Silent Witness viewers were introduced to Tom Faulkner as the BBC One series returned to screens last night (May 23).
To celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary, Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) came face-to-face with her predecessor Sam Ryan (Amanda Burton).
Sam enlisted Nikki’s help following the sudden shooting of the health secretary, as she launched her new enterprise UNITAS.
But who is Tom in Silent Witness? And how is he connected to the shooting? Here’s everything we know so far…
**Silent Witness episode one spoilers below**
Silent Witness: Who is Tom Faulkner?
Tom is an ex-military personnel who also previously worked for the UN.
From what it appears, the character seems to know more about the assassination of the health secretary.
Curiosity surrounding Tom grew towards the end of the episode one.
Read more: Silent Witness History cast on BBC One: Who stars in episode 1 of series 25?
In the show’s final scenes, Nikki discovered Tom’s fingerprints were found on the murder weapon.
He then went on to arrange a secret meeting with her.
As they came face-to-face, Tom asked the forensic pathologist: “Nikki, do you want to know who killed the health secretary?”
But what does he actually know?
How does Tom Faulkner know Nikki?
Tom appears to have links to both Nikki and Sam.
In a recent chat, Silent Witness producer Nick Lambon opened up on Tom’s “significant” connection to Nikki.
He told Metro.co.uk: “I think it’ll be a huge shock when the audience find out who Tom is and why he’s such a significant person in Nikki’s past and how he’s connected to Sam as well. I think something really interesting happens over the course of episodes one and two, which is we start out with Nikki looking at Sam, not quite sure whether she’s telling her the whole truth or telling her everything that she might know about this case that she’s brought them on to.
He’s such a significant person in Nikki’s past.
“But then what you start to see over the course of episode one into episode two is that the shoe is on the other foot.”
Nick added: “Suddenly, Nikki knows more than she’s telling us, and she’s not willing to share that with everyone else as well. So, what happens is, both these women are sort of, they’re not lying, necessarily, but they’re not admitting everything that they know about the case and that these individuals are not quite willing to tell each other about them.”
Viewers will discover Tom’s connection to Nikki during tonight’s episode.
Is he a baddie in Silent Witness?
It’s not yet known whether Tom is an actual baddie.
However, it wouldn’t be completely out of the question due to his past.
Speaking in the same interview, Nick said: “We made him have a past where he used to work in the army, in Special Ops and private security with Sam, which all makes us believe he can pull the trigger on a gun.”
Who is Tom Faulkner star Matthew Gravelle?
Matthew Gravelle stars as Tom in the BBC One drama.
The 45-year-old Welsh actor is no stranger to the world of television.
Broadchurch fans will recognise him as creepy villain Joe Miller, who murdered Danny Latimer in series one of the show.
Following his appearance in Broadchurch, the actor revealed how playing the evil character toyed with his mind.
Speaking to the Mirror in 2015, Matthew explained: “It does when you’re doing it, you’re aware that people are going to vilify you for the person you are playing.
“You never want to get it wrong, you want to be as true to someone who might potentially be like that as possible… you’ve got to be as sympathetic towards him as possible to see it from his point of view [and] get right inside his head to work out why he is doing that.”
Read more: Silent Witness series 25: How many episodes is it, what cast are back, and when does it start?
Matthew’s other television work includes Terry Price in Keeping Faith, Joshua Peake in The Widow, and Gwyn in Curious Under the Stars.
The star has also appeared as Ivor Griffiths in The Snow Spider, Saul Tregarron in Exile, and DI Nathan Eason in Manhunt.
Silent Witness series 25 is back with episode two tonight (May 24) at 9pm on BBC One.
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