The Complete Inspector Morse

by David Bishop

  STORYLINE: Geoffrey Owens leaves his home at 15 Bloxham Drive. He wears his hair in a pony-tail. He sees his next-door neighbour at number 17, Rachel James, a 27-year-old physiotherapist, collecting her milk from the doorstep. Another neighbour, Adele Cecil, waves to Owens as he drives away. The time is 7.15 am on a Friday morning. Rachel prepares for work, tying her hair up in a pony-tail. Another neighbour, Mrs Adams, sees someone walking along the public footpath behind the odd-numbered houses in Bloxham Drive. Rachel is shot through a rear window covered by a blind.

  Mrs Adams tells Lewis she saw a man in a hat walking down the rear footpath about 7.20 am. Owens is among the news media covering the murder; he is a reporter for the Oxford Mail. The killer wouldn’t have seen Rachel when they fired because of the window blind, but her silhouette would have been clearly visible. Another neighbour walking a dog saw the bullet hole in the window at 7.35 am. Morse is intrigued by a Valentine’s card in Rachel’s home.

  Lonsdale College is preparing to elect a new Master. The incumbent, a lecherous old goat called Sir Clixby Bream, is retiring. There are two candidates – Denis Cornford and Julian Storrs. Cornford is a middle-aged don who recently married a beautiful young American student called Shelly. Storrs’ wife Angela is a middle-aged alcoholic determined her husband will win the Mastership at any cost.

  Adele says Rachel was in love with Storrs, but he wouldn’t leave his wife. Angela bullies her daughter Diane into doing a favour. Storrs says he was having sex with his wife at the time of the murder but admits his affair with Rachel. Storrs says he’s leaving later that day for a weekend conference in Bath.

  Bream persuades Shelly to help him house-hunt for his retirement. He promises to deliver the Mastership to Cornford if she has sex with him. Cornford later tells Shelly nothing matters to him more than becoming Master. In Bath a maid takes breakfast to the Storrs in their room on Saturday.

  Owens’ corpse is discovered in his house at 15 Bloxham Drive. He was shot by the same weapon fired at the same time of day as Rachel was slain. The dead man let his murderer into the house. Police pathologist Dr Hobson suggests the police put a guard on number 13 since the killer seems to be working methodically down the street. But there is no number 13 – superstitious builders went straight from 11 to 15. Morse realises Rachel was killed by mistake, her pony-tailed silhouette mistaken for that of Owens by someone who didn’t know there was no number 13.

  Owens’ boss said the reporter wasn’t paid enough to match the lifestyle he maintained. The editor assumed Owens had private money. Morse learns the journalist was also a blackmailer. Among Owens’ files are cuttings and notes about a businessman, Kenneth Martin, who planned to sail off with his lover. His wife Alice and daughter Deborah shot him, and set fire to the boat.

  Shelly has sex with Bream, but afterwards the Master says he will never support Cornford as his replacement. Cornford once had an affair with Bream’s wife, ruining the Master’s marriage. Sex with Shelly was purely a matter of revenge.

  Morse learns Angela used to be Alice Martin. She and her daughter escaped conviction after Deborah’s confession was ruled inadmissible. They changed their surname to Cullingham and Deborah became Diane. Shelly, meanwhile, tells her husband she had sex with the Master. They argue and Cornford chases her out of his rooms in college. Shelly falls down a stone staircase, sustaining fatal injuries. A student witnesses Shelly’s fall – it was entirely accidental. Cornford is distraught. He decides to withdraw from the election and leave the college.

  The Storrs go to Oxford for a feast at Lonsdale before returning to Bath. Next day, the detectives visit the hotel where the Storrs are staying in Bath. On the morning Owens was murdered the Storrs both had a full English breakfast with hot chocolate. But the morning the detectives arrive the Storrs have one full English breakfast with hot chocolate and one slimmer’s breakfast by special request. Lewis suggests it was two different women eating two different breakfasts. Angela’s daughter Diane stayed at the hotel on Friday night. Storrs says his wife is diabetic, which limits her diet.

  The detectives confront the Storrs. Morse says Diane took Angela’s place in bed on Saturday morning while her mother drove to Oxford in Diane’s car to murder Owen. But Diane ordered a hearty, full-fat breakfast with hot chocolate – hardly the choice of a diabetic. Angela is arrested. Morse makes certain Sir Clixby leaves Oxford.

  THE MORE THINGS CHANGE: Writer Julian Mitchell does another sterling job adapting Colin Dexter’s novel for the screen, while discreetly removing the more sordid elements. Time is telescoped so events take place in only two days. The diagnosis and hospitalisation of Morse for diabetes is omitted, as is Julian Storrs’ terminal illness. Angela’s secret past is changed from that of a stripper and prostitute to being a suspected murderer. In the novel Shelly commits suicide, but here her death is a tragic accident. Otherwise the book and its adaptation are remarkably similar.

  THE MANY CAMEOS OF COLIN DEXTER: The author appears as a cleric on the top table during the Founder’s Feast at Lonsdale College, saying grace in Latin.

  DRINK UP, LEWIS: Morse offers to buy Lewis a pint but decides the sergeant will be driving, so gets him an orange juice. The inspector gets a £20 note from his wallet but the barman can’t give change, so Lewis ends up paying! The sergeant manages to volunteer himself for buying Morse another pint by making a joke. Morse says he will have to take Lewis up on the offer later.

  The inspector drinks whisky with Storrs, but turns down a gin and tonic offered by Angela.

  Dr Hobson asks Morse if he would buy her a drink after she examines Shelly’s body – the pathologist is quite shaken. The inspector declines. Hobson takes this to mean that she has to buy the drinks. He declines again – he has to work.

  Adele and Morse drink whisky. She offers him another but he must go. When the case is concluded the detectives meet Adele at a pub. She has a drink but Morse claims his pint from Lewis’ offer of two days earlier. The sergeant gets himself an orange juice.

  UNLUCKY IN LOVE: For once Morse falls for someone who is neither a murderer nor about to be murdered. He and Adele are almost instantly attracted to each other. The inspector admires her ability to correctly use the phrase ‘to whom’. Morse describes Adele as a highly intelligent woman.

  The inspector questions Adele about the murder of Owens. He apologises for suspecting her. Morse even gives Adele the singular honour of learning his first name! In the final scene he takes her to a Bath hotel. They are blissfully happy.

  PEOPLE JUST CALL ME MORSE: Adele asks the inspector for his first name. He gives his standard reply. She says Morse will have to tell her if he wants to get to know her better. Knowing she does the Times crossword, he tells her his first name in the form of a crossword clue: ‘My whole life’s effort has revolved around Eve (9)’.

  Adele tells Morse the only name she could make from the clue was Endeavour, and nobody is called Endeavour. He explains that his mother was a Quaker and Quakers sometimes call their children names like Hope or Patience. His father was obsessed with Captain Cook and the explorer’s ship was called Endeavour. Lewis is with them in the pub during this conversation. Morse asks why they aren’t both laughing at his unusual first name. ‘You poor sod,’ says Lewis. Adele decides to stick to calling the inspector Morse, like everyone else. He smiles happily.

  LEWIS’ KITH AND KIN: The sergeant says no one makes love before breakfast on a weekday, so Mrs Lewis is presumably not subject to any amorous mid-week awakenings.

  Lewis has to go to his son’s school. The lad and some friends have got into trouble and the headmaster has summoned all the parents in for a meeting. He asks Lewis for help but the sergeant needs to get back to work. Lewis’ son says his father never helps, he’s always too busy helping Morse. The teenager stomps off.

  On the way to Bath, Lewis tells the inspector what happened with his son. The school has a young French teacher visiting on exchange. All the students hate studying French. The class got out of hand and mad
e her cry. The sergeant feels ashamed. Lewis believes he doesn’t spend enough time with his son. Morse says the sergeant has done well by him.

  The Lewis family only has baked fish when Mrs Lewis is slimming.

  SOPHOCLES DID DO IT: Morse tells Lewis not to jump to conclusions, then suggests that Owens murdered Rachel after being rejected by her. The inspector later rejects Lewis’ idle speculation that Angela shot Rachel.

  ONE FOR THE MORGUE: Rachel James is shot dead by Angela Storrs. Geoffrey Owens is also shot dead by Angela. Shelly Cornford dies after falling down a stone staircase at Lonsdale College.

  MURDERS: two. BODY COUNT: three.

  MORSE DECODED: The inspector’s father told him work was the secret to life. Morse says his father was obsessed with 18th century explorer Captain James Cook. The inspector’s mother gave him an overwhelming sense of duty. Morse recalls insulting his father. Morse Senior said he had tried to set an example. If his son thought there was a better way to live, that was up to him. Morse tells Lewis that’s all anyone can do.

  CRYPTIC CROSSWORDS: When Strange questions the inspector’s brain power, Morse proudly mentions finishing the Times crossword in 11 minutes. Adele also does the Times crossword. She says people who fill in crosswords have blanks in their lives.

  QUOTE-UNQUOTE: Morse takes an instant dislike to Owens, who suggests the detective talk to Adele: ‘Thank you, sir. It would never have occurred to me to question the neighbours.’

  The inspector agrees with Adele’s suggestion that the music of Vivaldi can cheer people up: ‘About all it’s good for, if you ask me.’

  Morse dismisses Owens’ sports car: ‘Bulbous little vulgarity.’

  Bream reveals his sordid philosophy of life: ‘I don’t see the point in having power if one doesn’t abuse it.’

  SOUNDTRACK: Adele teaches music. She also helps with the music at Lonsdale College. A pupil sings the aria ‘Non So Piu’ from Mozart’s opera Le Nozze di Figaro when Morse arrives to interview Adele. The closing credits name the singer as Nina Tilbury. Adele says she took Rachel to a Vivaldi concert, thinking it might cheer her up. Morse professes to being a Wagner man. Morse listens to the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G Minor on a portable tape player in his office. At the church service in Lonsdale College the choir sings part of Vivaldi’s Gloria, accompanied by organ. Shelly dies while the piece is sung – it’s doubtful even Vivaldi will cheer up the distraught Cornford.

  IDENTITY PARADE: The best-known face among the cast is Richard Briers, who’s most familiar as Tom from the 1970s sitcom The Good Life. Judy Loe, who plays Adele, has been a regular cast member in such series as Holby City, The Chief and General Hospital. John Shrapnel is one of the few actors other than John Thaw to have played Morse, having appeared as the Chief Inspector in several BBC Radio adaptations of Colin Dexter’s novels during the 1990s.

  RATINGS: 12.05 million. This is among the lowest ratings Morse ever received. Had the show’s time passed?

  THE VERDICT: ‘Death is Now My Neighbour’ is another fine example of why Julian Mitchell is the best screenwriter to work on Inspector Morse, getting the best from Colin Dexter’s books. Guest star Richard Briers savours playing against type as the priapic Master, almost licking his lips in anticipation before delivering each line. The revelation about Morse’s first name is handled with aplomb and the inspector ends the story with a new love in his life. Alas, the subplot about Lewis’ son seems like an irrelevant contrivance, included solely to give the sergeant something to worry about. Kevin Whately would be conspicuous by his absence from the next story, and the producers were fast running out of novels to adapt. The end is in sight for Morse...

  THE WENCH IS DEAD

  ‘Take it as a warning, Morse. None of us are immortal.’ The inspector falls gravely ill and becomes fascinated by a murder case from 140 years ago.

  UK TX: 11 November 1998

  SCREENPLAY: Malcolm Bradbury, based on the novel by Colin Dexter

  DIRECTOR: Robert Knights

  CAST: Lisa Eichhorn (Dr Millicent Van Buren), Matthew Finney (Detective Constable Adrian Kershaw), Louisa Lawrenson (Nurse Hall), David Keys (Walter Towns), Paul Mari (Rory Jack Oldfield), Alan Mason (Mr Greenaway), Aline Mowat (Sister Nessie), Sara Carver (Nurse Fiona), Philip Quast (Mr Benfield), Karen Staples (Mona), Jonathan Copestake (Philip Tomes), Andy Grubb (Ward), Kim Durham (Alfred Musson), Kieran Ahern (Charles Franks), Liam Barr (Thomas Wootton), Candida Rundle (Hannah McNeil), Patrick Hannaway (Dr Willis), Ian Coulson (constable), Christopher Hargreaves (Constable Harrison), Jamie Christian (Constable Dean), Jeff Nuttall (Mr Justice Benham), Michael Culkin (Mr Sergeant Williams), Simeon Andrews (Mr Sergeant Lyons), Peter Glancy (jury foreman), Robert Ashe (foreman), Juliet Cowan (Joanna Franks), Nick Raggett (Stevens), Robert Gasser (librarian), Sarah Lam (Miss Ho), Neville Phillips (chaplain), Roger Llewellyn (governor), Osmund Bullock (verger), Eamon Geoghegan (Mulvaney), Robert Atiko (MC)

  STORYLINE: Morse and Strange attend the opening of an exhibition about crime and punishment in Victorian Oxford. An American historian, Dr Millicent Van Buren, has written a book on the subject. She says the most famous public execution in the city was the hanging of the Oxford Canal Murderers in 1860. There were 10,000 people outside Oxford’s jail for the event.

  Dr Van Buren gives a lecture about the case. The victim was a married woman called Joanna Franks who was travelling from Coventry to London on a canal boat called the Barbara Bray. Early one morning in June 1859 it passed Princes’ Lock. Minutes later her body was found in the water. There were no shoes on the corpse. Three of the crew were tried for her murder and two of them were hanged for the crime. Morse starts feeling unwell during the talk.

  Afterwards, the inspector talks with Dr Van Buren. She asserts the verdict would be the same if the case were tried today. Morse disagrees, pointing out the advances in forensic science and methodology. He goes to the bathroom and vomits blood. The inspector is taken to hospital.

  Adele Cecil returns to Oxford by train. But there is no answer when she phones Morse’s home. She has been in Carlisle visiting her sick mother. A consultant, Mr Benfield, says the inspector has a burst stomach ulcer at best. At worst it could be a cancerous tumour. Dr Van Buren visits Morse in hospital, giving him a copy of her book.

  Lewis is away on his inspector’s course. Morse’s illness leaves Strange short of experienced detectives. The superintendent takes his worries out on Adrian Kershaw, a bright constable with a history degree.

  Morse begins reading about the murder of Joanna Franks. The body was taken from the water and examined. Her underwear was torn at the crotch. The face was severely discoloured. Witnesses report the Barbara Bray passing by and a big man walking along the bank. The man was never traced. Police stopped the boat. The crew said Joanna was off her head and fell in the water. A woman’s shoes are found inside the boat.

  Strange suggests Morse takes early retirement. There are only two years before he has to retire anyway. The inspector refuses. Adele visits Morse in hospital, taking him more books to read. He decides to solve the canal murder from his bed. He believes the hangings were a gross miscarriage of justice.

  Joanna had been married twice. Her first husband was F T Donavan, an illusionist and magician who died in Ireland. Joanna then married Charles Franks, who went to London looking for work. He sent for his wife to join him.

  The consultant says surgery will not be necessary. But Morse needs to stay off the booze if he wants to live much longer. Strange asks Adele to help him persuade the inspector to retire. She agrees if the superintendent will give Morse someone to do the legwork for his investigation. Kershaw gets the job.

  The night before her murder Joanna complained to people on the shore about being harassed. She said the crew were drunk. But Joanna was seen drinking with the crew on the boat soon after. Her husband gave evidence in court, identifying the corpse as his wife. He says the shoes found in the boat were her favourites.

  Morse is discharge
d from hospital. He gets Kershaw to dig out the evidence from the trial, most of which is still held in archives. It includes Joanna’s trunk, dress, underwear and shoes. Morse discovers several of Donavan’s handbills in a hidden compartment at the bottom of Joanna’s trunk. The police pathologist, Dr Hobson, says Joanna’s underwear was cut, not torn.

  Kershaw finds the name of the man seen on the towpath. Newspaper reports at the time said the police believed his name was Donald Favant. Morse realises Joanna’s carpetbag is missing from the evidence. It was taken on board the boat but never mentioned again. A medical report from the time says Joanna was five feet three inches. Dr Hobson says most women were less than five feet tall in Victorian times. The dress had been enlarged to fit a taller woman, while the shoes would fit a much smaller woman.

  Kershaw learns Joanna had taken out life insurance. It helped pay for her funeral. Morse gets the constable to trace the policy. Joanna’s husband got £300 for an investment of less than £10 – a payment equal to ten years’ wages. Morse speculates Joanna and her husband conspired to defraud the insurance company. Charles Franks killed a woman. Joanna left the boat at night, taking her carpetbag with her. She met her husband near the canal. He put the dead woman into one of Joanna’s dresses, altered to fit the much taller corpse. Joanna got back on the boat, putting her shoes in the cabin, and early the next morning she jumped into the canal. Franks threw the dead body into the water.

  Dr Van Buren is still not convinced by Morse’s theories. The inspector realises Don Favant is an anagram of F T Donavan. The man seen on the towpath was Joanna’s first husband and her second. He faked his own death to collect insurance money, before his wife used the same trick.

  Morse and Adele travel to Bertnaghboy Bay in the west of Ireland, where Donavan is supposed to be buried. He has the coffin dug up. Inside are bags of peat and stones – but no body.