Thanks to the talented and prolific authors like Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, Britain earned reputation as the home of greatest characters of crime fiction like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. This long line of popular fictional detectives was in the latter stages of 20th Century added by new names, some of them owing it to the medium of television. One of such examples could be found in Detective Inspector Morse, Oxford policeman played by David Thaw who was protagonist of eponymous television show aired from 1987 till 2000.
The character was created in 1970s by author Colin Dexter in series of novels, but he came popular due to Thaw, who had already became famous in the role of policeman by playing tough Detective Inspector Regan enforcing justice on the mean streets in London in The Sweeney. The new setting, as well as his new character, was completely different – a quiet, picture perfect academic town that embodied all the positive things about England. Morse seemed perfect policeman for that place, being former Oxford University student, able to mingle with members of town's academic, business and political elite while having seemingly snobish character peculiarities like the love of opera, classic literature and crossword puzzles. However, not everything was positive about Morse; he was also afflicted by his love of bottle and women, the latter often bringing him to embarrassing trouble. Thankfully, he was often rescued from such troubles by his loyal subordinate Detective Sergeant Lewis (played by Kevin Whately) and boss Detective Superintendent Strange (played by James Grout), who were fond of Morse despite their own working class backgrounds and associated cultural differences.
The show is mostly based on Dexters' novels, adapted into feature-length episodes, which were first aired as parts of semi-regular seasons and later as televisions specials. The quality of episodes varied, with first seasons being often burdened by tendency to resolve plots through sudden outbursts of irrational violence. The crimes investigated by Morse was almost always murder, often followed by series of murders, but the motives were usually quiet petty, with events triggering homicidal violence occurring through coincidence rather than some infernal plot. While the quality of mysteries and their resolutions sometimes left much to be desired, Inspector Morse compensated those flaws by having plenty of interesting and sometimes quite memorable characters, often played by some of the best British actors. The show also grew with each season, with scripts providing great diversity of topics, portraying British society from different angles as well as the changes that were happening in 1980s and 1990s. Inspector Morse also provided certain diversity of styles and sometimes even settings, with some mysteries being solved in places like Italy or Australia or even different time period, like the penultimate 1999 episode The Wench is Dead. However, the authors always tried to keep their show realistic and that even included the age and health issues of protagonist, whose alcohol-abusing lifestyle had predictable and devastating consequences in the last episode Remorseful Day, one of the most emotional events in the history of British television. The episode wouldn't had such impact, nor would the show had its sequel Lewis and prequel Endeavour (set in 1960s with Shaun Evans playing young Morse) without general quality worthy of enduring franchise.
Starring: John Thaw, Kevin Whately, James Grout Created by: Colin Dexter Number of episodes: 33 (feautre-length, 12 seasons)
Pro: fascinating characters, interesting setting, great variety in styles, superb direction Contra: variable and sometime less than stellar quality, especially in early seasons . RATING: 8/10
