Major shock as Silent Witness kills off key character in dramatic climax

At the end of tonight's episode, in just his second double-header as part of the team, Adam was tragically killed off in extremely dramatic circumstances, shortly after he had almost single-handedly solved a particularly troubling case.

Adam was run over by Professor Alan Cowley (Nicholas Farrell) after he had correctly identified that Cowley had not only been responsible for the deaths of both Wilfred Okoye and Dr. Emily Braithwaite, but for a long time had been poisoning the inhabitants of a village in Benin in order to aid his stem cell research.

Initially, the investigation had concluded that it was Braithwaite who had been responsible for the poisoning, and her own death was attributed to a heart attack caused by stress – with the case seemingly closed and the Lyell team celebrating another success.

But Adam was not satisfied. Having noticed an irregularity relating to Braithwaite's boiler, he secretly conducted some of his own research, which led to the conclusion that Cowley had been framing Braithwaite all along and had then gassed her in her own home.

At first Cowley didn't seem too bothered when Adam confronted him with his findings – claiming that he had been struck off and therefore his testimony would be discredited – but when Adam called Nikki and Jack to let them know, he took matters into his own hands, driving his car straight into Adam and leaving him for dead.

This double-header was something of a rollercoaster for Adam, even before the fatal ending. He finished last night's opening part resigning from the Lyell after it emerged he had lied in his application – information that Emily Braithwaite had threatened to reveal after he refused to help her cover up the failings of Dr. Arnie Rahul.

Tonight we saw him working with Jack and Nikki once again, however, after he emotionally revealed the real reasons for the lie to Nikki: he had accidentally killed someone while attempting to save their life many years ago, and had been so affected by the incident that he had been practically unable to leave his room for six months. The lie had been an attempt to explain the reasons for the six-month gap in his CV.

Wong had previously told RadioTimes.com that he particularly enjoyed having the opportunity to show his vulnerable side in this episode, explaining, "I’ve played a lot of gangsters, tough guys, all these police officers and I’ve never really had much of an opportunity to play vulnerability.

"And so there’s a moment where my character is very vulnerable and sharing something from his past to Dr. Nikki Alexander. And it was a really nice moment to be able to do that and have that moment with Emilia Fox on screen. And yeah, it was just nice to be vulnerable and play vulnerability on camera.”

It will no doubt come as a huge shock to viewers to lose the character so soon into his stint on the show, especially given he had proved a popular addition in his first few appearances – but the blow is softened a little by the news of another new cast member joining from next week.

Casualty and Shadow & Bone star Genesis Lynea will team up with Jack and Nikki from next week, playing Forensic Ecologist Simone Tyler, who is described as “a zealous and meticulous ecologist, who is making a massive jump from the museum to the mortuary”.

Let's hope she can last longer than Adam...

Silent Witness continues on BBC One, Monday at 9pm. Check out what else is on with our TV Guide, or visit our Drama hub for all the latest news and features.