by David Bishop
George Henderson is dying from liver failure. Dr Russell says the warden has perhaps nine months to live, but he’s still strong enough to have strangled Gifford. Henderson cannot prove his movements on the night of the murder.
Pierce commits suicide by hanging himself. His wife knew about the fraud. Three paintings are missing from Pierce’s collection. Morse notices white paint on the dead man’s jacket.
Henderson believes his wife was involved with Gifford’s murder. He saw her drive into the Westgate car park at 6.30 pm that night. The warden invites someone to the cottage at Wytham so they can talk.
Morse sees Janice looking drunk and distraught. He follows her to a flat undergoing redecoration. The inspector gets white paint on his jacket sleeve, just like Pierce. Janice says she got an anonymous gift of £25,000. Morse realises she was having an affair with Pierce.
The detectives return to Wytham Woods. A blue Jaguar is parked by the entrance. A jogger passes them. Lewis recognises Henderson’s jeep from the night he was attacked. The cottage where Henderson worked is a mess. There’s blood on the floor. Rosemary appears at the cottage and is startled by the detectives. Morse sends Lewis away. Rosemary picks up a set of car keys before leaving. Lewis follows her. She drops the keys behind a bench at Summertown Library.
Next day, Henderson’s corpse is discovered in the woods. He has been shot. Morse believes the parking ticket in the Giffords’ car was swapped to one with a later time stamp in order to help the murderer establish an alibi.
The detectives confront Manley. He was the jogger at Wytham. Manley’s spare car keys don’t open his own blue Jaguar – they open Morse’s car. The inspector swapped the keys in the warden’s cottage. Manley was having an affair with Rosemary; they were accomplices. Manley says he argued and fought with Henderson. The gun went off accidentally, killing Henderson. Manley and Rosemary are arrested for murder.
THE MANY CAMEOS OF COLIN DEXTER: For the first time, the character’s creator is conspicuous only by his absence.
DRINK UP, LEWIS: Morse drinks a pint of beer at the dinner dance.
The inspector drinks whisky at home after examining Gifford’s corpse.
Morse has a pint and buys Lewis a sparkling mineral water after the sergeant’s head wound is given the all-clear. The inspector worries that Lewis’ choice of drink suggests he’s developing yuppie aspirations. The sergeant says the mineral water is for his painkillers.
Morse drinks Glen Duich, an expensive single malt whisky, with Camilla, a high-class prostitute whom Gifford visited in London. The inspector has a pint of beer when he first interviews Rosemary. She has a single malt whisky. Lewis buys himself an orange juice.
Morse drinks a pint when he meets Dr Russell in the White Horse. He describes it as pure food, something she politely disputes.
UNLUCKY IN LOVE: At the dinner dance, Morse is disappointed to find Dr Russell is attending with a colleague from hospital. She drags the inspector onto the dance floor, where he impresses her with his prowess. Morse apologises for not inviting her but he’s on call. He is called away to investigate the first murder.
Dr Russell is soon at the crime scene, continuing her flirting. She tells Morse she’d have to step out of her expensive dress if the corpse was bloody. The inspector hopes they can finish their dance soon.
Morse squirms when he meets Camilla and she invades his personal space. She says the inspector is hesitant because he’s never found out what he’s really capable of. If he did, she believes he’d have the confidence for anything, forever after, with any woman. He’s tempted to accept her offer of staying the night, but a phone call breaks the spell.
Dr Russell asks Morse if he lazes naked on a beach. He says no.
Later Dr Russell comes in to work on a Saturday to help Morse. She tells the inspector she often has lunch at the White Horse. He takes the hint and meets her there. The inspector says he enjoys talking to her. She asks why he doesn’t do more of it. He says the job gets in the way, or he does – perhaps he is the job. They’re getting on well but Morse has to leave abruptly, in pursuit of the distraught Janice.
LEWIS’ KITH AND KIN: A doctor tells the sergeant he has high-quality bone. Lewis’ wife Valerie puts circles round important dates on a calendar at home, such as school sports days, dental appointments and birthdays.
ONE FOR THE MORGUE: Michael Gifford is strangled by Edward Manley, with Rosemary Henderson as accomplice. Brian Pierce commits suicide by hanging himself. George Henderson is shot dead during a fight with Manley.
MURDERS: two. BODY COUNT: three.
MORSE DECODED: The inspector learnt to quickstep during college hops. He sometimes reads The Listener magazine.
YOU’VE DONE IT AGAIN, LEWIS: The sergeant provides a crucial link between Gifford and Rosemary by talking about circling dates for birthdays. Morse gives him a pat on the shoulder by way of thanks.
QUOTE-UNQUOTE: A car park superintendent, Mr Waugh, gives Morse a tip on solving the first murder: ‘You see, you have to know the criminal mind.’
The inspector wryly notes Lewis’ tendency to be attacked: ‘You’re a bit of a record-breaker now. Two cracked heads in how many weeks? You must have a skull like an anvil.’
Morse correctly predicts the key to the case: ‘It’s a question of find the Frau. There’s a woman in there somewhere.’
The inspector explains why he never married: ‘Too choosy, too hesitant, too lazy, too busy.’
SOUNDTRACK: Morse buys, then loses, two tickets for Wagner’s Parsifal. He listens to the opera at home instead. At the end of the story, the inspector entertains Dr Russell at his home. They listen to a quickstep called ‘Take Your Partner’, but Morse says he has more time for Wagner. Dr Russell says she can dance to anything. The inspector says she should try dancing to the back end of Wagner’s opera Lohengrin. Dr Russell suggests they listen to Parsifal, as they’re supposed to be going to a performance. Morse looks shame-faced and begins to explains about losing his tickets. Dr Russell produces two new tickets, obtained at great effort. Morse gets out his recording of Parsifal to celebrate and finds his missing tickets inside the record sleeve.
RATINGS: 15.48 million. The show surges to its highest rating yet with the final episode of 1989. Series three averaged 14.4 million viewers, disproving any worries that the previous year’s dip was the start of a downward trend.
THE VERDICT: ‘The Secret of Bay 5B’ is far removed from the university colleges and aristocratic settings of other stories in this series. The first murder takes place in a multi-storey car park building, nobody is in the running to become Master of a college, and polite games of croquet are conspicuous by their absence. Instead, the tale revolves around lust, duplicity and lies. Amidst all this, new writer Alma Cullen crafts some wonderful character moments for the principals. Lewis gets a bit of comedy business with a sardine roll, while Morse and Grayling finally get close. Rosemary Henderson is a black widow, manipulating her lovers to eliminate each other while playing the concerned wife. She’s among the most chilling characters seen in the show, maintaining her façade to the last.
SERIES FOUR (1990)
Chris Burt moved on after the third series, but his replacement was a familiar face – Kenny McBain, the show’s original producer. Sadly McBain’s return was cut short when he died from Hodgkin’s disease in April 1989. David Lascelles was brought on board and given the task of building on the show’s burgeoning success.
Despite being a recent arrival, Lascelles was not afraid to ring the changes. He cut out the character of pathologist Dr Grayling Russell, a regular fixture during series three. The producer believed a permanent love interest was not a sustainable option for the show, and ran the risk of making things too safe and cosy for the Oxford detective.
Morse creator Dexter had moved his creative focus back to writing novels. As a result series four was the first to feature a quartet of all-original screenplays, using a mix of town and gown settings. Anthony Minghella contributed his final
script to the show, before moving on to become an Oscar-winning film director for The English Patient.
Another future Oscar winner joined the show for this series. Danny Boyle would win acclaim for directing such diverse features as Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire, but it was his work on stories like Masonic Mysteries that helped establish Boyle as a name to watch. Morse was fast becoming a showcase for great British talent...
Produced by David Lascelles
Executive Producer: Ted Childs
REGULAR CAST:
John Thaw (Chief Inspector Morse)
Kevin Whately (Sergeant Lewis)
RECURRING CAST:
James Grout (Chief Superintendent Strange in Driven to Distraction and Masonic Mysteries)
Richard Huw (Detective Constable Dearden in Driven to Distraction and Masonic Mysteries)
THE INFERNAL SERPENT
‘The infernal serpent, he it was, whose guile, stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived the mother of mankind.’ The death of a fellow at Beaufort College leads to shocking revelations about events 20 years in the past, and the murder of an important academic.
UK TX: 3 January 1990
SCREENPLAY: Alma Cullen, based on characters created by Colin Dexter
DIRECTOR: John Madden
CAST: Geoffrey Palmer (Matthew Copley-Barnes), David Neal (Dr Julian Dear), Barbara Leigh-Hunt (Blanche Copley-Barnes), Pearce Quigley (Mick McGovern), Michael Attwell (Parsons), Cheryl Campbell (Sylvie Maxton), John Joyce (Mr Gray), Ian Brimble (Phil Hopkirk), Tom Wilkinson (Jake Normington), Irene Richard (Imogen Garrett), George Costigan (Ron Garrett), Denys Hawthorne (Chief Superintendent Rennie), Sydnee Blake (Mrs McGovern), Phillipa Howell (ward sister), Michelle Wesson (Mandy Hopkirk), Catherine Terris (Hopkirk’s housekeeper)
STORYLINE: A meeting of senior fellows at Beaufort College finishes late. The Master, Matthew Copley-Barnes, and Dr Julian Dear leave together, walking through torrential rain towards a debate at the Oxford Union. Copley-Barnes realises he has left some papers at his lodge and turns back to collect them. Dr Dear goes into his own rooms to collect a black umbrella, similar to that used by the Master. The union is due to debate the motion ‘This house believes that environmental issues transcend party politics’.
A burly thug called Parsons forces a young man, Mick McGovern, to do something against his will. Dr Dear walks to the debate, his face hidden behind his umbrella. He is attacked and falls to the ground. Copley-Barnes comes round the corner and finds McGovern hunched over Dr Dear. The young man pushes the Master into a stone wall and runs away. Morse, meanwhile, arrives too late for the debate. He wanted to hear Dr Dear speak.
McGovern gets home and vomits copiously. His bedroom walls are lined with posters for environmental groups.
The detectives interview Copley-Barnes. The Master’s wife, Blanche, identifies her husband’s umbrella from a darning mark. Dr Dear’s umbrella is missing. The detectives get a phone call at the Master’s lodge. Dr Dear has died.
The college porter believes he could identify the young man. Lewis discovers a pool of vomit near the scene of the crime. He sends a sample for analysis.
Sylvie Maxton arrives at Beaufort College. She is a journalist for the Sunday Review, noted for her exposé-type articles. She is profiling the Master. Sylvia grew up in the Copley-Barnes home as a companion to Imogen, the Master’s only child. But it’s 17 years since she was part of the family. Imogen is now married to Ron. They run a riding stable near Oxford.
McGovern sneaks into Dr Dear’s room at the college.
Morse meets an old friend, Jake Normington, a fellow at Beaufort.
Normington spends most of his time in America, but returns to Oxford for one term each year. He conducts a college choir. The inspector says Dr Dear died of a heart attack – the mugging was incidental. He would have died within six months anyway. Normington says Dr Dear had something important to say at the debate. The attack prevented that. When Morse has gone, McGovern comes into Normington’s room.
Lewis says the vomit included traces of a speciality vegetarian quiche and real ale.
All Dr Dear’s cassette tapes are missing from his room in college. Normington listens to the tapes, brought to him by McGovern. They detail what Dr Dear was going to say at the debate. Three national newspapers had refused to publish his allegations.
Morse interviews the Copley-Barnes. Blanche says the college gardener, Phil Hopkirk, is leaving for London. The Master receives a parcel containing an animal’s horned skull, daubed with lamb’s blood. It is the third such anonymous parcel he has received, all originating from false addresses in London.
Sylvie tries to interview Imogen but Ron says his wife is unwell. Imogen had a breakdown after Sylvie left Oxford for London. Lewis, meanwhile, learns Beaufort College has strong financial links with CORBI International, a multinational chemicals and agriculture conglomerate. Sylvie recently did an exposé on CORBI and its activities.
Parsons torches McGovern’s home. McGovern himself is spotted among the throng after Dr Dear’s funeral. He is arrested but refuses to answer any questions. Normington flees Oxford for America, taking Dr Dear’s cassette recordings with him.
News of the arson reaches the detectives. They discover the young man’s name. His mother is dying in the cancer ward at Parktown Hospital. She is being threatened by Parsons when Morse arrives to question her. The thug runs off.
Normington sends Morse a letter, asking him to go easy on McGovern. Mrs Copley-Barnes talks to her daughter after another parcel arrives, this one containing a green hair ribbon. Imogen seems close to another breakdown. Morse talks with Sylvie while she plays the piano at the Master’s Lodge. He looks through a photo album from the days when Sylvie and Imogen where children. Hopkirk bursts in angrily, thinking his daughter is playing.
When Mrs McGovern dies, her son feels free to talk. He worked for Soil Scan, a subsidiary of CORBI. A new fertiliser was hailed during trials as a cure for Third World famine. But later tests showed a link to cancer. The fertiliser was withdrawn and the facts covered up. McGovern told all this to Dr Dear. McGovern says Dear had already been attacked when he found him.
Chief Superintendent Rennie orders Morse to stay away from Beaufort; it’s also suggested he should take his annual leave. McGovern is released from custody and Sylvie visits Hopkirk at his home.
Morse talks with McGovern in secret. The young man was supposed to confront Dr Dear, dissuade him from speaking at the debate. Jake plays Morse the missing recording over the phone from America.
Lewis finds the pub that serves the speciality quiche. The barman says Hopkirk was in the pub early on the night Dr Dear was attacked. The gardener got extremely drunk. Next morning the sergeant goes to Hopkirk’s house. He notices a black umbrella in the hallway. Morse goes to the Master’s Lodge. He finds Copley-Barnes dead in the dining room, his head caved in. Sylvie sits to one side sobbing. She sent the parcels to make the Master remember. He sexually abused her repeatedly, beginning when she was 11. Sylvie discovered Copley-Barnes was now abusing the gardener’s daughter, Amanda.
The detectives go to the college chapel, where Mrs Copley-Barnes is going to commit suicide by jumping from the organ loft. She admits murdering her husband. Morse talks the Master’s wife out of it, and she is arrested. The gardener is taken in for questioning. He got drunk and attacked Dr Dear, thinking it was the Master beneath the black umbrella.
THE MANY CAMEOS OF COLIN DEXTER: Morse’s creator is next to the Copley-Barnes during Dr Dear’s funeral.
DRINK UP, LEWIS: The Master’s wife offers the detectives a drink early in the episode. Lewis wants a cup of tea but Morse says they don’t have time.
The pair soon head for a pub. Morse has a pint of beer while his sergeant drinks two glasses of orange juice. Lewis says there was real ale in the vomit.
When the sergeant mentions Dr Dear’s missing cassette tapes, Morse says the information has earned Lewis a drink. Lewis would rather have lentil soup in the c
anteen, but the inspector says it’s too warm for that.
Morse and Lewis argue in a pub when their investigations are stymied. The inspector drinks a pint of beer while his sergeant sticks to orange juice. Lewis says it’s a bit early for a second pint.
LEWIS’ KITH AND KIN: The sergeant tells former concert pianist Blanche Copley-Barnes that he bought his children an electronic keyboard. She is horrified.
SOPHOCLES DID DO IT: Morse wonders if the mugging was a deliberate attempt to trigger a heart attack. He thinks the parcels could be messages from environmental activists and even accuses McGovern of sending them. Later the inspector wonders if the Master deliberately sent Dr Dear ahead to be attacked.
ONE FOR THE MORGUE: Dr Dear dies of a heart attack after being attacked by Phil Hopkirk. Mrs McGovern dies of cancer. Matthew Copley-Barnes is murdered by his wife, Blanche.
MURDERS: two. BODY COUNT: three.
MORSE DECODED: The inspector has been to the Salzburg Festival, which is held annually in the Austrian town where Mozart was born. Morse can’t see himself raising flowers, but thinks a perfect lawn would be a suitable challenge.
QUOTE-UNQUOTE: Lewis reports on Dr Dear’s background: ‘Refused an entry in Who’s Who. Called it the poseur’s address book, apparently.’
The sergeant turns Morse’s stomach by cheerfully discussing puking: ‘The pool of vomit – it wasn’t your usual spewed-up undergraduate rubbish.’
Mrs Copley-Barnes asks Morse an inane gardening question: ‘Do you dibble and hoe, inspector?’
Chief Superintendent Rennie marks Morse’s card early on: ‘What I want to avoid is you turning over a lot of stones just to see what’s underneath.’
SOUNDTRACK: The story opens with Blanche playing Beethoven’s 25th piano sonata. One of Blanche’s pupils plays Mozart’s Piano Sonata No 11 when Sylvie arrives. This music appears in various forms through the story, providing a musical clue to the dark secret within the Copley-Barnes family. Jake leads a choir as it practises Byrd’s Miserere for Dr Dear’s funeral. Jake also conducts a Renaissance singing group. He says it misses Morse’s useful baritone. The inspector replies that the group is too demanding for him. The Miserere is heard again as the funeral begins. Part of Bach’s Prelude in C Minor plays as McGovern’s home is torched and mourners leave the church after the funeral. Sylvie and Imogen play part of Bizet’s piano duet ‘Les Jeux d’enfants’. After the Master has been slain, Blanche goes to the college chapel while Alain’s ‘Le Jardin Suspendu’ is played on organ. Soon after the choir is heard singing a setting of the anthem ‘Justorum Animae’ by Orlande de Lassus.