Classic Morse

I have a confession to make... I don't have Netflix. In fact, I don't have any pay to view or subscription television watching options, and don't have a television license. I refuse to download or stream illegally, so I am left completely to the mercy of the old-fashioned channels' scheduling gods. No binge watching for me! Actually I don't watch television that often, or as often as I'd like, but there is something for me about watching a feature-length murder mystery which is very enjoyable and relaxing. Even though, as is often the case with Morse, the body count is through the roof (or on the roof, in the case of The Service of All the Dead) and the murders often grisly (more below).

I mention this because I've recently been watching some of the first two series of Morse. ITV have kindly decided to put them on (various time slots) and not (as far as I can tell) in any particular order, although this isn't a massive problem with Morse as the episodes are encapsulated and I've already watched them, though mostly not for years.

One long hot summer in, I think, the early 2000s, ITV put all of Morse on, one per week, at some reasonable time, and we all watched them as a family (this is the sort of thing my family do!). There was one episode, The Dead of Jericho, which annoyed me for years afterwards, because the VCR (for those of you born in the 1990s, this was how we preserved programmes, by taping them!) had chopped off the end, and I never saw the rest, until the other week, when I finally saw the ending.

Kevin Whately and John Thaw, looking dapper and young.

I read some Morse novels in my teens as well, but not all of them - maybe 4 or 5 which were available from our local library. (This was after I ran out of Brother Cadfael to read.) I was interested to know that Morse and Lewis are slightly different in the early novels than in the television series. It's fairly well known that after John Thaw was cast, and Colin Dexter saw his performance, he adapted his character to suit Thaw's interpretation. Most of the essential character traits are the same though. For example, Colin Dexter's detective has necrophobia, which means that when he sees a dead body he feels physically sick. True to form, Morse will always turn away, looking sickened, from the body, while Lewis appears more indifferent.
To add confusion, they weren't filmed in the same order. I was also surprised to discover that the first episode of Morse was adapted for the screen by Anthony Minghella, who was later made famous for The English Patient.

When I was younger I'd find that watching an episode of a detective series or reading a book would mean the plot and 'whodunnit' was forever inscribed in my mind, so I'd pay little interest to re-watching. As I've got older (I'm only 32!) I've found that I don't always remember - certainly not episodes from years ago - so over the years I've happily re-watched episodes of Morse here and there on a Sunday afternoon/evening.

I don't know if its because I watched and read Morse when I was quite young but there's something very reassuring about watching it. If I'm quite honest, I prefer some of the episodes of Morse even to Agatha Christie's Poirot (another favourite of mine), I think because there's a peculiar vestige of realism in them, even if they aren't genuinely realistic. Of course, they can be quite formulaic, but I think a lot of whodunnits are. In the first series and beyond, for example, Morse keeps on falling for, or being interested in, rather fragile, moping, vulnerable or occasionally criminal women, who let him down in various ways - sometimes by being implicated in the crime. In one of the episodes I watched, for example, he repeatedly offers the woman a cup of tea, which for some reason she refuses to drink throughout the episode. She keeps clinging to his arm. No wonder when they decided to write Lewis, they strengthened the female characters considerably, including the wonderful Rebecca Front and Claire Holman, whose character, Dr Laura Hobson, replaces Max as the pathologist. I think Morse gets referred to as a dinosaur, and perhaps rightly so.

Kevin Whately,  Claire Holman, Lawrence Fox, and Rebecca Front

On the other hand, this hankering for women he can't have, along with his unhealthy liking for beer, is part of his own vulnerability, and it is very important for detectives to have vulnerability. Speaking of beer, his pathologist friend tells him, even in series 1, that he drinks too much, and as we know, Morse eventually dies of a heart attack. Let that be a lesson to us all! Although he pays less for beer than we do - £1.98 for two pints in Series 1. Those were the days. There's no such thing as craft beer, either! Morse loved Real Ale. Morse and Lewis sit down for a pint at least once in every episode, I'm sure, and Lewis and Hathaway continue the tradition in Lewis.

We all love Morse's genius ability to solve crimes, crosswords, and the other human puzzles he encounters, and his ascerbic wit. He's actually rather mean to Lewis though, and others. He is brusque in a way that would not be allowed these days. But his witty one liners and put downs, often revealing a deep pedantry, lighten an otherwise serious series. Some examples:

"Light beer is an invention of the Prince of Darkness." 

"Hanged, Lewis. Meat is hung, people are hanged."

"Death was instant?! Coffee is instant! Death is instantaneous."

"Beer is food."

"Man was born free, but everywhere he's in the property chain."

"Is that a dagger I see before me? I'd rather see a pint."

"Never interrupt me when I'm buying opera tickets Lewis. I might get Madam Butterfly instead of Berlioz. Or get Handel, for God's sake."

The body count in Morse is usually pretty big. I've never worked out the maths, but essentially there's 2/3 bodies per episode, often with a sad kind of inevitability. Sometimes, the endings can be extremely gloomy, but the relationships of the central characters and the beautiful scenery somehow reassure. Most of the truly brilliant episodes revolve around tragedy in the Classical sense. Greek tragedy is sometimes referred to in the series (and in Lewis) and viewers may enjoy picking up on these references if they know their classics. Morse, as we know, read Classics at Oxford himself (and got a Double First).

Morse and Lewis have absolutely stellar casts, with every episode starring either a British television or even someone who would go on to have a Hollywood career, Sean Bean, Simon Callow, Michael Kitchen, Roger Lloyd Pack, Jason Isaacs, Derek Fowlds, Martin Clunes, Christopher Eccleston, Mark Strong, Alun Armstrong, Jim Broadbent, Richard Griffiths, Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson and many many more. Many of the actors would also star as detectives or characters in other series. Of course, without the lead actors this would all be meaningless. Their performances hugely helped the success of the series, beyond doubt.

Of course, Oxford is also the star of the show, and even more so of Lewis. Between scenes in Lewis are regular, postcard perfect shots of the Dreaming Spires. Most, if not all, of the murders occur in Oxford colleges or the homes of professors (if not at the opera...). Morse, the degree-educated and (relatively) 'posh' policeman is also called upon to investigate crimes in the homes of the rich and famous.

The sort of house that people live in in Morse.

I highly recommend re-watching the early series if you get the chance, possibly with a nice cup of tea and a scone (or a pint of ale). Although aspects of these early series now appear dated, this just adds a pleasing retro feel. Some how Morse's high culture rubs off on you, and you feel a little bit more cultured for watching!