Inspector Morse

Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse is a fictional character, who features in a series of thirteen detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, though he is better known for the TV series about him. He is a senior CID (Criminal Investigation Department) officer with the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England.

Television series

The Inspector Morse novels have been made into a very successful TV series (also called Inspector Morse) for the British TV channel ITV. The series was made by Zenith Productions for Central (a company later acquired by Carlton). The series comprises 33 two-hour episodes (100 minutes excluding commercials)—twenty more episodes than there are novels—produced between 1987 and 2000. The final episode was adapted from the final novel.

Related Topics:
TV series - ITV - Central - Carlton - 1987 - 2000

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The Inspector himself was played by John Thaw and the faithful Detective Sergeant Lewis by Kevin Whately. Dexter makes a cameo appearance in all but three of the episodes. The series remains popular and is frequently repeated on ITV1 and ITV3 in Britain; in the United States, reruns (often edited to allow additional commercials) regularly appear on a cable network, The Biography Channel. The series has been issued as cut-price video cassettes and DVDs containing one episode each, together with magazine-size booklets giving background information on each episode, and as a series of 17 double DVDs containing two episodes each (the last disc contains one episode and a two-hour retrospective).

Related Topics:
John Thaw - Kevin Whately - Cameo appearance - ITV - ITV3 - Video cassettes - DVD

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John Thaw had a special appreciation of the fact that Morse was different from classic characters such as James Bond and Sherlock Holmes. Morse was brilliant but he wasn't always right. He often arrested the wrong person or came to the wrong conclusion. As a result, unlike many classic sleuths, Morse does not always simply "bust" his culprit; ironic circumstances have the case end and the crime brought to him. Also, Morse was a romantic but had little success in meeting women.

Related Topics:
James Bond - Sherlock Holmes - Bust

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List

The titles of the television episodes are:

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• 1st Series, 1987:
• 1. The Dead of Jericho
• 2. The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn
• 3. Service of All the Dead
• 2nd Series, 1988:
• 4. The Wolvercote Tongue
• 5. Last Seen Wearing
• 6. The Settling of the Sun
• 7. Last Bus to Woodstock
• 3rd Series, 1989:
• 8. Ghost in the Machine
• 9. The Last Enemy
• 10. Deceived by Flight
• 11. The Secret of Bay 5B
• 4th Series, 1990:
• 12. The Infernal Serpent
• 13. The Sins of the Fathers
• 14. Driven to Distraction
• 15. Masonic Mysteries
• 5th Series, 1991:
• 16. Second Time Around
• 17. Fat Chance
• 18. Who Killed Harry Field?
• 19. Greeks Bearing Gifts
• 20. Promised Land, also known as Inspector Morse in Australia
• 6th Series, 1992:
• 21. Dead on Time
• 22. Happy Families
• 23. The Death of the Self
• 24. Absolute Conviction
• 25. Cherubim and Seraphim
• 7th Series, 1993:
• 26. Deadly Slumber
• 27. The Day of the Devil
• 28. Twilight of the Gods
• Specials, 1995–2000:
• 29. The Way Through the Woods
• 30. The Daughters of Cain
• 31. Death Is Now My Neighbour
• 32. The Wench Is Dead
• 33. The Remorseful Day

Music

The theme and incidental music for the series was written by Barrington Pheloung and utilises a motif based on the Morse Code for "M.O.R.S.E." (-- --- ·-· ··· ·).

Related Topics:
Barrington Pheloung - Motif - Morse Code

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According to Pheloung, he had spelled out the name of the killer in Morse Code to tell you who did it, and has purposely spelled out someone else to throw you off.

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That the makers of the series took great care in the choice of classical music excerpts as additional incidental music, reflects in the fact that several collections of "music from the Morse series" recordings were published successfully.

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The TV series and the CD's play some of Morse's favorites, Mozart, Schubert, and of course Wagner.

Related Topics:
Mozart - Schubert - Wagner

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Spinoff series

A spinoff series starring Kevin Whately as the now-promoted Inspector Lewis went into production in July 2005.

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