“Facing the Press Without Makeup? Over My Dead Body”… the Life of the Glam Pathologist Who Inspired Silent Witness

It was two in the morning, back when there were no cell phones or GPS.

Once again, medical examiner Helen Whitwell has gotten lost on her way to a murder scene.

BBCEmilia Fox as pathologist Nikki Alexander in Silent Witness(/caption)

Forensic pathologist Dr Helen Whitwell inspired Silent Witness’ original main character Sam Ryan, above during the trial of knife killer Tracie Andrews in 1997Newsteam

Amanda Burton played Sam Ryan for the first eight years of Silent Witness

Dr Whitwell has been described as “the female Sherlock Holmes”

Stopping at a phone box in the middle of nowhere, she called Nottinghamshire Police headquarters, who sent a detective to find her.

A little later, as the police car she was traveling in finally reached its destination, Dr. Whitwell noticed that television crews and press photographers were already streaming in.

Quickly, she ordered the detective behind the wheel to pull into the driveway of a nearby house.

When the officer opened his bag, he expected to find it filled with the tools of his horrible trade.

Instead, the Home Office pathologist took out makeup, a hairbrush and perfume.

“If you think I’m going to face the press at 3 a.m. without my slap on the face, think again,” she told her bemused driver.

Adding the finishing touch, she then got out of the car to face the cameras as she slipped inside the police cordon to examine the body.

Nigel McCrery, then a police officer in Nottinghamshire, recalls: ‘The pathologists I had dealt with up until then were grumpy old men with beards and bullet casings.

“And then Dr. Whitwell came along.

“She was young, beautiful, blue-eyed, with long blond hair—not at all what you would expect.

“She was probably the smartest woman I have ever met, with the intellect and brains of a planet.

“But she was also eccentric.

“Helen loved champagne and parties, but often got lost on her way to murder.”

A decade later, Nigel had left the police to become a writer, but he could never forget Dr Whitwell.

And she became an inspiration for the world’s most famous fictional pathologist, Sam Ryan, in the TV series Silent Witness.

Now approaching its 28th season on BBC One, it is one of the longest-running TV crime dramas ever, alongside shows such as 1970s American detective classic Columbo, and has run for more than three decades since the first episode aired in 1996.

For the first eight years, Sam Ryan was the heroine of Silent Witness, played by actress Amanda Burton.

“Sherlock in the feminine”

Emilia Fox now stars as pathologist Dr. Nikki Alexander.

She also modelled herself after Dr Whitwell, who died of cancer last month aged 69.

Paying tribute to Helen, who became Britain’s first female professor of pathology, Nigel said: “I think she was very flattered to be part of Silent Witness.

She (Dr. Whitwell) was probably the most intelligent woman I have ever met, with the intellect and brains of a planet.

Nigel McCrery, a Nottinghamshire police officer

“She was this incredible combination of things that makes a wonderful character.

“A mix of fun-loving girl, if you will, and dedicated pathologist.

“It was a privilege to see her work, a female Sherlock Holmes, there is no doubt about it.

“She was an elegant woman in every way, who enjoyed champagne breakfasts, fine meals and high-quality wines.”

Dr Whitwell, daughter of the mayor of Kendal in Westmorland, trained as a doctor before lecturing on the study of brain diseases.

But she became fascinated by causes of death and in 1988 she was appointed a Home Office registered pathologist.

Over the next decade she worked with the Midlands Police force, carrying out up to 60 post-mortems a year in suspicious deaths.

She said: “I often dreamed of people waking up on the death table.

Nigel McCrery, a former Nottinghamshire police officer, is the author of Silent Witness(/caption)

“I know many people think it’s a macabre way to make a living, but it’s a lot easier than dealing with someone who’s alive and suffering.”

Dr Whitwell married police officer David Stokes in 1990, but they divorced four years later and had no children.

In 1995, when Nigel came up with the idea for Silent Witness, which began as a series of novels, the Doctor became his script consultant as well as the main character.

He says: “I remember one instance where I sent her the manuscript and she came back to me and said, ‘I find it very unlikely that someone would be strangled in a cemetery at night?’

“I said, ‘Yes, but it’s just a book. You can exaggerate these things a little bit.’ So I went on and didn’t think about it much more.

“She called me some time later and said, ‘I just handled a murder and the victim was strangled in a cemetery at night.’”

“I thought, ‘My God, we’re dealing with a copycat killer, someone who reads the book and kills people.’ But there’s never been another one.”

Passion for science

When Silent Witness first began airing on television, Dr Whitwell would visit the set to check that the death scenes were accurate.

But she revealed in a 2016 interview that pathologists never go out to question suspects, as they do on the show, which airs in 235 territories worldwide.

They examine a body and prepare evidence about how the victim died for the courts.

Writer Nigel, 70, said: “She wasn’t taking the side of the police and she wasn’t taking the side of the defence.

“It was not her place to give her opinion. She presented evidence.”

Dr Whitwell also became a world expert on shaken baby syndrome and in 1995 she helped truck driver Kevin Callan overturn his conviction for killing his disabled four-year-old stepdaughter by shaking her.

She would not take the side of the police and she would not take the side of the defense.

Nigel McCrery, a Nottinghamshire police officer

She provided evidence that helped catch murderer Tracie Andrews, who stabbed her fiancé Lee Harvey 42 times with a penknife in 1996, but claimed they were attacked in a road rage incident by a “large, staring man” who killed Lee.

In 1999, Dr Whitwell appeared as a defence witness in the case of Sally Clark, a lawyer convicted of murdering her two infant sons.

His conviction was overturned in 2003.

Dr Whitwell provided evidence that helped arrest murderer Tracie Andrews, who stabbed her fiancé Lee Harvey 42 times with a penknife in 1996.

GettyShe also served as an expert advisor to the investigation into serial killer Harold Shipman(/caption)

News Group Newspapers LtdDr Whitwell appeared as a defence witness in the Sally Clark case(/caption)

Dr Whitwell also gave evidence in the case of deputy headmaster Sion Jenkins (/caption)

The professor was also an expert adviser to the investigation into serial killer Harold Shipman, a Greater Manchester GP.

She also gave evidence in the case of deputy headteacher Sion Jenkins, of Hastings, East Sussex, who became the first man in British criminal history to be acquitted after three trials for the same crime: the alleged murder of his 13-year-old adopted daughter, Billie-Jo, in 1997.

Dr Whitwell’s home was a 17th-century cottage near Pershore, Worcestershire, where she grew powerfully scented flowers.

Each plant was selected for its aroma. Nigel says: “I didn’t realise she was such a keen gardener.

“To my surprise, she replied, ‘I don’t particularly like gardens.’”

“Pathologists tend to lose their sense of smell and taste.

“It’s not because of the corpses. They’re unpleasant, but the smell is natural.

“It’s because of the chemicals. As soon as she stopped smelling her garden or the strong aromas faded, she would retreat.

“A few years later, she did it.”

Dr Whitwell last hung up her lab coat in 2009 after osteoporosis in her hands left her unable to hold the instruments needed to perform autopsies.

But she did not give up her passion for science.

Instead, she wrote books on pathology and continued to travel around the world lecturing.

But, Nigel said: “In his final moments, his biggest regret was that he could no longer really taste champagne.”

BBCEmilia Fox has played Dr Alexander since 2004(/caption)