Actress Emilia Fox has plenty to look forward to as she looks ahead to her 51st birthday on 31 July, including season 29 of the beloved BBC crime drama, Silent Witness, set to return in early 2026.
"The twenty-ninth series that we're doing now is set in Birmingham," Emilia, 50, tells HELLO! as she sits down for an exclusive interview.
"Jack and Nikki are married, so you get a glimpse into their married life, and then being in Birmingham, it gives a whole new look to the show. There's a different atmosphere and feeling working up here.
"The people are very welcoming, but visually it feels completely different, and it allows us to explore a different area of the country," the actress adds. "We're having a good time filming up here. I'm really enjoying it."
Working on Silent Witness
The 29th season, which coincides with the show's 30th anniversary, picks up in a new forensic centre at Birmingham General Hospital.
As Emilia suggests, her return to the drama, which has seen her play forensic pathologist Dr. Nikki Alexander since 2004, will allow her to get back behind the camera with her on-screen husband, Jack, played by David Caves.
"I'm super lucky. I have the dream co-stars on Silent Witness at the moment," Emilia says. "I've got David Caves, Francesca Mills, Maggie Steed, and they are warm, generous, and utterly brilliant to work with."
She adds: "Having chemistry with your co-stars is like magic because if you can get on with the people that you work with and feel like they're there for you so that you can try things out all the time and trust them to be there with you, that's a really exciting feeling and I think that translates onto stage or screen."
Emilia reveals her dream future co-stars
Working with her "dream" co-stars doesn't stop Emilia from keeping her eyes peeled for actors whom she'd be interested in working with in the future.
"I think [The Crown star] Erin Doherty is totally wonderful. I saw her in Death of England, which was a trilogy of plays at Soho Place, and she was just dynamite on stage. Then I saw her in Adolescence and was like, 'Wow, you're incredible," Emilia muses.
"I would love to work with Paapa Essiedu, who was in Death of England too. He's a remarkable actor. And then I've seen lots of Danny Dyer's work recently and [his appearance on BBC's] The Assembly was one of the most moving, brilliant, wonderful, uplifting things I've ever seen."
If Emilia's musings come to fruition, it won't be the first time Emilia has manifested her dream co-star into existence. In fact, she did just that with her role as Sylvia Fox in British detective drama Signora Volpe.
"Tara Fitzgerald, who plays my sister in Signora Volpe, from the first time I read the script, I was like, 'Do you think Tara Fitzgerald would consider playing my sister?'," Emilia recalls.
"I could just see her in this role, and she took it and it was the best straight away. We were interacting like sisters, and it felt like we'd known each other a long time."
Emilia's new project
The preparation for the 29th season of Silent Witness comes as Emilia teams up with My Pension Expert to encourage Britons turning 50 to start their financial planning.
"Don't worry if you haven't started before," Emilia says. "It's never too late to unlock your pension potential and even if you only start saving at 50, you can significantly boost your retirement income by a considerable sum."
Emilia Fox is working with My Pension Expert to get one million more Brits seeking financial advice by 2030.