Silent Witness

PC Peter Clements is the Thames identification officer, whose mission is ‘to identify all corpses recovered from the river, inform the relatives, find out why, how and when it happened, and prepare the elvidence for the Coroner’s inquest’. Taking the example of three mysteries (one dating back about thirty years) which he has recently managed to solve, the film depicts not only the strictly technical side of his work, but also its human side. This is the story of someone who gets involved, who restores a victim’s dignity and who helps relatives understand what has happened and come to terms with their loss. The film also tackles the questions of suicide, of the loneliness and distress of all those who have one day sought refuge in this river, its ebb and flow symbolizing the hazards of human existence.