Silent Witness to return in 2025 as Rivals star joins cast – all the details

It's great news for Silent Witness fans as the hit BBC drama will return to screens next year with two brand new cast members for series 28, while a 29th season is set to air in 2026.

Maggie Steed (Rivals, Ten Percent) has joined the cast as the Lyell's new head, Harriet Maven, while Francesca Mills (The Witcher: Blood Origin) will play Kit Brooks, a Crime Analyst who works with Jack.

Of course, Emilia Fox will be back as Dr Nikki Alexander, alongside David Caves as Jack Hodgson.

The series will tell five new stories over the course of ten episodes. The series opener tells of a disturbing mystery, when "the death of an elderly woman found in a cave has the team asking what drives a person to murder someone so vulnerable. We also get an introduction to the two dynamic new team members," according to the synopsis.

On joining the long-running crime show, Maggie said: "I was delighted to be asked to join Silent Witness.  I've enjoyed it many times over the years and it’s always been the most intriguing and entertaining series going, so it's been a thrill to join."

Meanwhile, Francesca said she was "thrilled" to be joining such a much-loved series. "I really look forward to being a part of the stellar cast. This will be the 28th Series, and it is still going from strength to strength," said the actress.

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Suzi McIntosh, Executive Producer at BBC Studios said of the new cast additions: "I could not be more delighted to welcome our fabulous new cast to our Silent Witness family.  Both Maggie and Fran bring their talent to our exciting and original new characters who will help carry our stories brilliantly. So watch this space!"

Pre-production is now underway in Birmingham for the 2026 series, which will film early next year.

As well as the main cast and two new additions, we'd expect to see Alastair Michael reprise his role as Velvy Schur alongside Aki Omoshaybi as Gabriel Folukoya and Rhiannon May as Cara Connelly.

Season 27 ended on a joyous note with Jack's surprise proposal to Nikki. Fans have been deeply invested in the characters' 'will-they-won't-they' storyline over the past few seasons, which came to a head in series 26 when they finally made their relationship official.

Opening up about her on-screen romance, Emilia previously told HELLO!: "The audience has waited for ten years, and they are an incredibly loyal, generous, kind and loving audience, who have invested in the Jack and Nikki relationship. I think everyone agreed what we didn't want to happen was to put them together and then immediately bust them up."

The star continued: "There's a reason why suddenly this has happened and it would be a shame to lose all the great moments that they have just to create a dramatic effect. So really, what you're seeing is their friendship which has turned into a relationship and hopefully seeing a side of them which can work, [where they can] work together and love each other and then who knows what's going to happen in the future. I'm all for Jack and Nikki."

Silent Witness will return to BBC iPlayer and BBC One in early 2025. Past series are available to stream on iPlayer.