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The 1835 Marriage Act however, hardened the law into an absolute prohibition (while, however, authorising any such marriages which had already taken place), so that such marriages could no longer take place in the UK.

Not strictly prohibited as such - what the Act actually said (s2) was ...

"That all marriages which shall hereafter be celebrated between persons within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity or affinity shall be absolutely null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever"

So it made any such marriages automatically void - but that didn't prevent them from happening, and quite regularly. My 3x G Grandfather married his widows younger sister (in 1840). They went to a neighbouring parish for the ceremony, but family members were witnesses and I doubt there was much attempt at any secrecy about it.

Despite the 1835 Act It is a fairly common thing to find in families at that time, and no offence was committed by anyone doing it.

It was a "ceremony", it won't be registered anywhere.

(there will be a visit to a registration office for the actual legal marriage before or after - same as for many who "marry" on beaches or in various far-flung overseas destinations. As a registrar I did loads of those).

I retired 12 years ago (from the Met Police), but did a lot of computer related work, and things do change rapidly, but I never heard of getting access to census data, and it wouldn't be that useful anyway, being a snapshot that doesn't get regularly updated.

There are much better databases available to find people ( HMRC, DWP, full electoral roll, phone subscribers etc.), but most such external databases would need a good reason, and authorisation given, to access.

Of course there are departments - counter-terrorism & security services for instance - who may have enhanced access to other systems.

I enjoy watching Silent Witness, and had the pleasure of chatting to Emilia Fox at the WDYTYA Live show some years ago, but it is a very, very long way removed from reality.

Civil reg starting in 1837 probably extended the time between death and burial as a death cert had to be given for a burial to commence.

It has never been an absolute legal requirement for a death to be registered before burial/cremation ( although most obviously were).

Although saying that the registrar would confirm the registration to the undertaker, both the 1836 B&D Act and the later 1874 Act had provision for burials that did take place before registration. Such deaths were supposed to be notified to the registrar within 7 days after the burial, with the responsibility on the person conduction the burial. I'm sure in many cases the vicar would tell the family to make sure they did it, but they didn't bother and that probably accounts for some burials being recorded in parish registers that don't seem to have a corresponding death registration.

Funerals still can happen before registration, most commonly in cases where the coroner is involved although a registrar can also issue the necessary permission.