The Complete Inspector Morse

by David Bishop

  Rhodes had a 6.00 pm appointment with Henry to discuss financial matters. The dead man helped Rhodes establish an antiques business. Susan is at the University of London, where she sometimes lectures, and has a flat in London. Morse sends Lewis to get details from Susan’s brother, William Bryce-Morgan. Rhodes says Henry had been suffering from a neurological disorder.

  Bryce-Morgan says Henry was dying, but had been expected to live another year. William goes to London to break the news to his sister and brings her back to Oxford to see the police. Susan nearly faints when she meets Morse at the station.

  Susan says she spent the day working at her London flat. She also says Henry’s illness would have left him totally helpless, and they both knew he would never allow that. Morse tells Lewis he was once engaged to marry Susan.

  Next day the inspector visits Susan. She and Henry moved to America soon after marrying, coming back to Oxford after his illness was diagnosed. Susan says their daughter Henrietta and grandson Paul died in a car crash two and a half years ago. Susan plans to leave Oxford once matters have been settled.

  The inquest returns a verdict of suicide. Henry’s physician, Dr John Marriat, asks to see the detectives. The doctor runs an organisation called Dignity, campaigning for terminally ill patients to be allowed to choose the time of their deaths. Marriat doubts Henry could have held a gun to his own head and pulled the trigger. The doctor was on holiday, or he would have come forward sooner.

  Morse tells Strange that Rhodes is the prime suspect if Henry’s death was murder. The police pathologist agrees with Marriat – Henry could not have killed himself. Lewis questions Rhodes, who says Henry phoned him at the antiques shop around 3.00 pm. But the phone was out of order all day.

  Susan says Rhodes was devastated by the death of his wife and son. Rhodes is an alcoholic – Henry paid for him to go into a clinic. William says Henry had arranged to loan Rhodes £30,000, made in two payments. But Henry decided not to make the second payment. He told Rhodes this the night before he died.

  Rhodes believed Henry was happy with the business, but the detectives have evidence to the contrary. They prove Henry could not have phoned anyone at 3.00 pm. A dumbstruck Rhodes is charged with murder.

  Marriat’s wife Helen arranges to meet Morse. She has a burn mark on her left hand, which she blames on a childhood accident. Helen can’t believe Rhodes killed Henry. William tells a different story. Rhodes was frequently unfaithful to Henrietta. One affair threatened to break up the marriage, until Henrietta and their son died in a car crash.

  The telephone company says the fault was reported at 10.00 am but not repaired until late that afternoon – at the customer’s request. Nurse Rogers says Henry requested the late afternoon repair, which she phoned through to the telephone company from a public call box. The nurse thought the Fallons had argued, as Henry told her not to disturb his wife by phoning Susan at her flat in London about the fault. The nurse called anyway but only got Susan’s answering machine.

  Susan calls Morse and arranges to visit him at home that night. Next morning the inspector is all smiles. He is called before Strange. The local paper has news about Henry leaving the bulk of his estate to Dignity. The superintendent worries about Marriat’s involvement in the case. When Morse leaves, Lewis goes to Strange’s office. The sergeant thinks Rhodes is innocent. Strange gives Lewis leave to investigate in London.

  Morse sees a photo of Helen as an adult and notices there’s no scar on her hand. The inspector confronts her. She loves Rhodes; they were together at his cottage in Banbury on the night of the car crash. Henrietta phoned, looking for him. Helen invited her to the cottage. Henrietta brought the boy, Paul. She argued with Rhodes, then drove him home. Helen followed in her car. Rhodes and Henrietta argued, he grabbed the wheel and the car crashed. Helen managed to pull him out of the car but it caught fire and exploded before she could free Henrietta or the boy. Rhodes hasn’t spoken to Helen since.

  Lewis visits Susan’s flat in London. The sergeant listens to the tape in the answering machine. He hears Henry phone the flat and leave a message – as if he were talking with Susan. The conversation was faked to establish an alibi for his wife.

  The inspector deduces Henry tried to frame his son-in-law, assisted by another person. The phone line was tampered with to discredit Rhodes’ claim about when Henry called him. Henry wanted revenge for the death of his daughter and grandson. Morse believes Marriat must have been Henry’s accomplice, but Lewis knows it was Susan. The inspector drives to the Fallon house to tell Susan his suspicions. But Marriat is already there, so Morse drives home.

  Marriat tries to persuade Susan not to go ahead with the rest of her plan. He helped the Fallons frame Rhodes, in the hope Helen might love him again. He says Susan could be happy again with Morse, but she disagrees; she’d have to tell him about killing Henry.

  Next morning, Morse visits Susan, but finds she’s committed suicide by taking an overdose of pills. Morse demands Lewis bring Marriat in for questioning. The sergeant makes sure Strange attends the interview. When Marriat denies any involvement, Morse attacks him. Lewis has to drag the inspector away.

  Next day, the sergeant finds Morse in a park. The sergeant throws the cassette into a lake.

  THE MANY CAMEOS OF COLIN DEXTER: The author is among those attending the reception after the Schubert concert. He can be spotted during the tracking shot that opens the scene, standing behind and to the left of Susan and Morse.

  DRINK UP, LEWIS: Morse and Susan drink champagne after the Schubert concert.

  Morse offers Lewis a drink at home but the sergeant declines. The inspector drinks white wine with Susan before their dinner. He has a bottle of red wine open on the table to accompany the meal.

  UNLUCKY IN LOVE: This episode reveals the one great love affair of Morse’s life and how it left him an unhappy man. He and Susan were lovers in their student days. Morse felt a great loss when she decided to marry Henry. It’s obvious he could never hate Susan, no matter what she does. Susan says choosing Henry over Morse was not an easy decision, but she doesn’t regret it.

  William urges Susan to reconcile with Morse, but she says it’s too late for that. She goes for a walk with Morse and finds herself laughing. Susan says she has hurt Morse enough. The inspector knows she is leaving but he still wants to see her, even though it will hurt when she goes.

  The night before killing herself, Susan insists on visiting Morse at home. It’s implied she wants to be with him one last time before committing suicide.

  The story ends with Morse devastated after losing Susan again.

  LEWIS’ KITH AND KIN: The sergeant needs to get home on time the day Fallon dies – Valerie is hosting a knitting group at home and Lewis has agreed to take the kids to the pictures. But Morse insists the sergeant work late. Lewis later takes his wife out to a new restaurant by way of apology.

  SOPHOCLES DID DO IT: Morse is convinced Rhodes murdered Henry. He eventually realises Rhodes was framed, but then decides Marriat killed Henry. He still believes this as the story ends. Only Lewis knows the truth.

  ONE FOR THE MORGUE: Henry Fallon is killed by his wife. She helps him end his life by shooting him in the head. Henrietta and Paul Fallon previously burned to death in a car crash caused by Peter Rhodes. Susan commits suicide by taking an overdose of pills.

  Murders: three or none, depending on your point of view. Henry’s death was manslaughter. The deaths of Henrietta and Paul were accidental, or manslaughter at worst. Body count: four.

  MORSE DECODED: Henry was a don when Morse was a student at Oxford University. Morse and Susan were engaged to be married. He joined the army after leaving university, then moved on to the police force.

  Susan’s brother William always liked Morse, thinking he’d be a good man in a crisis. William expected Morse to become a writer: calm on the outside, but inwardly heaving with all manner of passions waiting to be expressed. Susan says the inspector hasn’t changed since she first knew him.

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sp; QUOTE-UNQUOTE: William says Lewis should get a mechanical horse but the sergeant doesn’t know where he would put it: ‘Between your knees, man.’

  Lewis makes an ill-advised comment about Morse after the inquest: ‘That explains things a bit. Losing a woman like that, I might turn a bit sour myself.’ Fortunately, the inspector doesn’t hear him and Lewis wisely does not repeat it.

  The sergeant takes his wife to a new Indian restaurant: ‘I’m a steak and baked spud man meself, but Mrs Lewis likes to live on the culinary edge.’

  William’s manservant, McGregor, passes a wry judgment on the inspector to Susan: ‘Yon Morse. I’ve seen worse.’

  SOUNDTRACK: Schubert’s Quintet in C Major (Second Movement) can be heard during the opening sequence. When Morse and Susan attend a performance of the piece later in the story, they are seen as the London Metropolitan Quintet plays the Fourth Movement. The inspector is listening to the quintet again when Lewis visits him at home. It plays once more as the sergeant hears the crucial answer-phone message.

  IDENTITY PARADE: This story is loaded with familiar actors. David Haig featured in the hit film Four Weddings and a Funeral and played a bumbling police detective in the sitcom The Thin Blue Line. Samantha Bond is a distinguished stage actress who featured as Miss Moneypenny in the four James Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan. Joanna David featured as Mrs Gardiner in the BBC’s acclaimed 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice. She is also the aunt of Laurence Fox, who would star as DS Hathaway in the 2006 Morse spin-off Lewis.

  RATINGS: 16.44 million. A new high, as series six launches in a blaze of publicity.

  THE VERDICT: ‘Dead On Time’ is a great story but hard to watch. Both Morse and the audience are put through the emotional wringer. And that effect is only accentuated on a second viewing, when you know the heartache that lies ahead for the inspector. In the midst of all this tragedy, the eccentric pairing of William Bryce-Morgan and his manservant McGregor offers some much needed comic relief. John Thaw gives one of his finest performances as Morse, while Kevin Whately is wonderful at silently expressing the doubts troubling Lewis. The cleverly constructed mystery keeps the audience guessing but it’s the powerful performances that linger long after the story’s details are forgotten.

  HAPPY FAMILIES

  ‘It was something I read in a book.’ A rich family is being stalked by a vengeful killer while Morse buckles under the scrutiny of tabloid newspaper hacks.

  UK TX: 11 March 1992

  SCREENPLAY: Daniel Boyle, based on characters created by Colin Dexter

  DIRECTOR: Adrian Shergold

  CAST: Anna Massey (Lady Emily Balcombe), Gwen Taylor (Margaret Cliff), Alun Armstrong (Superintendent Holdsby), Rupert Graves (Billy), Charlotte Coleman (Jessica), Andrew Ray (Alfred Rydale), Sukie Smith (Lorraine), Martin Clunes (James Balcombe), George Raistrick (Sir John Balcombe), Jonathon Coy (Harry Balcombe), Mark Draper (constable), Jamie Foreman (Chas), Elizabeth Kettle (WPC), Tony Guilfoyle (journalist 1), Sophie Heyman (woman journalist), Robert Demeger (forensic scientist), David Bauckham (police sergeant), Ralph Nossek (Professor Joshua Masterson), Daniel Mitchell (journalist 2), Richard Ireson (pathologist), Jane Van Hool (receptionist), Dorian MacDonald (constable), Beryl King (Nottingham lady), John Styles (Punch & Judy man)

  STORYLINE: The Balcombe family celebrates the birthday of its matriarch, Lady Emily. Present are her husband Sir John, grown-up sons James and Harry, and her friends Margaret Cliff and Alfred Rydale. Lady Emily says not everyone she loves is present. The Balcombes live in their own castle, complete with moat and drawbridge. Lady Emily lowers the bridge so Margaret and Alfred can go home. Lady Emily calls her husband cruel. The maid discovers her leaving the kitchen, where Sir John is dead, slumped on the kitchen table.

  The Balcombes are a rich family. Sir John ran one of the top 20 companies in England, Curzon Engineering. A constable finds a pen in Sir John’s hand, but no paper. None of the family recognises the pen, and Morse senses no grief among them. There are only two ways into the house – the front door and through the pantry. Both doors were secure when the police arrived. The windows are wired to a high-security alarm system.

  The inspector is irritated to learn all senior officers are expected to attend the annual station fête at the insistence of Superintendent Holdsby, who is running the station while Strange is on holiday. Holdsby is ambitious and wants to have Strange’s job within five years. The Balcombe case is already attracting intense media scrutiny. Holdsby calls a news conference about the investigation, over Morse’s objections. The inspector is supercilious with some of the journalists.

  Lewis interviews Rydale, a lawyer who acts for Lady Emily. She owns all of Curzon Engineering – the rest of the family are merely paid directors. A tabloid journalist called Billy and his photographer Chas decides to target Morse, hoping to get a fresh angle. Billy believes the inspector represents Oxford’s snobbish academic world. The reporter has a chip on his shoulder about never finishing his degree.

  Morse visits Margaret Cliff, who is staying at a cottage on the Balcombe estate. A teenage girl called Jessica answers the door. Margaret is in the back garden using a metal detector on the lawn. She says Lady Emily had a child late in life but it died after only a few hours. Margaret rents the cottage two or three times a year. She lives in Durham and works as a psychologist. Margaret says she got her degree at Oxford but her doctorate from Cambridge. She once wrote a book called Family Matters.

  A stonemason’s hammer is found in the moat near the castle. A forensic scientist confirms it was the murder weapon. The pen found in Sir John’s hand was made in Montreal 20 years ago. Billy’s first story appears under the headline ‘Gentleman cop hunts top man’s killer’. Morse is appalled the article is all about him, not the case.

  Jessica goes to the police station to deny killing Sir John. She’s been ill for a long time but Margaret is helping her get better. The inspector assures Jessica she isn’t a suspect and takes her back to the cottage. He sees a map of the estate on the wall, with many areas marked off. Margaret explains she’s looking for a Roman ruin in the grounds – hence the metal detector.

  Jessica was adopted at birth, but got put into care after her adoptive parents divorced. Feeling twice rejected, Jessica became resentful and then violent at a home for children.

  Billy and Chas sneak up to the windows of Morse’s home at night. Chas takes a photo of the inspector, and next day it appears under the headline ‘Clever Dick’. The article criticises Morse for enjoying fine wine, books and classical music.

  Lady Emily visits Margaret at the cottage and meets Jessica for the first time. Lady Emily seems obsessed with the young woman. Harry, meanwhile, goes out for a walk on the estate and does not return. The police organise a search. Harry’s body is found at the bottom of a gully on the estate, a chisel plunged into his chest. The inspector worries what the press will say. Lewis tells Lady Emily about her son’s murder. She doesn’t care.

  Holdsby holds another news conference but stops Morse attending. The pathologist says Harry was killed by a blow to the neck, and the chisel plunged in after death. The initials S F are visible on its handle. Morse puts a police guard on the castle.

  Rydale tells the detectives Lady Emily had an affair two decades ago. He believes her lover was bought off by Sir John. James is perturbed by the wound to his brother’s chest. When Morse says it was caused by a chisel bearing the initials S F, James calls the inspector a liar and demands to be taken home. However, Morse does not believe James is the killer.

  After finding a penknife with the initials S F on it, James sneaks out of the castle at night with a shovel, eluding the police. He is shot twice. Morse believes the killer was lying in wait for James and has the crime scene dug up. Margaret lends the police her metal detector to help the search. They dig up a skeleton which Forensics believe has been buried for 20 years. The skull was crushed, both arms and one leg were broken and two fingers were snapped. The dead man was a
stonemason.

  Lewis finds a missing persons report for Steven Ford, an itinerant stonemason who went missing in 1972. The report was filed by Ford’s brother Robert, who lived in Nottingham. The file includes statements from the Balcombes. They said he worked at the family house for six months, before moving on.

  Morse deduces Steven Ford was Lady Emily’s lover. The Balcombes discovered the affair and murdered Ford; he could have taken everything away from them. The detectives discover Robert Ford died 15 years ago. Holdsby, meanwhile, wants Morse taken off the investigation. The case is ruining Holdsby’s reputation; he needs a result.

  Next morning, the inspector dutifully attends the police station fête. He notices Margaret’s book on a stall. She got her doctorate in Montreal – not at Cambridge. Morse and Lewis go to arrest her at the cottage. Margaret admits to the murders. She made Sir John write a confession at gunpoint so she could find out who killed her brother, Steven. Margaret could never prove what the Balcombes did, so she decided to punish them. It took her ten years to find Steven’s body. She led the police to the skeleton so her brother’s remains would be found. Lady Emily let her into the house to kill Sir John, after Margaret said Jessica was Lady Emily’s daughter.

  Morse says Jessica can never be reconciled with her natural mother. Margaret says she warned Lady Emily not to tell Jessica about their supposed relationship. But Morse says Lady Emily won’t be able to help herself. The detectives rush to the picnic site, but Jessica has stabbed Lady Emily to death.

  THE MANY CAMEOS OF COLIN DEXTER: The author twice appears as a drunken tramp, alongside this episode’s writer, Daniel Boyle. The pair are shown looking in a rubbish bin near Carfax Tower, and later outside The Mitre pub.

  DRINK UP, LEWIS: Rarity of rarities, Morse doesn’t step inside a pub once during this story. The inspector is drinking a glass of red wine at home when the tabloid duo takes his photo. Next night he pulls the curtains before pouring a drink, this time whisky from a decanter.