Silent Witness (TV Series) Buried Lies: Part 1 (1996) User Reviews

This show has changed so much, in the beginning it was gritty.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 8 December 2019]

I've stuck with Silent Witness since the off, but hadn't watched this for many years. I had forgotten we didn't have the well known signature fine, and it had a shorter running time.

Sam makes a big impact as a character, within seconds and had command of the screen, she smells a rat in the case she's investigating, and the rest is history. Burton was terrific from the get go.

There is a very gritty feel to it, the story is bleak, the characters are serious and have zero soft edges, they're all hard nosed, and slightly harsh. I did like John McGlynn, who played Tony Adams in this first series, he had slightly more empathy then the others.

A very solid, gritty start. 8/10

Harsh Characters

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 16 January 2019]

Like most first episodes, this one is a bit lacking in interconnectedness. The characters, except for the main one, are a bit stiff. Again we have the superintendent who is inflexible and interested only in clearing her in box. This involves a little girl who has drowned. She comes from a family where the woman's boyfriend has a history of violence. He seems to find women who become dependent on him and attached to him, even though he is incredibly cruel. Sam, the pathologist, must use all her muscle to get any sort of investigation into the cause of death when it is discovered that she was physically abused.