HANG ON A MINUTE, I HAVE A HUNCH...

I've become a big fan again of BBC1's Silent Witness. I watched it years ago when Amanda Burton played the forensic pathologist Dr Sam Ryan, then recently caught the programme again and thought it was fab. Even the French and Saunders parody of 'Witless Silence' didn't put me off a great drama. This later series has the very sexy Tom Ward and Emilia Fox playing the two pathologists who put the pieces of the forensic jigsaw together with the help of professor Leo Dalton. Cue a little sexual frisson between the two main characters but it's ok because it offers a nice distraction.

The storylines are good with plenty of twists and turns and scary jump out of your skin moments. Silent Witness is not for the fainthearted as it can be gory with some pretty gruesome scenes. My nursing training gave me the opportunity to attend a few post mortem's and although fascinating, you need a strong stomach and a good smattering of Vick under your nostrils. Excuse the pun, but Silent Witness brings the forensic side of a death and the post mortem to life and it's very realistic (bar the smell).

CSI Crime Scene Investigation in New York, Miami etc are credible versions of Silent Witness whilst focusing on the forensics of crime scenes but having watched them a couple of times, they're just so... American. You know, slick, fast paced, whizzy gadgets and mumbling maverick characters filmed at weird camera angles. The daddy to these shows was the supreme Quincy ME played by Jack Klugman. He was a one man detective, maverick, forensics expert, doctor, pathologist. His tag line in every episode aimed at his trusty Chinese mortuary assistant was 'Sam, hang on a minute, I think I have a hunch'. So, Albert the 80 year old who we thought had died of old age, according to Quincy ME had actually been syringed with small traces of morphine mixed with amphetamine by his nephew who was set to inherit his million pound fortune. Not a hint of formaldehyde or dissected lungs in Quincy ME either...

Silent Witness is back on tonight and I'll no doubt be watching from behind a cushion and trying hard not to feel a little uneasy during the mortuary scenes...

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