by David Bishop
DIRECTOR: Ned Chaillet
CAST: John Shrapnel (Inspector Morse), Robert Glenister (Sergeant Lewis), Richard Pasco (Dr Bartlett), Meg Davies (Monica Height), Stephen Critchlow (Donald Martin), David Timson (Philip Ogleby), John Hartley (Dr Roope). The Radio Times listing for this adaptation credits the following actors, but not the parts they played: Roger May, Lyndham Gregory, Alix Refaie, Denys Hawthorne, Geoffrey Whitehead, Jane Whittenshaw, Caroline Strong, Patience Tomlinson, Tracy Wiles, Zulema Dene, David Holt, Ahmed Mustapha and Alice Arnold.
APPENDIX 1:
THE INSPECTOR MORSE SOCIETY
In 1995 Dr Antony Richards wanted to share his enjoyment of the Oxford sleuth with others. ‘I wrote to Central Television and Zenith Productions to enquire if there was an appreciation society,’ he recalls. ‘I received replies to the effect that none existed, and furthermore a letter from executive producer Ted Childs saying he would support such a group if I set one up.’
Dr Richards organised an Oxford day out in the summer of 1995 and 40 people attended. ‘I was fortunate enough to meet Colin Dexter at a book signing. He gave me his contact details and expressed a desire to support our venture. Since then Colin has been on hand at most meetings and remains a source of information behind the scenes, guaranteeing the success of the society.’
The society now has hundreds of members spread around the world, but about half the membership lives within 50 miles of Oxford. North America provides the next largest contingent, with the Netherlands another stronghold for Morse enthusiasts.
‘Each year we endeavour to organise at least two events, one a weekend break while the other is an inexpensive day trip. Recent highlights have included a week in Italy visiting Vicenza and Verona with tickets to a Placido Domingo concert, an evening at BAFTA in London, guests of Jaguar in Coventry, and dinners in the company of Colin Dexter, Chris Burt, Ted Childs, James Grout and Barrington Pheloung.’
The society also publishes booklets relating to Colin Dexter’s creation, including The Oxford of Inspector Morse (see Appendix 3). ‘It was designed as a guide to the main locations used in the books and filming, with emphasis on the historical details of the places chosen,’ Dr Richards explains. ‘It was a great surprise to see our publication featured in the Blackwell’s Top Ten list a couple of years ago.’
Anyone seeking more information about this group can write to: The Inspector Morse Society, Endeavour House, 170 Woodland Road, Sawston, Cambridgeshire CB2 4DX.
Alternatively, you can email the society at this address: [email protected] or visit the society’s website (see Appendix 2).
APPENDIX 2:
MORSE ONLINE
Inspector Morse has inspired a loyal following on the internet, with many sites, bulletin boards and newsgroups. Attempting to catalogue all of them would be futile, since the details are liable to be out of date by the time this book goes on sale. However, here are a few significant URLs worth mentioning...
inspectormorse.co.uk
This is the official site for the Morse television series. It lay inactive for several years but was revived when the 20th anniversary of Morse’s first TV appearance was celebrated in 2007 with a special weekend of programming on digital channel ITV3. The site contains interviews and short retrospective features. Hardly exhaustive, but worth a visit.
johnthaw.topcities.com
A vast, exhaustive site devoted to the late, great actor. There’s a ton of fascinating material to be found here about the actor’s life, career and family. Highly recommended.
inspector-morse.com/morsehompage.html
This is the official website of The Inspector Morse Society. Here you can read articles from back issues of the society newsletter and find out about upcoming special events organised by members. Colin Dexter is an honorary member of the society and often attends its functions, so this site is well worthy of attention. It also details how you can join the society and show your appreciation for Inspector Morse.
helenroulston.com/morumus.html
Morse and Lewis fans Helen Roulston and Joy Roach are trying to identify every piece of music used in the television series and its spin-off. Their research was invaluable in compiling the Soundtrack sections of this book. They’re still trying to find the names of a few elusive pieces of music. Perhaps you can help? Visit their site to find out more.
pheloung.co.uk
The internet home of Barrington Pheloung, the composer for all 33 Morse TV tales and also for the Lewis spin-off. The site has been much upgraded in recent years and contains numerous links to fascinating resources. You can also follow Pheloung by checking out @bpheloung – the composer’s official Twitter feed.
APPENDIX 3:
MORSE BOOKS
All 13 Inspector Morse novels are kept in print by paperback publishers Pan Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Also available is Morse’s Greatest Mystery and Other Stories, although this does not include several tales featuring Morse and Lewis. Hopefully a future edition will gather these elusive stories, many now out of print.
To spare Morse enthusiasts from seeking out stories written by Dexter that do not relate to the inspector or Lewis, here are a listing of the author’s non-Morse tales: ‘Evans Tries an O-Level’
‘At the Lulu-Bar Motel’
‘A Case of Mis-Identity’
‘Monty’s Revolver’
‘Between the Lines’
‘The Other Half’
Pan publishes four Morse omnibus editions, each collecting three novels under one cover. (Neither The Remorseful Day nor Morse’s Greatest Mystery and Other Stories are in any of these editions.) The omnibus books are excellent value for money, enabling readers to get the stories at a much cheaper price than by buying the novels one at a time.
However, the order in which the stories appear in the four collections bears no resemblance to the order in which they were originally published. If you prefer to read the novels in their original sequence, here’s a quick guide...
ORIGINAL NOVEL
Last Bus to Woodstock
Last Seen Wearing
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn
Service of All the Dead
The Dead of Jericho
The Riddle of the Third Mile
The Secret of Annexe 3
The Wench is Dead
The Jewel That Was Ours
The Way Through the Woods
The Daughters of Cain
Death is Now My Neighbour
RELEVANT OMNIBUS
The Third Inspector Morse Omnibus
The Second Inspector Morse Omnibus
The First Inspector Morse Omnibus
The First Inspector Morse Omnibus
The First Inspector Morse Omnibus
The Second Inspector Morse Omnibus
The Second Inspector Morse Omnibus
The Third Inspector Morse Omnibus
The Third Inspector Morse Omnibus
The Fourth Inspector Morse Omnibus
The Fourth Inspector Morse Omnibus
The Fourth Inspector Morse Omnibus
If you want to go beyond what Colin Dexter wrote, more than half a dozen books about Morse have been published in the past decade...
THE OXFORD OF INSPECTOR MORSE AND LEWIS by Bill Leonard (published by The History Press)
This is an exhaustive guide to the locations used in the TV episodes, with particular emphasis on the Oxford aspect of the programme. The book also delves into the history of the city and its buildings, with musings on such local issues as town versus gown, and a miscellany of facts to finish. Long and thin enough to fit into the pocket of any Morse fan planning a pilgrimage to the dreaming spires of Oxford, it also includes a section covering locations used for the first eight episodes of the Lewis spin-off series. This is arguably the definitive work about locations used in Inspector Morse, but make sure you buy the 2008 edition – an inferior version was published in 2006, littered with typographical errors and other flaws.
THE OXFORD OF INSPECTOR MORSE by Antony Richards and Philip Attwell (The Inspector Morse Society and Irregular Special Press)
This useful booklet surveys locations used in the novels and television stories from an historical perspective, explaining the significance of prominent Oxford places and noting whenever they’re seen or mentioned in the Morse stories. The booklet was originally published to accompany a weekend of activities organised by the Inspector Morse Society in October 1997. The work has been revised and reprinted numerous times. It’s a handy, pocket-sized guide, particularly for anyone planning a Morse pilgrimage to Oxford. For more information about the booklet visit the society’s website (see Appendix 2).
THE MAKING OF INSPECTOR MORSE by Mark Sanderson (Macmillan)
This authorised volume from 1991 does exactly what it says in the title, examining the creation and evolution of Morse’s television tales. The book was written during the making of series six and includes visits to location shoots in England and Italy. Sanderson’s book is packed with fascinating facts and interesting information about the TV series. It includes interviews with Dexter, Thaw and Whately and is rich with behind-the-scenes photographs. Sanderson examines his three favourite stories from the first five series – ‘Service of All the Dead’, ‘Promised Land’ and ‘Masonic Mysteries’. A revised, updated edition was issued but both versions are now long out of print.
THE WORLD OF INSPECTOR MORSE by Christopher Bird (Boxtree)
This authorised volume was issued in 1998 to coincide with the broadcast of ‘The Wench is Dead’. It describes itself as a complete A to Z reference for the Morse enthusiast. Unlike the ‘making of’ book, this tome covers both the novels and the television tales up to 1998. Bird gives alphabetical listings for all the stories, characters and themes. He devotes about 500 words to each novel and a similar amount to the TV stories. There are plenty of official photographs from the series and an introduction from Colin Dexter. However, the book attempts to cover all aspects of Morse in 160 pages and unsurprisingly lacks depth as a consequence. It quickly went out of print.
INSPECTOR MORSE COUNTRY by Cliff Goodwin (Headline)
This lush hardback is a leisurely guide to Oxford, the surrounding countryside and the locations featured in Colin Dexter’s novels and the 33 TV episodes. The prose is informative and easy to read, but the book’s greatest asset is stunning colour photography, predominantly by William Shaw. Worth buying for the pictures alone, but the Morse content may be a little lacking for some readers. A tome to be savoured at home by a roaring fire, this title is also out of print.
MORSE CROSSWORDS by Colin Dexter (Chambers)
This 2006 paperback collects 100 cryptic crosswords devised by Morse creator Colin Dexter and published in various newspapers over the years. Aside from the authorial association and a photograph of John Thaw on the cover, the link to Morse is peripheral at best. One for completists and cruciverbalists.
CRACKING CRYPTIC CROSSWORDS by Colin Dexter (Offox Press)
This 2009 volume actually offers more Morse content. Alongside a friendly guide to solving cryptic crosswords, Dexter has included a brief introductory story featuring Morse and Lewis (see ‘Clued Up’ in the In Print section for more details). Again, a book for hardcore Morse fans and crossword enthusiasts.
MORSE IN OXFORD by Annie Bullen (Pitkin)
This slim but cheerful volume is yet another ode to Oxford, as seen through the prism of Morse. Bullen offers a guide to the city’s colleges, streets, suburbs, museums and public buildings, especially those which appeared in the television series. There is plenty of interesting trivia about the stories alongside fascinating facts about different aspects of Oxford. All of this is lushly illustrated with colour photographs and maps of relevant areas. As an added bonus, the book comes with a classical CD of 11 tracks, described as Morse music favourites. None of these are Barrington Pheloung’s original recordings for the series, but many pieces are familiar from various episodes. This would be a useful handbook for Morse enthusiasts planning a pilgrimage to Oxford.
APPENDIX 4:
MORSE DOCUMENTARIES
The enduring phenomenon of Inspector Morse has been the subject of nearly a dozen different programmes, ranging from behind the scenes specials to analytical debates comparing the character to other celebrated fictional detectives. Here’s a brief guide to each of the relevant documentaries that have sought to decode Morse...
THE MYSTERY OF MORSE (1993)
This excellent 50-minute documentary was filmed during the making of ‘The Twilight of the Gods’. It was broadcast three days before the final episode of series seven, attracting more than nine million viewers. It features interviews with Colin Dexter and the cast and crew, plus behind-the-scenes footage from the location shoot. The documentary also shows a group of Morse pilgrims being taken on a tour around various locations in Oxford and meeting Dexter himself. The show is illuminating and interesting, with Thaw and Whately offering rare insights into the characters of Morse and Lewis as seen on screen. The documentary is available as a bonus special feature on the Region 2 DVD complete box set of Inspector Morse, released in 2008.
THE LAST MORSE (2000)
Another fascinating documentary, this 53-minute study of the show was shot during filming of ‘The Remorseful Day’. Broadcast on 5 November 2000, five days before the final episode of Morse, it drew an audience of more than six million. The documentary is available as a bonus special feature on the Region 2 DVD complete box set of Inspector Morse, released in 2008.
INSPECTOR MORSE – REST IN PEACE (2000)
This programme describes itself as a video biography. In fact, it is that tried and trusted standby of TV programming, the clips show. James Grout appears in character as Chief Superintendent Strange, talking about the late Morse in links scripted by Geoff Lindsey. Extracts are shown from 14 of the 33 episodes. In order of appearance in the show, these are: ‘The Dead of Jericho’, ‘The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn’, ‘The Wolvercote Tongue’, ‘Deceived by Flight’, ‘Last Seen Wearing’, ‘Masonic Mysteries’, ‘Promised Land’, ‘The Death of the Self’, ‘Twilight of the Gods’, ‘Death is Now My Neighbour’, ‘The Way Through the Woods’, ‘Driven to Distraction’, ‘Dead On Time’ and ‘The Remorseful Day’. The documentary is available as a bonus special feature on the Region 2 DVD complete box set of Inspector Morse, released in 2008.
SUPER SLEUTHS: INSPECTOR MORSE (2006)
This programme was one in a series of six about popular TV detectives broadcast on digital channel ITV3. It features a look at the life of Morse’s creator, investigates the character’s relationship with Oxford and delves into how music was a key factor in the series. The documentary also highlights the Inspector Morse Appreciation Society, and gathers opinions from cultural commentators and key people associated with the TV series. In the interests of full disclosure, it should be noted the author of this book is among those who appear in the documentary, so judgement on its merits is reserved. Not available on DVD, this series does get repeated occasionally on ITV3 in the UK.
THE MUSIC OF MORSE (2007)
First broadcast on ITV3 as part of the Morse on TV 20th anniversary weekend, this documentary focused on the show’s acclaimed music. It looked at how the score captured the central character’s many moods, and pondered how important composer Barrington Pheloung’s work was to the show’s international success. The programme also delved into John Thaw’s love of classical music, as well as his relationship with Kevin Whately on and off screen. The author of this book was a researcher for the documentary, so judgement on its merits is reserved. Not available on DVD, this programme does get repeated occasionally on ITV3.
THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MORSE (2007)
Also broadcast on ITV3 as part of the Morse on TV 20th anniversary weekend, this documentary focused on the character’s unique appeal. Among those who contributed to this fascinating programme were Kevin Whately, John Thaw’s widow Sheila Hancock, Dame Helen Mirr
en, acclaimed and award-winning writer-directors Anthony Minghella and Stephen Poliakoff, and many others. Not available on DVD, this programme does get repeated occasionally on ITV3.
MORSE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL (2007)
Yet another programme from the anniversary weekend on ITV3, this is a recording of a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall celebrating the links between classical music and Morse. The event featured pieces from the show, alongside works favoured by Morse. Hosted by Michael Parkinson, the concert was played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with composer Barrington Pheloung as conductor and performances from such noted singers as Lesley Garret, Alfie Boe and Sir Willard White. Not available on DVD, this programme does get repeated occasionally on ITV3.
PROFILING: COLIN DEXTER (2008)
The third in a series of six documentaries looking at the creators of Britain’s most acclaimed TV detectives and thrillers. This programme was devoted to Colin Dexter, but the author was also interviewed for other documentaries in this series, appearing on screen to talk about the work of P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. This series was tied to a public vote for the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards 2008, in which Dexter won the ITV3 Writer’s Award for Classic TV Drama. Not available on DVD, this programme does get repeated occasionally on ITV3.
THE PERFECT TV DETECTIVE (2008)
A new documentary comparing and contrasting the most popular TV sleuths. Authors and experts debate the relative merits of Morse, Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple, amongst others. This light-hearted show eventually bestowed Morse with the accolade of being the Perfect TV Detective, just ahead of Holmes. The author of this book was interviewed on-screen for this programme, so judgement on its merits is reserved. Originally broadcast on BBC2 in the UK, it gets repeated occasionally on digital channel BBC4.
INSPECTOR MORSE’S OXFORD (2010)
First released in 1993 as Morse’s Oxford, this brief (less than half an hour) documentary intersperses a video tour of the city with newly filmed conversations between Colin Dexter, composer Barrington Pheloung and crime writer P.D. James. What could have been a fascinating programme falls frustratingly short, being neither a satisfying visual guide to the city nor to the locations used for filming episodes of Morse. The interview sections are interesting, but all too short. The documentary points purchasers to a website to see the full one hour conversation between Dexter and James – but the web address has expired, less than a year after the DVD was released. A disappointing effort – avoid.