Silent Witness has lasted 19 series because it was something different: different in format, content, & style, if perhaps not in character.
of recent series it has become weaker & weaker since it stopped being about pathology & more about forensics: it's morphed itself into a pale imitation of CSI et al. & it's insulting its subject matter & audience in doing so.
more & more it sounds & looks as if it's written by white, middle-class men for a white middle-class audience: these last two episodes, Flight, about Jihadist Brits was SO ponderous, & clichéd, & insulting to our intelligence that this is how British Muslims think & behave, whether Jihadists or 'moderates'.
I thrilled at how original the BBC output was in the early 2000's, with Silent Witness, Spooks & Waking The Dead pushing the stereotypes of police procedural & serial drama, however now, with the demise of Waking & Spooks, & the transformation of Silent Witness, the very differences the Beeb were making are lost.
The pathologists in Silent Witness now follow the Police & do all their thinking for them, while the forensics uncover everything & piece everything together... & the seriousness of subject matter is diluted & polluted to entertain its mid-evening audience...
perhaps I am expecting too much of mainstream drama & that this is tackling national issues is as best a way as it possibly can, & that I'm yearning for a format & time-slot that doesn't yet exist, but this story Flight, while making excellent points about Islam, Muslims & radicalisation, did such a poor job of context, characterisation, & procedure, that I am really dissuaded from continuing to watch Silent Witness. which is a shame, as I'm enjoying the classics on DVD at the mo...