Inspector Morse Set Oneead of

The Dead of Jericho: We meet Morse for the first time, hankering after the pale and sweet-toned music teacher, Anne Stavely (the elegant Gemma Jones). Sadly, she meets a lonely and final demise. DOCTOR WHO fans rejoice: Patrick Troughton stretches his acting-chops as a creepy neighbor. We also meet the wonderful James Grout as Chief Superintendent Strange, and the lively, pitch-perfect Kevin Whately as Sergeant Robert Lewis; both inimitable characters remain to the end of the series, and thankfully, Lewis continues. More anon . . .

The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn: Beware from what cup you drink. But the dead man's whisky shouldn't go to waste, as Morse decides, declaring to Sergeant Robert Lewis that he deserves it, he's had a shock. Lewis continues to resist Morse's offers of breakfast beer, and after work visits to pubs. Morse is drawn to the charms of Monica, perfectly played by Barbara Flynn. "The Silent World" features subterfuge surrounding examination secrets, red-herrings abound, and much ado about butter ensues.

Service of All the Dead: In a bucolic country church, a church warden is found skewered, more mayhem occurs in and around the church. As the bodies accrue, Morse becomes desperate to solve the case, and absolve his own credibility.

Inspector Morse turns out not to be the prig one expects, his opera loving ways are authentic, not off-putting, as is his love for rich ales. He's intelligent and thoughtful, misunderstood and complex. When you finish this series, I highly recommend the Complete Inspector Lewis, where Detective Inspector Lewis is paired with the excellent, wry Sergeant Hathaway, featuring Laurence Fox as a fine addition, and Clare Holman continuing as Dr. Hobson. Enjoy!

I haven't read the Morse novels, but I'm a huge fan of the TV show. Inspector Morse has total of 33 episodes originally broadcast over the 13 years of 1987 to 2000. And this is the beginning, our introduction to a man whom John Thaw, who plays Morse, describes in an interview as "a poor policeman but a good detective".

Throughout the "Inspector Morse" series, the opening and closing music theme usually spells out M.O.R.S.E. in Morse code. According to composer Barrington Pheloung, in "The Making of Morse", in some episodes the Morse code spells out the name of the murderer OR a cryptic version of the killer's name OR the name of an innocent person. If another viewer has a better ear than me, I would love to hear about your discoveries of a Morse episode where the theme music spells out something other than M.O.R.S.E. in Morse code!

In the Inspector Morse books, Lewis is in his 60's. Whately was only 26 when he auditioned, but he was so perfect that he got the part. Good thing, given that the series lasted 13 years, and we now get to see Whately's follow-up series, "Inspector Lewis" [ Masterpiece Mystery: Complete Inspector Lewis ], which I also recommend.

This set has 3 episodes, all originally broadcast in 1987, in the same order, as Series 1 (the British call them "series", instead of "seasons"):
The Dead of Jericho
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn
Service of the All Dead

THE DEAD OF JERICHO:
This episode shows us three of what will become Morse hallmarks: He is unlucky in love. He doesn't give out his first name. And when Lewis accompanies him to the pub, Morse finishes quickly and says they have to leave before Lewis finishes. Fans also know that Lewis usually ends up paying for the drinks!
It starts with Chief Inspector Morse taking part in a sting on a car body shop. Unfortunately, his car is rammed, which makes him late to choir practice. He's got his eye on another choir member, Anne Stavely (played by Gemma Jones). He walks her home and she says, "You know, I don't know your first name."
Morse, "That's right."
Anne, "So?"
Morse, "I don't use it."
"That's silly!"
"It's my parents who were silly."

The second time he walks her home, he doesn't see it, but we do, as she checks in her bathroom and sees she has a positive pregnancy test. We've met her spoiled manipulative protege as well as Mr. Jackson, her nasty handyman and peeping Tom neighbor.

The third time Morse is at Anne's home, it's to pick her up for their choir concert. The door is open and he calls to her, but he eventually has to go alone. She never shows up, and after the concert he finds out why. She's been found hanging in her bedroom. Morse cannot believe that it could be suicide. Detective Sergeant Lewis asks an important question: "Did Sophocles do it?"

Trivia: Jericho is an area of Oxford. The episode was written by Anthony Minghella, based on Colin Dexter's 5th Morse novel of the same name, originally published in 1981. Dexter has a walk-on in all but three "Inspector Morse" episodes. This time, he is a passerby in a scene with Morse and Ned Murdock. In this first episode, Lewis (played by Kevin Whately) is attached to Chief Inspector Bell, not Morse. But Bell is promoted at the end of the episode, moving up to Superintendent at another branch. This leaves Lewis to move over to work with Morse.

Morse has great trouble viewing Anne's body, not only because of his personal association with her, but because Morse has a phobia of dead bodies, which we see throughout the show. He also doesn't handle blood very well, and is scared of heights (hypsophobia) and flying (aerophobia).

THE SILENT WORLD OF NICHOLAS QUINN:
It starts with a cocktail reception at the Foreign Examination Syndicate. Nicolas Quinn, who works at the syndicate, spends most of the reception trying to adjust his hearing aid. He leaves the reception with another employee, Philip Ogleby, telling Philip that Roope and Tom Bartlett are selling exam secrets.

The next day, a Friday afternoon, we're back at the syndicate, and see a very large duffel bag bundled into the boot (trunk, to us Yanks) of a car while everyone else takes part in a fire drill. And we're thinking, that doesn't look good for Nicholas Quinn?!

The following Monday, Quinn's body is found at his home, and Morse is sure that it is murder. Does Morse's law apply? As he tells Lewis: "You know Morse's Law? There's always a 50/50 chance that the man who found the body, did the deed."

This is the first episode where we see Morse with one of his passions, crossword puzzles. He interviews Ogleby (played with excellent intelligence and slyness by Michael Gough), and finds out that Ogleby is Daedelus, a demon crossword setter who frequently bedevils Morse with his 5 Down. Unfortunately, Ogleby then turns up murdered, too. Was he TOO clever?

Trivia: This episode was written by Julian Mitchell, based on Colin Dexter's 3rd novel of the same name, published in 1977. Dexter knew a bit about deafness. He was a grammar school classics teacher until 1966, when he was forced to retire by the onset of deafness. He then took a post as Senior Assistant Secretary at the University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE). That's not quite the same as the type of examinations in this episode, but there are similarities. Colin Dexter has a walk-on in this episode. He's a man drinking during the opening credits, at the cocktail party.

Colin Dexter is a dedicated crossword puzzler himself. He named his two main characters after his favourite crossword compilers, Sir Jeremy Morse and Mrs. B. Lewis!

SERVICE OF THE ALL DEAD:
Morse and Lewis are called to the church of St. Oswald's. The body of church warden Harry Josephs lies in the vestry, stabbed through the chest. They figure it was a tramp named Swan, who was at the service, according to the few congregants who attended. Then Max (played by Peter Woodthorpe), the rumpled pathologist who admires Morse and meets him head to head, drops a bombshell. Josephs was dead from a large amount of morphine mixed with wine - before he was stabbed.

Curiouser and curiouser. Morse tells Lewis, "I'm not supposing anything until I've had at least two pints of beer." Another hallmark of Inspector Morse. A pint, as he says, helps him think.

Morse goes to the church to ask Vicar Lionel Pawlin to come down to the station for questioning. Then follows one of the most memorable scenes in the Morse canon, set to haunting music. (Which scene I won't give away.)

Trivia: This is the first episode, but not the last, where we see Morse's fear of heights. This episode was written by Julian Mitchell, based on Colin Dexter's 4th novel of the same name, published in 1980. Dexter's walk-on is when he appears as a man standing by the woman with the bike, when Morse goes to see the Archdeacon.

Inspector Morse Sets are good English detective series. Each episode is a good length and not too overwhelming. They are intriging enough for the classic "Who Done It" modes.

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