The Complete Inspector Morse

by David Bishop

  Lewis invites his boss for a drink but Morse is suspicious. He says something must be the matter, as the sergeant rarely asks him to go for a drink. But the inspector can’t go, he’s got a driving lesson.

  Several hours later Strange buys Morse a pint in a pub.

  UNLUCKY IN LOVE: Morse has a mild flirtation with Maitland, but she says there’s someone waiting for her back home. At the end of the story when Maitland is leaving, she asks the inspector to keep in touch.

  LEWIS’ KITH AND KIN: The sergeant tells Maitland his wife Val learnt to drive at the Oxford Driving Centre, after failing the test five times. Whittaker helped her pass at the sixth attempt. Morse despairs of his sergeant’s anecdote: ‘When you’ve finished the life and times of Sergeant Lewis...’ The sergeant brings in sandwiches his wife has made. He correctly predicts the fillings: cheese and pickle, and salmon.

  SOPHOCLES DID DO IT: Morse is convinced Boynton is the killer, even without a shred of evidence to prove it. Circumstantial evidence begins to back Morse up.

  ONE FOR THE MORGUE: Jackie Thorn and Paula Steadman are both stabbed to death by Derek Whittaker. He had previously murdered Maureen Thompson in the same way.

  MURDERS: three. BODY COUNT: three.

  MORSE DECODED: Maitland is amused to discover that the inspector cannot work a computer. By the next morning he’s showing signs of becoming a computer bore. Morse says this sudden conversion is the story of his life. He can’t think without music.

  QUOTE-UNQUOTE: Boynton makes an all-too-accurate assessment of Morse within minutes of meeting him: ‘I think our friend Chief Inspector Morse could prove to be something of a major pain in the rectum area.’

  The inspector smiles when Boynton reveals his irritation: ‘I do that. Rub people up the wrong way.’

  Morse explains to Strange why he’s taken his suspect into custody without evidence: ‘I’d rather have him jumping up and down in a cell than putting a knife into another woman while we plod around politely.’

  Lewis is infuriated by the inspector’s methods: ‘There’s no procedure. It’s crime solved like a crossword puzzle and I’m sick of it.’

  SOUNDTRACK: Torch songs from the jazz age replace classical music as the primary soundtrack for this story. Among those featured are Cole Porter’s ‘You Do Something to Me’ and ‘Why Don’t You Behave’. But Morse does listen to a Bach cello suite in his car. Maitland shares his enthusiasm for the music. Later the pair listen to a tape of Mozart’s Horn Concerto No 4 while working through the night.

  BEHIND THE CRIME SCENES: Morse tells Lewis and Maitland an anecdote about driving a car for a dying friend each week to keep the battery charged. This is a true story; writer Anthony Minghella did the same thing for Kenny McBain, the producer who first brought Morse to television.

  IDENTITY PARADE: DS Maitland is played by Mary Jo Randle, who also featured as CID officer Jo Morgan in long-running police drama The Bill. Patrick Malahide is a distinguished character actor who appeared in Dennis Potter’s TV classic The Singing Detective, and starred as the title character in The Alleyn Mysteries. Writer Anthony Minghella’s wife, Carolyn Choa, appears as Philippa Lau in this story.

  RATINGS: 15.60 million. The programme hits a new high in the ratings.

  THE VERDICT: ‘Driven to Distraction’ is a chilling tale about a predator who targets single women. Morse is willing to go to any lengths to find the killer but his extreme methods alienate the usually faithful Lewis. Anthony Minghella’s third and final script for the series is a gripping story that thoroughly engages the viewer, with plenty of clever red herrings to throw armchair sleuths off the trail. This superior tale has conflict on multiple levels for Morse as he goes against the world and his fellow officers. Before this episode ends the inspector’s actions have put one man in hospital and another in custody, making even Morse question his own judgment.

  MASONIC MYSTERIES

  ‘Now you see him, now you don’t. That’s De Vries all right.’ Morse finds himself accused of murder when a female acquaintance is slain. The suspicions grow until even Lewis begins to think his boss capable of murder.

  UK TX: 24 January 1990

  SCREENPLAY: Julian Mitchell, based on characters created by Colin Dexter

  DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle

  CAST: Diane Fletcher (Marion Brooke), Richard Kane (Chief Inspector Jack Bottomley), Ian McDiarmid (Hugo De Vries), Iain Cuthbertson (Desmond McNutt), Madelaine Newton (Beryl Newsome), Celestine Randall (Sandra Machin), Roland Oliver (conductor), John Arthur (hall porter), Steven Elliot (officious constable), Mark Strong (PC Butterworth), Ken Drury (Norman), James Smith (Prettyman), Jenny Howe (angry neighbour), Piers Ibbotson (ambulanceman), Yvonne Gidden (Yvonne), Michael Mears (wine merchant), Tip Tipping (PC Dene)

  STORYLINE: The Cherwell Amateur Operatic Society is having a dress rehearsal for its production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Morse drives a fellow cast member, Beryl Newsome, to the venue. They are late and he frightens her by driving too fast. Later, Beryl asks a friend, Sandra Machin, to give her a lift home. Beryl tells Morse she’s had enough of men for the moment.

  Someone is taking secret photos of Morse and Beryl during the rehearsal. Just as the chorus is about to start rehearsing, Beryl is called to the phone. The show’s dresser discovers Morse is not wearing a medallion, part of the required costume. The inspector is sent off to find one. Beryl answers the phone in another room but there’s no reply. She screams just as the Queen of the Night hits a high note. Morse rushes in the direction of the screams and, finding Beryl’s bloodstained body, embraces her. The inspector picks up a knife from the floor just before the rest of the cast burst into the room.

  Strange assigns the case to Chief Inspector Jack Bottomley, with Lewis assisting. Strange suspends the bewildered Morse, who makes snide comments about Bottomley being a Mason. Morse takes Lewis to meet Desmond McNutt. McNutt was Morse’s mentor in the police force but retired and became a clergyman. The inspector believes the knife he picked up wasn’t the murder weapon. McNutt theorises Beryl was killed to cause Morse pain and suffering. He mentions two criminals who might want revenge – Simon Albright and Hugo De Vries. McNutt calls the latter a genius. De Vries killed a prison officer in Sweden.

  A homeless man arrives at McNutt’s home, asking for help. When Morse returns to his car, Masonic symbols have been scratched into the paintwork. On the way back to Oxford, the Jaguar is pulled over by a motorcycle cop. Someone has claimed the vehicle was being driven erratically. Morse passes a breathalyser test.

  Lewis catches Bottomley going through Morse’s office. The sergeant sends an overnight query to Sweden to determine whether De Vries, like Albright, is still in prison. Morse says De Vries conned a million pounds from the University of Oxford. There’s a connection between De Vries and Beryl – Marion Brooke. She used to work at the university but now raises funds for a charity called Amnox. The detectives are being watched by a man in a white van. Once they leave, the van reverses into Morse’s drive. The driver drags a body rolled in carpet towards the inspector’s house.

  Marion says De Vries killed himself in prison. She suggests they investigate what Beryl was working on. The dead woman was the only person to understand the new computer system at Amnox. Lewis finds the name of infamous con man Michael Baker on the computer accounts. A total of £99,999.99 has been transferred from Amnox to Morse’s bank account, which the inspector tells his bank manager to transfer back. Morse is convinced De Vries would be the culprit if he wasn’t already dead. Swedish computer files confirm De Vries’ death.

  Bottomley summons Morse and Lewis to Beryl’s flat. Morse says he’s never been inside, but the flat is littered with Morse’s possessions. Insisting that someone is trying to frame him, the inspector is arrested for murder.

  Lewis tells Morse that Bottomley wants to search the inspector’s house. Bottomley looks through Morse’s personal file on the police computer, which states the inspector beat up Liz Beckett, a woman who tried to dump him. Only
McNutt’s intervention got Morse off with a severe reprimand. Bottomley and Lewis go to Morse’s home, where a tape loop of The Magic Flute is playing over and over again at full volume, disturbing the neighbours. Lewis says Morse is incapable of creating a tape loop. The sergeant discovers McNutt’s corpse in the airing cupboard.

  Bottomley says Morse must have had an accomplice. He notes Lewis is providing all Morse’s alibis. Strange questions the sergeant, and Lewis says Morse could not have perpetrated the computer fraud. Strange and Bottomley are appalled – this is the first they’ve heard about it. Bottomley soon believes Morse and Beryl were conspiring to defraud Amnox, before Morse turned on Beryl.

  Lewis tells Morse about the note on his personal file. The inspector denies all knowledge of the incident and Lewis realises someone is hacking into the police computer files. The same person could have hacked the Amnox accounts, or even altered the Swedish prison records; De Vries may be alive after all. The sergeant confirms Morse’s version of what happened to Liz Beckett by checking archive copies of the Oxford Mail.

  Morse goes home. A police constable stands guard outside. The inspector falls asleep in his front room. A music cassette catches fire of its own accord. The flames spread through the room. Morse is woken by the smoke but collapses to the floor, overcome by fumes. The constable sees the fire and breaks in to rescue Morse. The fire brigade puts out the fire before it can spread to the rest of the house.

  Next morning, the police discover the cassette had an incendiary device built into it. Bottomley talks to the Swedish police and learns De Vries scrambled their records too, having taken a degree in computer science while in prison. He was paroled six months ago before vanishing. The detectives go back to Amnox, but Marion is not at work. Lewis checks the computer files. The money disappears again and the records are wiped out by a computer virus. Morse and Lewis visit Marion’s house, where the inspector notices several bottles of expensive claret. There’s only one shop in Oxford that sells such vintages. The shop’s manager supplies an address for the claret buyer.

  Morse confronts De Vries. The killer’s home is plastered with surveillance photos of Morse and Beryl. De Vries says he wanted revenge for being imprisoned. He claims Marion murdered Beryl, that the masterplan was all hers. De Vries pulls a pistol on Morse. He makes the inspector kneel and grovel for mercy. Lewis rings the doorbell. De Vries makes Morse stand in a corner, points the gun at him and pulls the trigger...

  The inspector turns around to find that De Vries has collapsed on the floor. Morse opens the front door and lets Lewis in. De Vries escapes and drives off in Lewis’ car. The police trap De Vries and Marion in an underground car park. De Vries shoots himself rather than go back to prison. Marion loved De Vries. She vows to have her revenge on Morse one day.

  THE MANY CAMEOS OF COLIN DEXTER: The author can be spotted in several scenes at the rehearsal but is most conspicuous as part of the chorus on stage, standing directly in front of Morse. Writer Julian Mitchell is standing in front of Dexter. The inspector brushes past both of them to fetch his medallion.

  DRINK UP, LEWIS: McNutt gives Morse a can of beer but the inspector hardly touches it. The clergyman offers another beer to help him think, but the inspector turns it down. Lewis thinks Morse must be in shock, to decline free beer. The inspector pours his can of beer down the sink when McNutt isn’t looking. Morse says a lack of interest in beer was his mentor’s one serious failing.

  Morse’s favourite bottled beer is Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery Strong Pale Ale. A half-drunk bottle is found in Beryl’s flat by Bottomley.

  The inspector buys Lewis a pint in a pub as thanks for helping to prove his innocence. Morse believes beer is good for the brain. He goes home and gets two bottles of his favourite from the fridge, but only drinks one before falling asleep.

  De Vries drinks claret like the inspector drinks beer. Marion has a case of claret worth £1000 at her home. De Vries says it was wasted on Marion. Morse turns down a drink from De Vries.

  Lewis takes his wife for a drink after they walk out of The Magic Flute..

  UNLUCKY IN LOVE: After a run of romance-free stories, Morse’s luck goes from bad to worse. Beryl dumps him in the first three minutes and then gets murdered. To make matters worse, Morse is accused of killing her. He asks Marion to lunch, only to discover she’s collaborating with De Vries on a plot to destroy him. You wonder why he bothers. Lewis tells Bottomley that Morse hasn’t had much of a sex life in recent years.

  PEOPLE JUST CALL ME MORSE: De Vries says he doesn’t recall inviting Morse to call him Hugo and notes that the inspector doesn’t seem to have a first name.

  LEWIS’ KITH AND KIN: Lewis reveals that his auntie in Middlesbrough went all religious when her daughter died. They had to put her away for a bit. When she came out of the psychiatric hospital, she wanted to be a nun. Morse says the richness of his sergeant’s family history never fails to astound.

  Lewis is reluctant to go to the opera, as he will miss EastEnders. His wife won’t miss an episode of the BBC soap opera. Morse says they can record the TV show. Lewis finally agrees and takes his wife. Val Lewis makes her first on-screen appearance, but she doesn’t get to speak.

  SOPHOCLES DID DO IT: Still befuddled by fumes, Morse claims Bottomley is De Vries in disguise – it’s all a Masonic conspiracy to kill him.

  ONE FOR THE MORGUE: Beryl Newsome is stabbed to death by Hugo De Vries. Desmond McNutt is also murdered by De Vries. Finally, the killer commits suicide by shooting himself.

  MURDERS: two. BODY COUNT: three.

  MORSE DECODED: McNutt was Morse’s mentor, a chief inspector when Morse was ‘an ignorant young sergeant’ like Lewis. McNutt could look into people’s minds and souls. McNutt says Morse’s literary flourishes were always a weakness. Morse believes he’s never put away a criminal who wasn’t guilty. The inspector spent 25 years building up his collection of classical music. Some of the 78s were irreplaceable. Morse banks at the Oxford High Street branch of the Wessex Savings Bank. He donates to Oxfam. The inspector says he doesn’t join things. He’s even thinking of leaving the operatic society. Morse has a copy of Ruth Rendell’s novel Murder Being Once Done in his living room.

  QUOTE-UNQUOTE: Morse sarcastically tells Lewis that Bottomley is a Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge. ‘Like a game of chess, do you, sir?’ Lewis asks ingenuously.

  Strange imagines the headlines after Beryl is found dead in Morse’s arms: ‘Senior chief inspector runs amok in fancy dress.’

  Morse quotes Shakespeare, wondering if this is a dagger he sees before him. Dearden takes the inspector’s question seriously: ‘Just an ordinary kitchen knife, I think, sir.’

  Bottomley says McNutt’s murder is very bad for the image of the police force. ‘It’s not so good for McNutt!’ Strange replies sharply.

  Morse makes one of his most heartfelt statements after surviving the fire in his home: ‘Where’s Lewis? I want Lewis.’

  De Vries asks a rhetorical question: ‘Why do policemen always go around in pairs, like low comedians. Are you permanently afraid, or what?’

  SOUNDTRACK: Unsurprisingly, sections of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute are played throughout this story. The incendiary music cassette is built into a recording of The Magic Flute by Arturo Toscanini. Morse says that adds insult to injury. He calls it the worst recording of the opera ever made; he wouldn’t allow it in the house.

  BEHIND THE CRIME SCENES: The character of McNutt is named after a crossword setter who compiled his puzzles under the pseudonym Ximenes. Morse’s love interest in this story, Beryl Newsome, is played by co-star Kevin Whately’s wife, Madelaine Newton.

  IDENTITY PARADE: Ian McDiarmid is a noted character actor and is probably best known for playing the villainous Emperor Palpatine in George Lucas’ Star Wars films. Iain Cuthbertson has starred in numerous TV series over the years, including four years as a detective in Sutherland’s Law during the 1970s.

  SURVEILLANCE REPORT: Morse contradicts his own previous beli
efs while criticising Bottomley. The inspector professes to believe the last person to see someone alive is probably the killer, and says Bottomley thinks the first person to see the corpse is responsible for the murder. In ‘The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn’ Morse proudly favoured the theory he now dismissively attributes to Bottomley. In another apparent contradiction, Morse says he never did like computers – forgetting he became quite enamoured of them in the previous story, ‘Driven to Distraction’.

  RATINGS: 16.16 million. One of the show’s best episodes attracts its largest audience thus far. Series four averaged more than 15 million per episode.

  THE VERDICT: ‘Masonic Mysteries’ is arguably the best Morse story made for television. Everything about this sparkles – the dialogue, the acting, Danny Boyle’s direction. Julian Mitchell’s script is rich in drama, intrigue and comedy with one great line after another. De Vries is a wonderful creation, with Ian McDiarmid giving an entrancing performance as the murderous con-man. John Thaw rises to the occasion with one of his strongest showings, while Kevin Whately excels as Lewis. Moments of delightful verbal and visual comedy are off-set with chilling tension. When De Vries holds Morse at gunpoint and pulls the trigger, the screen cuts to a blackout. Is Morse alive or dead? He survives, of course, but for a moment the viewer wonders if the inspector will live.

  SERIES FIVE (1991)

  Welcome to what is, perhaps, the golden age of Morse on television. By now the show was attracting audiences in excess of 16 million for the first screenings of new series, while repeats of old episodes on ITV were almost as popular. So massive was the show, another network secured the rights for further repeat broadcasts, so that Morse was showing on two of the four main British TV channels at the time.

  Series five was expanded from four episodes to five, and the show went overseas on location filming for the first time – all the way to Australia. David Lascelles remained in place as producer, providing stability in this important role after several years of musical chairs. He and the show were rewarded with the BAFTA for best drama.