HelenMary John Thaw played Inspector Morse for thirteen years and evolved with the times, and did it well, with conviction and continuity. Based on the novels of Colin Dexter, which I haven't read, Morse was a grouchy, bachelor, a sucker for a pretty face, interested in the finer things including opera and the classics, with a penchant for a "liquid lunch." He's an interesting character, and with a great relationship with his exasperated partner Robbie Lewis (later with his own series) played by Kevin Whately, and doesn't always toe the party line with authority.Set in Oxford, many of the cases are involved with academic matters, and many of the cases are inspired by classical stories, iconography and symbolism, with the upper classes, which makes them very interesting and different to your normal city cop story lines, and some inside views of University life and some beautiful stately homes in Oxfordshire. Not a fast-paced action show, little running around, or bells and whistles, it's very cerebral and good for a lazy evening when you don't want too much distraction but something intelligent. It doesn't shy away from difficult stories but does it without resorting to bad language, nudity, or anything gratuitous, and each episode bears more than one watch given the complexity of the cases. Look out for a lot of familiar faces; Sean Bean, Elizabeth Hurley, Rachel Weisz, Richard Briers to name a few. Morse is known for it's opera and classical music and theme tune that features Morse's name in a musical version of Morse-code and the beautiful Jaguar that Morse drives. Two spin off series are Lewis and Endeavour (Morse when he was young).

keith-moyes-656-481491 I never really followed Morse on TV, but was aware of how highly it was regarded, so I recently purchased the whole series on DVD to check it out for myself. Having watched half-a-dozen episodes it is time a few preliminary observations.The series was given top production values. Each episode was treated as a near-cinema quality stand-alone TV movie. They were all shot on film, with a lot of location shooting and multiple camera set-ups for each scene. The shows are also a role call of top-notch British actors (including several that later became much better known). Leading the way are John Thaw and Kevin Whately, who are both excellent. The first season only had three episodes. I see this increased to four episodes for several subsequent seasons before settling down to just one show a season. Morse certainly wanted to be taken seriously as a prestige production.Personally, I am still waiting to be impressed.For one thing, I am having trouble with the overall tone of the stories. Stylistically, they are located at the gritty, 'police procedural' end of the 'whodunit' spectrum, but this is belied by Morse's complete disregard for any procedure, or even the law itself. Moreover, the convoluted and sometimes implausible plots, often strewn with corpses, place it right in the middle of Agatha Christie territory. In 'Service of all the Dead' we are asked to believe that the Vicar, the church warden, his wife and the church organist, all conspired to kill the vicar's brother and that one of them turned out to be a psychopath intent on killing all his co-conspirators: that is a big 'ask'.I am finding this clash between the general approach and the actual subject matter a bit uncomfortable.Nor am I convinced by the character of Morse himself. This grumpy snob is disillusioned and world-weary, but for no obvious reason. He trails from pub to pub, constantly soaking up alcohol and jumping into his car with no fear of ever being breathalysed. It is implied that he has a real problem with drink, verging on alcoholism (one character actually says: "aren't you the policemen that drinks?") but we never actually see him drunk or hung-over. In several of these early stories he becomes romantically involved with one of the people in the case without regard to how this could compromise the investigation or any legal proceedings that might follow. He is also meant to be more fallible than the classic detectives were: he is often wrong in his reading of the situation. However, this fallibility seems ladled on to the stories rather than being integral to them. Morse jumps to conclusions on minimal evidence and is constantly blurting out his unfounded suspicions, making the Police liable for legal action. In one episode he actually arrests the wrong man.The stories themselves are told in an arch, elliptical and somewhat pretentious way that makes them more difficult to follow than is strictly necessary. For example, in The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn the crucial final revelation fell flat and left me puzzled, so I had to go back to re-view the initial scene (which was interspersed with credits) in order to fully make sense of it. The stories tend to jump from one cryptic interrogation to another without rhyme of reason. For example, a character reveals something important which demands an immediate follow-up, but instead Morse abruptly terminates the interrogation and moves randomly on to something else.This choppiness carries over into the way individual scenes are written and staged. They are often broken into tiny slivers, dispersed over different locations. Morse and Lewis start a discussion in a pub. We then cut to an exterior of the car park where Morse asks Lewis a question. He then walks away as Lewis shouts his answer at his retreating back. Morse then gets into his car, winds down the window and delivers his comeback. This sort of fragmented structure is typical of the whole series and seems to be a deliberate house style, imposed on all the different writers and directors that worked on the series.The stories themselves obviously vary in quality, but none has yet really grabbed and baffled me and the eventual resolution of the mysteries has generally left me underwhelmed. They are as convoluted as the artificial puzzles of the Golden Age of crime writing, but not as clever or intriguing as, for example, the best of the Christies. I am reluctant to judge Colin Dexter on the basis of TV adaptations of his work, but I seriously doubt that he is in the same class as one of the modern 'greats' like Ruth Rendell.These are only my first impressions, based on a handful of early episodes, and they may yet change as the series evolves over the years and I become more accustomed to its distinctive style and tone. If this happens, I will happily acknowledge it in a subscript to this review.However, at this stage, Inspector Morse seems to me to be a classic example of the triumph of style over content.PS: One footnote to that last assessment is that the sumptuous look of the series is undermined by a poor DVD transcription, which gives the cinematography an unpleasant, grainy look.PPS: I did get used to it, and I don't regret watching all the episodes. The series became less quirky and less jumpy as it went on, but also more formulaic (see the devastatingly accurate account by 'combatreview').

kabrorsen I am sorry, I never had the chance to meet John Thaw. He gave so much to his part as Chief Inspector Morse, and I always admired him for this. By that, I mean, I read a couple of Colin Dexter's novels, and I absolutely found them good - but sorry, not outstanding. But with Thaw came the elegance, personality - not 100% the precise character from the novels, no luckily John Thaw's personal version of Morse. I agree with another comment on this site, the TV version clearly surpasses the original novels.One of many fantastic things about this TV series is the fact, that the recipe was clear from day one. There is not one really bad episode among - impressive considering the many years, it took to shoot all the episodes. Actually the series almost starts with one of my favourite episodes "Silent World Of Nicholas Quinn" (1986) - and almost ends with one of them "Death Is Now My Neighbour" (1997). But in between we are treated with masterpieces such as "Who Killed Harry Field", "Driven To Distraction", "Decieved By Flight" - and my personal favourite "Death Of The Self". Each of the these episodes show how outstanding an actor John Thaw was - and how good the series really is.It is my favourite detective series, and it is simply one masterpiece after another.

jeremy-tipton After following Inspector Morse as a teen and even now after watching episodes again again, I still find myself taken with how well the programme was devised, written, produced, and acted - every time I watch an episode I take a fresh view on how good it was and is. I've come across a website which is the 'Official' site for all fans of this incredible drama - http://www.morsetv.com - it really is a site all those who want to find out that little bit more about the programme and man 'Morse'. There is loads of information with interesting video clip insights from John Thaw, Kevin Whately, Colin Dexter and Ted Childs about the characters from their own personal perspective - this is a great site, highly recommended.