We present recent progress in our development of fibre-optic sensors for the detection of partial discharge (PD) in silicone cable accessories, based on detecting related low-level optical emission. We experimentally show that the sensitive optical detection of PD can dramatically enhance the performance of conventional electrical PD measurement in electromagnetically noisy environments, and that it can yield high sensitivity and specificity even when no synchronous electrical PD measurement is conducted. This is demonstrated using a real-scale model of a high voltage cable accessory with a surface-attached conventional thermoplastic fluorescent polymer optical fibre (F-POF) sensor. In order to increase light collection efficiency, as a prerequisite for a commercially competitive implementation using cost-efficient detectors, sensing fibres will have to be integrated into the silicone rubber insulation, close to the potential origin of PD-induced damage. This is the rationale for our efforts to develop elastomeric fluorescent sensing fibres, tailored to the requirements of the application. We discuss specific challenges to be tackled and report on the successful implementation of allsilicone rubber fluorescent POF, to our best knowledge for the first time.