Inspector Morse

This has got to be the greatest TV detective series ever made. However  I'll admit it's not my favourite. In fact I didn't like it when I first saw it way back in 1987. Over time I did grow to really like it and it really has stood the test of time. Although there were only 33 episodes, thankfully we can still enjoy them on ITV3 at the moment. There's also the option to watch some episodes on ITV Payer @ ITV.com.
"Twenty one years ago a young, fresh-faced detective climbed into an old red Jaguar Mk II car for the first time.

Beside him was a grumpy super-sleuth with an eye for the ladies and a thirst for beer. Inspector Morse had existed before then in the books of Colin Dexter but it was the ITV version that was to catapult the character into TV’s stratosphere."

Source of text and picture: ITV.com

This was the start of a trip that lasted for thirteen years. The first episode "The Dead of Jericho" in 1987 introduced us to Morse and Lewis and in the final one, "The Remorseful Day" in 2000, they killed Morse off.

According to ITV.com, Inspector Morse pulled in a telly audience of 18 million for the last three episodes. That's a third of the British population and more than a million more than would normally watch an England group match in The World Cup!

Although very intelligent, he was also an intellectual snob, a bit of a womaniser, pedantic, sullen, arrogant on occasions and annoyingly overbearing with poor Robbie Lewis his sergeant.
So why did we like him? Well he was a complex character and despite his flaws perhaps we liked his vulnerability. He was never successful with women, he always seemed to be in conflict with authority and in the later programmes his health was failing. He was clever too and even though it took some time he always deduced the guilty parties. However I think the main reason we liked him was his portrayal by John Thaw.

The cast was fantastic with John Thaw as Morse, the opera loving whisky drinking detective and Kevin Whately as the hard done by Geordie sergeant, Robbie Lewis. Every episode had a wonderful cast of guest actors, a veritable who's who of the British acting world, that over the years included John Gielgud, Janet Suzman, Samantha Bond, Anna Massey, Daniel Massey, Robert Hardy, Richard Briers, Amanda Burton, Richard WIlson, Jason Isaacs, Jim Broadbent, Zoe Wannamaker, Geoffrey Palmer, Simon Callow, Patrick Troughton, Lionel Jeffries and Rachel Weisz to name but a few. You also saw Colin Dexter in cameo roles in many episodes.

I loved the theme music, composed by Barrington Pheloung which very cleverly used a motif based on the Morse Code for MORSE. Just listen to the guitar and the wonderful strings in this very haunting melody.

Definitely one of the best theme tunes ever written and it complemented the classical music and operatic arias played in the programmes. Unlike Morse, I'm not a great fan of opera nor Wagner but I have to admit that the music gave a touch of class to the series. I especially loved the episode set in Australia which ended on the steps of the Sydney Opera House with Morse going into the Opera House and leaving Lewis to go on a boat trip around Sydney Harbour. Pure magic!

What about his car too that red Jaguar Mk11! Like lots of TV detectives such as Harry O, he chose an unusual and often unreliable car! In fact he had quite a lot in common with Harry Orwell. Neither were snappy dressers, often came across as sullen, had health problems, no lasting relationships with women, they both liked a drink and each were vulnerable characters. However Harry O had a charm to him that Morse lacked.

The scenery was fantastic too, mostly set in Oxford with the university colleges providing the backdrop for many of the stories. In the final programme, The Remorseful Day, Morse has his heart attack in Exeter Quad.

Eventually they killed him off. To be honest he was facing a very depressing retirement with only his Wagner and whiskey for company so it was probably for the best. That last programme, The Remorseful Day wasn't the best episode but lets face it it had to be gloomy. He dies in hospital without Lewis his faithful sergeant but his last words were for him, "Thank Lewis for me".

It was a really sad scene and later as Lewis goes into the mortuary to say goodbye, he kisses Morse. What is even sadder now watching it, is that John Thaw developed cancer and died only fifteen months after the series ended.

A while ago I watched an excellent programme on the making of Morse and listened to a lot of the people involved in the production as well as the actors recalling their memories. I especially enjoyed listening to Kevin Whately (Sergeant Robbie Lewis), talking about the scene in the mortuary and laughing as he recalled discussing kissing Morse with John Thaw.

John Thaw had warned him, "Not on the lips Kevin!"

Here's a sad clip from the final episode where Morse is contemplating his retirement:

Ensanguining the skies,
How heavily it dies
Into the west away;
Past touch and sight and sound

Not further to be found,

How hopeless under ground

Falls the remorseful day.

From Easter Hymn, A.E. Houseman

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