The Silence

This new BBC One four-part series was of particular interest to me. The Silence is a Whodunnit with a twist – the main witness, an eighteen year old girl, is deaf. I have a cousin just a few years younger than the central character, Amelia, who also had a cochlear implant and one thing that has stayed with me is witnessing, as the implant’s volume was switched up for my cousin, the first time she experienced thunder. It really makes you think that deaf people not only have a different exterior life, the way they communicate, but also the way they think must be different to hearing people. For someone who has never heard sound it is almost impossible to describe and overwhelming to hear at first, and in my opinion Fiona Seres captures this in her enthralling script.

Using silence as a way of separating her main character from the rest of the cast is a great device. As well as providing an interesting insight into hearing problems there is also opportunities for eerie silences. This is demonstrated by the contrast for Amelia between the jumble she hears with the cochlear implant, and the deathly silence she sees as respite without it. In addition to this lip-reading serves as a valuable plot device – all things a hearing person would struggle with.

Even if we disregarded this hook Seres uses it’s still a great show. She has a real talent for tailoring dialogue to a specific character. For example Dervla Kirwan’s character has a very Irish syntax and choice of vocabulary. Examples such as ‘they were always gorgeous together as kids’ and ‘we’ve a place for her here’ stand out as being specific to that character, and this is the case throughout the show.

It may seem like I’m grasping for examples, but that’s because I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s instalment to see how the tale unfolds. And deaf protagonist or not, that’s all a Whodunnit needs to provide me with.