Silent Witness is a British crime drama television series produced by the BBC, which focuses on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. First broadcast in 1996, the series was created by Nigel McCrery, a former murder squad detective based in Nottingham. (He later went on to create the series New Tricks, with writer Roy Mitchell.) Twenty-three series of Silent Witness have been broadcast since 1996. Amanda Burton starred as primary character Dr. Sam Ryan before leaving the show during the eighth series. Since her departure the series has featured an ensemble cast, which consisted of Emilia Fox, David Caves, Liz Carr and Richard Lintern until the end of series 23, when Carr and Lintern both departed. Series 6. Episode 41-42 'Tell No Tales' includes a story about a man who grew up in a children's home. Series 18: Episodes 155-156 has a story of DI Luke Nelson who was in kinship care and a young women desperate to retrieve the child she had at age 14, and Series 18 Episodes 157-158 explores mistakes made by the child protection authorities. In Series 22, Episodes 5&6 a skilled tatooist who is an adoptee is murdered.

Series 23, Episodes 7 & 8 Hope and Series 24, Episodes 3 & 4 Bad Love concern the lengths some people will go to form families, including by abducting children. In Series 24, Episodes 9 & 10 there are two young Black British boxers caught up in the illegal "bare knuckle" boxing scene were in foster care as kids.