The comedy stylings of Lewis and Morse.
Series 1
The Dead of Jericho (6 January 1987)
Written by Anthony Minghella (based on Colin Dexter’s novel). Directed by Alastair Reid.
Morse (John Thaw) meets a woman, Ann Staveley (Gemma Jones), in his choir. When she’s found dead of an apparent suicide, Morse suspects murder and, with the help of Sergeant Lewis (Kevin Whately), sets out to prove it.
Like most Morses, the plot in this début tends toward meandering a bit and, really, that’s the way it should be. Thaw is fantastic, as usual, and Minghella’s script captures the melancholy of Dexter’s novels well. Reid’s directing does the job just fine, though the 16mm grain does grate a bit. It’s amazing they got their eye in so quick.
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (13 January 1987)
Written by Julian Mitchell (based on Dexter’s novel). Directed by Brian Parker.
Deaf examiner Nicholas Quinn is found poisoned in his home. Morse’s investigation leads him into a tangled web of corruption and adultery at the Foreign Examinations Syndicate.
What I’ve always liked about Morse is that he’s wrong so many times on the way to being right. In this film, there’s a very nice progression to his guesses, leading him organically to the identity of the real murderer.
Service of All the Dead (20 January 1987)
Written by Julian Mitchell (based on Dexter’s Novel). Directed by Peter Hammond.
A man is stabbed to death in a cathedral, setting Morse on an investigation that proves once again that all Oxford murders are very complicated, and Morse never gets the girl. And, of course, Godot never shows up. Maybe that’s a spoiler.
Peter Hammond’s direction tends toward the showy and over-dramatic, and the plot is a bit outlandish, but it is a pretty clever story and Hammond does manage some quite nice shots.
Series 2
The Wolvercote Tongue (25 December 1987)
Written by Julian Mitchell (based on a story by Dexter). Directed by Alastair Reid.
An American tourist is found dead of a heart attack and her priceless art treasure missing. Morse is convinced, as usual, that it was murder.
The guest stars are almost-uniformly annoying, the Americans sound phoney, the direction is overwrought, and the music is downright histrionic. Still, the plot has its clever points, and it is still Morse.
Last Seen Wearing (8 March 1988)
Written by Thomas Ellice (based on Dexter’s novel). Directed by Edward Bennett.
Morse gets handed the case of a missing girl, and goes about ruffling any feather he comes across to find her. When the girl sends her parents a letter, it of course does nothing to dissuade Morse from thinking she’s actually dead.
The Morse franchise have found themselves in Edward Bennett a director who knows what a dolly track looks like. Rather than putting a camera on some arthritic operator’s shoulder and shaking him from one object to the next, they actually try some nice, staid tracking shots. Does wonders for the production values. And they let Morse get his snark on a bit more.
The Settling of the Sun (15 March 1988)
Written by Charles Wood (based on a story by Dexter). Directed by Peter Hammond.
A Japanese summer student is murdered and there are plenty of suspects. The only trouble is that they were all at a dinner with Morse when the man was killed.
Much like Morse, I don’t much like it when there are drugs involved, it somehow sullies the pureness of the Morseian murder mystery. Nor do I much like big conspiracies; they make every single witness behave suspiciously.
Last Bus to Woodstock (22 March 1988)
Written by Michael Wilcox (based on Dexter’s novel). Directed by Peter Duffell.
A young woman is found dead in a pub parking lot, apparently murdered. “Coded messages, murder — right up my street. Not a bad way to start the day.”
As usual, there are more suspects than you could shake a stick at, and the different story threads are handled well. The only problem is that there’s really no centre; we never really get to know the victim, which makes the story feel a bit superficial.
Series 3
Ghost in the Machine (4 January 1989)
Written by Julian Mitchell (based on an idea by Dexter). Directed by Herbert Wise.
What looks like art-theft becomes more serious when the paintings’ owner Sir Julius Hanbury is found murdered.
Morse hammers on a bit too much about the class thing, but maybe it rings more true if you’re British. I quite like the twists and turns the story takes, and Amanda Hillwood is quite charming as Dr. Russell.
(You know, whenever I see “based on an idea by”, I always think that could just mean Colin called the producer up and said, “I think we should do another Morse episode.”)
The Last Enemy (11 January 1989)
Written by Peter Buckman (based on a story by Dexter). Directed by James Scott.
A dismembered body is found in the river, and Morse’s investigation leads him into the sordid world of politics.
Much like drugs, high politics feel a bit out of place in Morse. There’s a certain beauty to the standard Morse story — a crime of passion over-complicated by the murderer trying to be more clever than they are — and it’s defocused a bit by political intrigue.
Deceived by Flight (18 January 1989)
Written by Anthony Minghella (based on idea by Dexter). Directed by Anthony Simmons.
An old school friend of Morse’s is found dead of an apparent suicide. Morse, as always, suspects foul play, and sends Lewis undercover on a cricket team to find out who did it.
Cricket is one of those British afflictions that don’t seem to affect anyone outside the Commonwealth, and much like Morse, I’ve never understood the attraction. That aside, I quite like this episode. I like learning more about Morse’s background, and the mystery is genuinely intriguing.
The Secret of Bay 5B (25 January 1989)
Written by Alma Cullen (based on an idea by Dexter). Directed by Jim Goddard.
An architect is found strangled in a parking garage, and Lewis gets nominated for the Rupert Giles Award for Getting Bashed in the Head.
A slight but pretty enjoyable affair, this, though with some pretty iffy guest acting. Among other things, Philip McGough does some of the dodgiest acting-inconspicuous acting since the last time I stood in front of a camera. Still, we do get some rather charming interaction between Morse and Doctor Russell, and there is that bit with Lewis getting knocked out.
Series 4
The Infernal Serpent (3 January 1990)
Written by Alma Cullen. Directed by John Madden.
Relegating Colin Dexter to the dreaded “characters by” credit, Morse enters the 90s with a senior fellow of an Oxford college dying of a heart attack and the college’s Master receiving animal skulls in the mail.
The plot here is a mess of ecology, university politics, and family intrigue never quite meshing into cohesion. There’s a lot of acting-strange acting — not my favourite kind of acting. Cheryl Campbell is quite good, though, and there are good parts to the story.
The Sins of the Fathers (10 January 1990)
Written by Jeremy Burnham. Directed by Peter Hammond.
A brewery manager is found murdered in a fermenting vat, leading Morse, once again, on an investigation that reveals family tensions and economic intrigue.
The script follows guest stars around a bit too much, and Peter Hammond’s directing tends toward the inappropriately dramatic — using weird framing for perfectly mundane scenes, and so on.
Driven to Distraction (17 January 1990)
Written by Anthony Minghella. Directed by Sandy Johnson.
After being honked at by Morse, a woman drives home only to get murdered by a serial killer. Bad day all around.
One of the problems of a long-running franchise is that changing the formula risks alienating the fanbase, while not changing it means repeating yourself. The Morse franchise throws in a wild card here with Mary Jo Randle as DS Siobhan Maitland. And the inter-personal dynamics of it work rather well. However, the plot suffers from some stupidity, and the red herring is one of the reddest I’ve seen. The secondary herring works, though.
Masonic Mysteries (24 January 1990)
Written by Julian Mitchell. Directed by Danny Boyle.
A woman in Morse’s choir is murdered during a dress-rehearsal of The Magic Flute and Morse is the prime suspect. Has Morse finally snapped, or is someone trying to set him up? Well, of course someone’s setting him up and, naturally, it’s someone from Morse’s past we’ve never heard of before.
There are some nice insights into Morse’s past and some quite nice moments for Lewis, but I don’t much like these kinds of stories; they tend to strain my suspension of disbelief.
Series 5
Second Time Around (20 February 1991)
Written by Daniel Boyle. Directed by Adrian Shergold.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Charles Hillian is killed after his retirement party. Who did it, and how does it connect to the murder of a young girl 18 years earlier?
This is a fantastic episode, digging into Morse’s past and exploring his relationship with Lewis. Tightly scripted, too, and with an ending that almost took me by surprise.
Fat Chance (27 February 1991)
Written by Alma Cullen. Directed by Roy Battersby.
A brilliant student dies during an examination, apparently poisoned. The student, Victoria, was a member of an organisation advocating women priests, whose members suspect conservative university clergy of her murder.
The women in this episode are oddly written and the men don’t fare all that much better. Shame really. There’s an interesting juxtaposition of industries — weight loss and religion — and Morse gets some nice moments.
Who Killed Harry Field? (13 March 1991)
Written by Geoffrey Case. Directed by Colin Gregg.
This episode, you might be surprised to learn, concerns the murder of one Harry Field, a mediocre painter, and Chief Inspector Morse’s attempts at ascertaining the identity of his killer.
There’s a lot to recommend this episode: fun guest stars, Morse in good form, a clever ending that made me think of Orson Welles’s last film (I hope that’s vague enough that it’ll only be a spoiler to people who’ll see it coming anyway).
Greeks Bearing Gifts (20 March 1991)
Written by Peter Nichols. Directed by Adrian Shergold.
A Greek chef, Nico, is murdered and Morse’s investigation leads him back to ancient Greece. Naturally.
Mostly harmless. The guest acting is quite good and the plot moves pleasantly from one point to another, but it doesn’t quite work for me.
Promised Land (27 March 1991)
Written by Julian Mitchell. Directed by John Madden.
Morse and Lewis go to Australia to interview an informant living there under witness protection. When they get there, he turns out to have gone missing, and Morse and Lewis aren’t the only ones looking for him.
Just like drugs, high politics, and cricket, these sight-seeing episodes tend to leave me cold.
Series 6
Dead on Time (26 February 1992)
Written by Daniel Boyle. Directed by John Madden.
Morse’s ex-fiancé’s husband apparently shoots himself. Morse, as usual, thinks it’s murder.
Morse and women. Never seems to work out, does it? It’s a pleasant change to get back to Oxford murders, and it’s always interesting to see some conflict between Morse and Lewis.
Happy Families (11 March 1992)
Written by Daniel Boyle. Directed by Adrian Shergold.
Industrialist Sir John Balcombe is found murdered. Morse and Lewis’s investigation uncovers dark secrets in the Balcombe family, while Morse is hounded by the media.
I quite like the mystery in this one; there’s something very satisfactory, almost neat, about how it wraps up. The Morse/annoying-reporter story could have had a stronger ending, though. One of those cases where you wish Morse were a little more corrupt, so he could misuse police resources for his personal vendettas.
The Death of the Self (25 March 1992)
Written by Alma Cullen. Directed by Colin Gregg.
Morse and Lewis go to Italy to investigate the apparent accidental death of a participant at a self-help seminar. The leader of the self-help group is a con man Morse sent to prison years before, and Morse thinks he’s up to his old tricks again.
Yes, another sight-seeing episode, though this time the locals get to do a little more than just act out cultural stereotypes. Like many Morse episodes, it’s an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours without being in any way exceptional.
Absolute Conviction (8 April 1992)
Written by John Brown. Directed by Antonia Bird.
A man sent to prison for defrauding millions of pounds is killed in a prison assault.
Morse is saddled in this episode with an annoying rookie sergeant and gets embroiled in economics. Morse is Morse, but this episode, it’s not my kind of episode. At least Lewis comes out on top.
Cherubim and Seraphim (15 April 1992)
Written by Julian Mitchell. Directed by Danny Boyle.
Morse’s niece commits suicide. As he’s trying to understand why, he discovers two other teenagers have also taken their lives for no apparent reason.
Youth culture — sorry, “youth culture” and crime drama don’t really mix. There’s quite a few nice character moments for Morse, Lewis, and Morse and Lewis, though, outweighing the general preachiness. Teenagers give Plath readers a bad name, by the way; Ariel should have an age limit.
Series 7
Deadly Slumber (6 January 1993)
Written by Daniel Boyle. Directed by Stuart Orme.
Dr. Matthew Brewster is found dead of an apparent suicide. When the pathologist classifies his death as a murder, suspicion falls on a man who sued Brewster for malpractice two years earlier.
The plot is almost but not quite too clever for its own good; it keeps the herrings coming until you can barely tell what colour they are. Brian Cox must be the most charming man in film. You’d get no complaints from me if he were in everything that’s ever filmed.
The Day of the Devil (13 January 1993)
Written by Daniel Boyle. Directed by Stephen Whittaker.
John Peter Barry (what is it with serial killers and triple names?), also known as The Devil’s Disciple, escapes from a maximum security mental institution.
Not a big fan of the cat and mouse stuff, nor of escapees with uncanny disguise skills. Also, you’d think an intelligent, well-read man like Morse would know a bit more about the occult; his constant astonishment is grating. And I’m not a big fan of Hollywoody Satanists.
Twilight of the Gods (20 January 1993)
Written by Julian Mitchell. Directed by Herbert Wise.
As you’ve probably guessed from the title, this episodes got some opera in it, in the form an opera singer who is shot. But first a journalist is killed. Morse investigates. Rachel Weisz guest stars as the wonderfully named Arabella Baydon.
There’s some quite enjoyable old university officials and Welsh, but the mystery doesn’t interest me much.
Specials
The Way Through the Woods (29 November 1995)
Written by Russell Lewis (based on Dexter’s novel). Directed by John Madden.
Steven Parnell was sent to prison for killing five people. When Parnell is killed and his dying words are that he didn’t kill the last victim, Karen Anderson, Morse reopens the investigation. Which creates tensions between Morse and DCI Johnson who was the one who caught Parnell. And between Morse and Lewis, who has been working under Johnson during Morse’s absence.
After a two-year hiatus, Morse returns with the first episode based on a Colin Dexter novel since Last Bus to Woodstock, seven years earlier. There’s just something about a Dexter story — the twists, the red herrings, the timing — and Russell Lewis has managed to capture it here.
The Daughters of Cain (27 November 1996)
Written by Julian Mitchell (based on Dexter’s novel). Directed by Herbert Wise.
An Oxford professor is stabbed to death, and everyone and their brother has money woes. The two aren’t connected, but you’d think they were, the way they keep going on about finances.
I quite like the Morse/Lewis interaction in this one, the guest stars are good, and the mystery’s pretty clever.
Death Is Now My Neighbour (19 November 1997)
Written by Julian Mitchell. Directed by Charles Beeson.
A young woman is shot in her home. Well, she’s in her home, the shooter is outside her window. Anyway, she’s shot and the investigation has to do with the race for master at an Oxford college.
I quite like this episode, despite the university politics. There are a few characters to hate, a few to love, a heart-wrenching scene in the middle, and a heart-warming scene at the end. That’s all you need, really.
The Wench is Dead (11 November 1998)
Written by Malcolm Bradbury. Directed by Robert Knights.
Morse is hospitalised, and while there he tries to solve the 150 year old murder of a young woman travelling by boat from Coventry to Oxford.
Not the most original way to do an out-of-action episode, but certainly enjoyable. The 1800s stuff is handled surprisingly well, and the case is genuinely intriguing. I don’t quite like the academic sparring with Morse; the actress is charming enough, but there’s something off-putting about the way she’s written.
The Remorseful Day (15 November 2000)
Written by Stephen Churchett. Directed by Jack Gold.
Lewis and Morse investigate the murder of Yvonne Harris, which is reopened after an anonymous letter implicates a burglar, Harry Repp. The case is complicated when Repp is found dead.
I think I’ve mentioned before that I tend to have a problem with endings; they never seem to do justice to the build up. And when the build up is 25 years of novels and 13 years of television, the end is bound to be a bit of a let-down. Still, the mystery’s nice and complicated and Morse gets some good moments. And there is an obvious advantage to that very long build up; the weight of all that back story lends gravitas to the final scenes — it’s heartbreaking. It’s like the Kuleshov effecti working on a meta level: the film really just has to show a sequence of events, and the viewer will imbue it with meaning and value based on her own emotional investment in the franchise.
- Lev Kuleshov performed an experiment where he had people watch montages where an actor’s emotionless face was intercut with various emotionally charged images. Kuleshov’s results showed that viewers will attribute emotions to the actor based on context — the images that surround the actor. ↩
