The departure of Clarissa in Silent Witness was such a sad moment for fans and some new viewers might be wondering what happened to her after she was referenced in season 28.
She might have left the long-running BBC drama five years ago, but who could ever forget Clarissa Mullery in Silent Witness? Played brilliantly by Liz Carr, she was a forensic examiner with a sense of humour and an eagle eye for detail. She joined the Lyell Centre team alongside forensic scientist Jack Hodgson and soon it was hard to imagine Silent Witness without her. Clarissa helped to solve some of the toughest cases, bringing enormous empathy and humour to them and her eventual departure from the drama was a poignant moment.
The start of the new series of Silent Witness might have brought fresh hope in the minds of some fans that we could hear Dr Nikki Alexander and Jack talk about Clarissa Mullery and we weren’t left disappointed. Here we reveal what happened to Clarissa in Silent Witness, why she left and the sweet update we got in season 28.
*Warning: Spoilers Ahead!*
What happened to Clarissa in Silent Witness?
Forensic examiner Clarissa Mullery joined Silent Witness in the opening episode of season 16, Change, alongside Jack who insisted on her being appointed to assist him as soon as he was hired by the Lyell. Whilst he continues to be a key character in Silent Witness to this day, Clarissa left the team in the season 23 finale to focus "more on the living". Silent Witness season 23 included the episodes Hope Part 1 and Part 2 and at the end of this heart-wrenching storyline Clarissa’s terminally ill mother Penny passed away.
Whilst many fans might forever miss Clarissa in Silent Witness, there’s no mistaking how powerfully her exit from the forensic drama was handled in The Greater Good. The character stated her reasons very clearly before departing the close-knit team.
"I’ve decided, it’s time for me to leave the Lyell," she declared. "I love my work here, working with you all. I’ve never been so happy. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like but with Mum’s death…I just know, deep down, that it’s time for me to move on. To focus less on the dead and more on the living. On life."
Following this explanation which likely had many of us in tears, her final moment came at the end of the episode as she met up with Nikki and Jack and delivered her final line, "Better late than never" to him. The three friends watched a video of their late boss, Thomas Chamberlain, flying a kite with his daughter Rosie and sat in silence together.
Although Clarissa had already announced her intention to leave the Lyell Centre team before Thomas’s death, there’s no doubt that she was also hugely affected by what happened to him in The Greater Good Part 2. This heart-wrenching episode saw Thomas risk his own life to examine a nerve agent to try and provide a clue to doctors about what a seriously-ill Jack needed to be treated for.
Unfortunately, the protective suit didn’t prevent him from being affected by the nerve agent himself and Nikki and Clarissa watched helplessly from outside the sealed lab as Thomas died painfully, but happy to have given them the answer they needed to save Jack.
After this Clarissa Mullery was likely even more sure about leaving and focusing more on life, possibly including spending more quality time with her husband Max, who we were also introduced to during her time on Silent Witness.
Meanwhile, her actor Liz Carr has previously revealed her personal reasons for wanting to say a fond farewell to the character.
Opening up to RadioTimes.com, Liz shared, "The job was a joy. Clarissa was very loved, and I don’t take the experience or the support that I got in that role for granted at all. But I wanted to see who else I could play. Silent Witness took nine months a year, so it did cut out an awful lot of projects that I would’ve loved to do. I was almost starting to resent that, because I wanted to do other things."
Since leaving her role as Clarissa in Silent Witness, actor and disability rights activist Liz has starred in Netflix’s The Witcher, as well as thriller Devs, Good Omens and Loki. She also authored and presented a powerful BBC documentary on assisted dying entitled Better off Dead? which aired in 2024.
Is Clarissa in the new series of Silent Witness?
There’s nothing quite like the spark of joy fans get when a former regular character returns to your favorite show and many of us might be hoping that The Greater Good Part 2 wasn’t the last we’ll ever see of Clarissa in Silent Witness. She made quite the impression during her eight-season tenure on the hit BBC drama and although Liz Carr hasn’t appeared in person again since, Clarissa Mullery has been mentioned several times in recent seasons and continues to have a huge impact on the day-to-day running of the Lyell Centre.
It seems that since leaving Nikki and Jack, Clarissa is now giving lectures on forensic science. Although it’s not known exactly where, Jack’s new crime analyst Kit Brookes (played by Francesca Mills) told him in her interview Exodus: 20:17 Part 2 that she was inspired to pursue a career in forensics after hearing Clarissa speak.
"I went to a lecture given by Clarissa Mullery," Kit explained. "And I listened to her and I thought, ‘I want to do that’. Actually, it was more than that. I said to myself, ‘I can do that’. She was a bit of a hero."
Both Nikki and Jack seemed impressed by this answer and it wasn’t long before Kit was given the job. Clearly the way Clarissa spoke about her field of expertise was incredibly inspirational and Kit isn’t the only person who’s gone on to get a job with Nikki and Jack thanks in some way to the former forensic examiner.
In season 26’s The Penitent Part 2 it emerged that Clarissa was the whole reason Velvy Schur joined the team. Played by Alastair Michael, Velvy arrived as a Trainee Anatomical Pathology Technologist and was part of the show from season 26-27. Whilst Nikki herself said most people on placements at the Lyell "can’t wait to get out" of there, Velvy loved it.
"Clarissa found you didn’t she?" Nikki asked Velvy, to which he admitted, "She said I was crazy enough to work here."
The pathologist told him that this rather unusual statement "sounds a bit like Clarissa", whilst Velvy added, "I think it was a compliment."
"For sure. It means you’re a bit like her," Nikki told the trainee warmly.
This statement couldn’t have been more Clarissa and her dry sense of humor was something that will forever be remembered about her. As Nikki and Jack’s friend, she’s clearly still looking out for them and although it wasn’t clear what her future would hold career-wise after she left in season 23, she seems to be still moving in forensic circles. Clarissa's legacy in Silent Witness lives on and that although she's no longer in the show, the character still has an impact shaping the lives of her former colleagues.
Silent Witness season 25 continues at 9pm on BBC One on Mondays and Tuesdays and episodes are made available on BBC iPlayer each week on Mondays.
