the best of them. So in my never ending quest for more I gave Silent Witness a try. I wanted to like it. I found the lead character very cold and wasn't really drawn to her or intrigued enough by her to want to continue the series. However, the stories were engrossing so I stayed a little longer. In the second story, I found some of the sex scenes frankly pornographic and one scene very degrading. This was disturbing to me. I also didn't like the gory views of the decomposed body. I did appreciate that the series did not have grossly offensive language--at least to the point I watched. These crime shows seem eager to plumb greater and greater depths of depravity and keep pushing the envelope. How far can this go? Where are the series with just good stories and compelling characters like Morse?

Well written and well acted.The DVD for Season 1 has technical problems. Can't select the episode you want to watch. Says it has Subtitles, but they don't work.Hope the Season 2 DVD works better.

Mucha reflexión, inducción y deducción, poca sangre y un uso muy medido del desborde tecnológico de los CSI: como médico forense, me parece un balance genial!

This series is typical of the high quality TV that is being produced in the UK and Europe. There is none of the gore/sex crimes/silly plots that are found in most American TV series (e.g. Bones, CSI, Criminal Minds, etc.). The acting is superb, the characters in Silent Witness are deep and develop, over time, in a reasonable way, - the pace is slower than in US shows and usually require the audience to have patience while the story develops.

I have mixed emotions about these stories. They are all well done, but some are intense or they visually "gross me out." It's the nature of the stories. The skill of the actors make them that much more realistic. I watch, but warn, they're not for everyone.

The very first series of the popular BBC Crime Drama was made way back in 1996, although watching it, with the good script and acting you wouldn't really care. Amanda Burton plays the lead in this and this series having established her credentials as an actress in earlier dramas of the 1990's such as Brookside and Peak Practice. Unlike some of the more recent onesthis series is set in Cambridgeshire ( my neck of the woods ) so I enjoyed location spotting. Right from the get go my wife and I was hooked, the opening story was particularly gripping and if the rest are anything else to go by the first series will be very strong indeed. It always fascinates but also repulses me as to what drives a person to do the wicked things they do particularly when they use there behavior to control and manipulate people for there own means. When you watch the first story you will see what I mean.This two disc edition features all four stories from series one. These in turn are divided into two parts so you get eight episodes in total. Later series apparently expand the format to five stories per series or ten episodes.

While the pathology is a bit graphic and the writers' license all too obvious (what pathologist is allowed or even tolerated in a murder investigation?), Amanda Burton's performance is flawless, and the combination of good casting, directing, cinematography and editing overcomes any niggles or doubts. The nice part is the character development, methodical and precise.Burton's character, Sam Ryan, is a woman haunted by the violent death of her father in Northern Ireland, the family home. She has clawed her way to the top of her profession, but in England, and is wed to her job. She of course solves the crimes in each episode, but along the way garners respect and affection of both her detractors and the audience.A satisfying start to what appears to have become a long run, judging from the available sets, all reasonably priced.The music is haunting . . .

I discovered the series by chance, and then came to wonder why it hadn't received all the acclaim it deserves. The protagonist hits a happy balance between scientific detachment and human compassion, and there's no attempt to step up the tension with extraneous effects (pulsing music, flashes, etc.); in fact, the tension is entirely intrinsic to the plot and action. Extremely delicate issues are addressed (sexual deviation, euthanasia, etc) without over-dramatization or moralistic attitudes. It seems to me far better than most other efforts in the genre (on a par with 'Waking the Dead').

I only recently got in to Silent Witness, so decided to go and start from the beginning by purchasing series one...I think the show must've been just finding its feet here; there is some rather cringeworthy wooden acting and stilted scripts, and it hasnt aged well at all: it's a very mid-nineties production, which looks very outdated compared with how tv shows now look a lot more 'filmised'. That said, it's still quite entertaining, although a couple of episodes are not quite as engaging as later series would be...

Silent Witness is a programme that I dipped in and out of over the years, never watching diligently but enjoying what I saw. I caught the start of the 2014 series and decided that, my wife never having watched it before, I'd get the first series so we could watch them all together and we were not disappointed. Yes there is the initial (but not unexpected) 'OMG look at the hair/clothes/technology!' but that is soon forgotten due to the gripping and well acted story lines.I've just ordered series 2, what better review can you have?