Silent Witness season 28 episode 7 sees Nikki (Emilia Fox) facing possible disaster on a plane.
We're in Mumbai, India. A couple are taken to their room in a grand hotel and it's amazing. The hotel staff member notices that the room hasn't been cleaned and then he sees a body. He tries to get the couple out of the room before they notice, but then they see the body.
Nikki is at an airport in India and Jack is on the phone asking her how the conference went. They flirt and arrange to meet up for breakfast. Nikki hears her plane has been delayed. Nikki chats to a fellow passenger, who introduces himself as Tony (Steve Oram). He says he's traveling alone and that his wife died 18 months ago because of cancer. Tony is also traveling in business class, like Nikki. Many hours later Nikki finally boards her plane.
On the plane, a passenger tells Nikki not to crush his hat. He's a bit of an a***. He introduces himself as Grant (Paul Hilton). He's rather a bore. He works in biofuels. They take off at last. Back at the Lyell, Jack looks at a map of where Nikki's plane is. Jack tells Harriet and Kit they need to stay in contact as they’re planning their wedding and Nikki apparently has lots of "opinions". Harriet says she once did a post-mortem on a parrot in India. "Of course you did," quips Jack.
Silent Witness turns into the spoof disaster movie Airplane!
Nikki is woken on the plane by the stewardess. She says they need a doctor. Grant asks if she is sure she wants to help. She'll be liable if she’s not insured he says. The passenger in trouble is Tony. The stewardess says he drank a lot of champagne. Nikki isn't sure it's the alcohol, though. The stewardess, on Nikki's request, bags up his meal. "They’re turning business class into A & E," complains Grant. Tony is in a lot of pain. The cabin crew hastily collects the dinner plates — I can't help thinking of the classic comedy Airplane! at this point, let’s hope no one had the fish! And don’t call me Shirley.
Anyway, back to the plot and Grant doesn’t react well to having his dinner taken away from him. Nikki thinks it's food-related. Back in Mumbai, a pathologist examines the body in the hotel and says it could be a "hemorrhagic virus". "What happened to you Vikram Mehtab Sharma?" he wonders.
'This isn’t food poisoning'
On the plane, Tony is in a bad way. He mentions his hotel. He's given some oxygen. Nikki says they need to ground the plane so he can get treatment. Nikki is worried about something airborne. The steward says that something airborne normally presents itself in a similar way to altitude sickness. The steward won't allow Nikki access to the pilot.
Tony suddenly steps out of his seat, vomits blood, and collapses. They get him into the recovery position. "This isn’t food poisoning," says Nikki. "Maybe a virus." Nikki tells the steward she needs to speak to Jack.
Jack hears the alarming news Nikki is involved in a medical emergency. Nikki finds a couple of climbers on the plane with a satellite phone. She speaks to Jack. She says the patient's name is Anthony Jenkins and she asks Jack to look at his medical records. She also asks Jack to locate his hotel in Mumbai.
Jack ropes in Harriet. One of the passengers, Beth, who's a nurse makes herself known to Nikki. At the Lyell, Kit arrives. Jack’s worried it's a nasty virus. Jack says 400 passengers could be going down with a deadly virus. Jack finds Tony’s hotel and learns a cleaner was found dead and his shirt was soaked with blood.
Tony doesn't look good. The steward says the pilot isn't keen on diverting to Iran. He says Baku in Azerbaijan looks the best bet but is 45 minutes to an hour away.
Tony starts having a seizure with blood coming from his mouth. Beth starts pumping his chest. They shock him and somehow he breathes again.
Will everyone on the plane go down with a deadly virus?
Back at the Lyell, Kit runs through the timeline. The cleaner in Mumbai is found dead noon London time, but the flight doesn’t take off for another seven and a half hours. Tony falls sick two hours into the flight. Jack says you'd expect a longer time gap if it was a virus. Annoying Grant asks Nikki if she thinks what Tony has is contagious. She says she doesn't know. He continues to be annoying.
The team track down the Indian pathologist who dealt with the cleaner. Harriet calls Nikki. Harriet says she thinks they’re dealing with some kind of pathogen. Harriet suggests doing a living autopsy! Harriet explains when Litvinenko was poisoned by the Russians it became clear they couldn't save him, so it was agreed they'd carry out a living autopsy with his consent so they could understand what he was dying from.
Nikki starts recording Tony and his symptoms. The pilot announces they are diverting and Grant shouts it’s "bloody ridiculous".
Back at the Lyell, they talk about how this is turning into an international incident.
On the plane, Nikki talks to Tony to try and stop him from going unconscious. She tells him to focus on his photo of his daughter. But it turns out not only has his wife died so has his daughter. Both died from cancer. He says he has something to live for, a cause. He starts saying something that sounds like victory. "I failed," says Tony and he collapses, seeing images of his wife and daughters as he does so. They try to shock him again and do CPR. But this time he's dead. Nikki struggles to stop trying to save him but she confirms death.
As they draw into land, they put Tony back in his seat and give him an eyemask — apparently this is protocol with a dead passenger! Nikki comments Tony was excited about the flight, why? Beth (Jo Hartley) says they must find out what killed Tony. The captain emerges from the cockpit and thanks Nikki for her efforts. She breaks the news that she's been told they need to take the body off the plane themselves with Nikki’s help. Looks like Nikki picked the wrong week to give up… ok, must stop with the Airplane! references.
A worried Jack thinks he should head out there. The body is taken off the plane. The passengers onboard look on worried, not surprisingly. Grant is being awkward as usual. Nikki says they need to do a post-mortem to find out what killed Tony. The Azerbaijan authorities are being very cautious and Nikki doesn't blame them. She asks the captain if they know about the other death in Mumbai and the captain replies what other death?!
The Azerbaijan authorities say, to Nikki’s frustration, the body has to go back on the plane and they must return to the UK with it as there's been no crime. The captain tells Nikki they have to go.
Grant makes a bid to leave the plane, Beth tries to stop him and he throws her off and she appears to scratch him. Nikki sees what's happened and Beth says she’s ok and Nikki shouldn't touch her. The captain tells Grant to sit down or they will have to restrain him.
Nikki speaks to Jack on the phone. Nikki says she doesn't understand what killed him. Grant's kicking off although actually he makes a fair point about how safe travelling with a body with an unknown cause of death is. The steward restrains him! Finally, they take off.
Oh no, Beth coughs up blood! She heads to the toilet, looks in the mirror, and says: "Not yet". She returns to her seat. What is Beth up to?
