Silent Witness
Pearl, 10.30pm
For those who are unfamiliar with the name Jack Dee, he is a well-known, wickedly funny, British comedian with a facial expression as deadpan as his sense of humour. In this conclusion to the two-part Silent Witness series, Dee drops his comic guise to guest star as convicted gangland murderer Chris Caldwell, also one of the two love interests of pathologist Professor Sam Ryan (Amanda Burton). Yes, under her cool and reserved exterior is a woman of great passion struggling with her emotions. The other man in her life is Michael Connor (Nick Reding, above, left with Burton And Dee) from the old series who is now a detective chief inspector.
'It's an entertaining threesome,' Burton said of the new relationships. 'She's sandwiched between these two guys and the story takes on wonderful twists and turns. Although Caldwell claims to be a reformed character, he's still dangerous, yet Sam is irresistibly drawn to him. It's not a one-off passion either. He talks to her about things which touch a real nerve within her and she finds him inspirational. She's never met anyone like that before.'
Well, tonight's episode sees dozens of people die in a cinema fire. Connor is in charge of the investigation and, over dinner with Ryan, tells her that he is returning to London. Pathologists and police manage to identify all but one of the victims, who reminds Connor of an informer who was murdered five years ago by Caldwell. The body was never found, which means if the fire victim is who Connor thinks he is, then Caldwell is not guilty of the murder. Ryan is extremely keen to find out the truth and, in doing so, get close to Caldwell. Ryan escaped marriage to a male chauvinist in the last series, but will she finally hang up her rubber gloves to settle down as a gangster's moll?