Saturday, July 26, 2025

CODE OF SILENCE: New British crime series



Code of Silence
is a British crime drama, now available on BritBox in the U.S. The series stars Rose Ayling-Ellis as Alison, a deaf police cafeteria worker, called upon by the police department to lip-read conversations of criminals. Deafness is definitely handled in a new way for tv, and Ayling-Ellis does a terrific job. 

My one objection in the storyline is that Alison is told not to do 'detective' work, but big surprise, she gets involved with one of the suspects of a big case. She's young and inexperienced. In the first episode that I watched, there were several  (too many?) mystery tropes, but the acting was quite good, and the overall premise is excellent. As someone who can lip-read, I really liked the way lip-reading was handled. It was almost a map of how to lip-read, and it got me thinking about how lip-reading is more than just reading lips. Alison, the main character, talks about other important things like looks and demeanor, and, for her, knowing something about the speakers (the suspects). It's all about context. In an interview Ayling-Ellis said lip reading is 'like a puzzle." She was born deaf and speaks and uses British Sign-Language. 

According to ITV where Code of Silence debuted in May, the debut episode brought six million viewers. Code of Silence has already been renewed for a second season.

Read the NYT review here. 

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