Inspector Morse
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
"Wagner is about important things, Lewis: life and death...things like that."
The Inspector Morse novels were a series and later adapted for television by Carlton. The series and novels alike both followed the murder cases of a Chief Inspector Morse and Sergeant Robert Lewis of Thames Valley Police.
The series was set in and around Oxford, where the main protagonist of the series would spend most of his time at a public house, 'thinking'1 while the victimised Lewis brought in all of the rounds.
The novels upon which the series was based was written by a Mr. Colin Dexter, a diabetic who graduated from Cambridge University in 1953 and outlined the first Inspector Morse novel while on a holiday in North Wales. The first novel was entitled Last Bus to Woodstock and was published in 1975.
The series stars John Thaw (known for his roles in The Sweeney, Goodnight Mister Tom, Monsignor Renard and Kavanagh Q.C. to name but a few) as Chief Inspector Endeavor Morse: a beer-drinking, crossword-solving, diabetic fan of classical music and The Archers2. All of the latter characteristics which make up Morse's character may also be attributed to his creator: Colin Dexter, who is a Crossword champion/compiler and often publishes puzzles and enigmas in daily newspapers.
Sergeant Lewis is played in the television series by Kevin Whateley (known for his roles in many television programmes, including Peak Practice.) who acts as the policeman who does most of the work, while Morse goes through the paces conjuring up completely ridiculous solutions to the murders in question.
There are a variety of different appeals to the program; whether it is the relationship between the intellectual Morse and the hardworking Lewis, or simply the cases that they have worked on (which have collaborated to make Oxford the murder capital of the United Kingdom!) it seems to attract huge audiences from all walks of life.
Unfortunately the character Inspector Morse was ‘killed off’ by Colin Dexter in the thirteenth novel: which was aptly entitled The Remorseful Day.