David Caves On BBC’s Silent Witness Series Twenty-six

The Perfect Couple?

The BBC’s Silent Witness returns for a twenty-sixth series and here’s one of its stars David Caves, who plays Jack Hodgson, talking about the new run…

At the beginning of this series, where do we find Jack? 

We find Jack and Nikki are very much a couple. They’re in a good place. We always wanted it to be a positive relationship and not become a bickering, conflict-ridden thing. I think we sidestep that landmine as best we can.

But work does still come between them, doesn’t it? 

Yes, they are a couple who do nothing but work, they’re total workaholics. They don’t seem to have much of a home life. Jack has a little bit more, but Nikki is the real workaholic. She never leaves the Lyell, so we don’t get to see them at home domestically, per se. But we get to see lovely little glimpses into their relationship in the office.

How do viewers get those glimpses of their relationship? 

Really through the eyes of the young Velvy played by the brilliant Alastair Michael. It’s seen through his eyes a little bit more because he’s a bit of a fish out of water. He’s wide-eyed with wonder at everything, so he puts his foot in it a fair bit with them. He knows something’s going on and he always says the wrong thing. They’re slightly thinking, “What’s he talking about?’ It’s quite amusing for those little moments.

What challenges does Jack have to deal with in this season? 

Complications arise when his niece Cara comes to do a criminology degree in London and wants to stay with Jack. He’s not thrilled about it. He finds himself now in this sort of paternal role, which he never would have thought of. He’s always been quite a lone wolf, a standalone guy. Now he has to worry about her. That’s a bit annoying for Jack, but dramatically these are good problems to have.

How does Jack react after Cara moves in? 

He worries because she’s young, she’s vulnerable and she’s deaf. Spending time around him in the workplace wouldn’t be top of his list of priorities. Nikki seems very relaxed and chilled-out about the whole thing. Meanwhile, Jack becomes this kind of neurotic father figure, going around helicopter parenting. It’s just something he never expected to do.

Tell us about the story that launches the new series? 

We kick off with a mafia story. It’s great to start off with something big and cinematic like that. The faceless aspect of this enemy is fun. They’re this threat in the background, but you never see who they are or who’s in charge. That’s very timely, isn’t it? In these kinds of areas, you don’t know who’s the puppet master in the background. With these big corporations, you’re never clear where the money’s coming from, what it’s doing and what hands it’s passing through. I thought that was an excellent way to open the series.

What impact does this storyline have on Jack and Nikki’s relationship? 

Nikki gets quite heavily involved and is faced with a terrible dilemma, which puts Jack at risk because he’s her weakness. When you’re working in that sort of world with somebody you love, then one of you is constantly in peril, if not both of you. How does the other person deal with that? What does it mean? There is a real underlying menace in this series, which I think is really, really good.

What other areas are covered in the episodes following the mafia story? 

The next story is very dark again. It deals with immigration. It’s a very complicated story with a lot of characters and it’s very topical. The story after that focuses on the dangers of social media. It’s about social media influencers in that weird, seedy world which I know very little about!

The writers of Silent Witness always manage to strike a tropical chord, don’t they? 

Absolutely. The writers are brilliant. They always have that topical edge. They also come at a subject from an angle which is unexplored a lot of the time. They never take the obvious route. They always find a little way of coming at it which makes you go, “Oh, right. I hadn’t thought about that.”

Why, after 26 years, is Silent Witness more popular than ever?  

Everyone loves to watch crime dramas. We’re all mortal beings, and we’re all going to die. Sometimes it’s easier to explore that from the comfort of your sofa than it is to have to live it in real life. We can put ourselves in the position of the people who are going through it in the drama and think, “What would I do? How would I cope with that? Would I be able to do that or not?” Ultimately, we like mysteries because we just like to know stuff. We want to know who did it and why they did it.