Nigel McCrery

Nigel Colin McCrery (30 October 1953 – 6 February 2025) was an English screenwriter, producer and writer. He was the creator of the long-running crime dramas Silent Witness (1996–present) and New Tricks (2003–2015).

Early life McCrery was born in Essex on 30 October 1953. His father, Colin McCrery, served in the RAF, so the family travelled during his early childhood before settling in Nottingham.

Police career After working in a series of jobs, McCrery joined the Nottinghamshire Constabulary in 1978. He worked on a number of murder cases and became interested in forensic science. In August 1987, he left the police to read modern history at Trinity College, Cambridge. His first play, Going Home, was about a survivor of the Holocaust who returns home after World War II.

Broadcasting McCrery was selected for the BBC's Graduate Entry Scheme in 1990. After working on a variety of BBC documentaries, he joined the BBC drama department in 1992, becoming the researcher on Our Friends in the North. the television film All The King's Men (1999) starring David Jason and Maggie Smith, the 1950s-set medical drama series Born and Bred (2002–2006),

In 1992, while working as an assistant producer on the BBC1 show Tomorrow's World, McCrery arranged for the remains of the Tsar Nicholas II and the rest of the Russian Royal Family, executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918, to be flown to the UK for DNA examination to verify their identities. McCrery's car was then used to convey the bones of nine Romanovs to their destination. He wrote in his book Silent Witnesses: "There can't be many people who've had an entire royal family in the boot of their car". He died in Nottingham, on 6 February 2025, aged 71.