The essential episodes of Inspector Morse
Watch these 15 in order and you've got Inspector Morse — each pick states its reason.
- 01
Morse gets passed over for promotion, and at the same time he is given a new working partner in the shape of Sergeant Lewis - who is not at all sure what to make of his new boss. Then Morse and Lewis face their first murder case together: Anne Staveley, a good friend of Morse's in a choral society, is found hanged at her house in the Jericho area of Oxford. At first, the death looks like suicide, but Morse has his own reasons for treating the case as a murder. A parking ticket and the play Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, help Morse to solve the mystery.
- 02
Jane Robson asks Morse to present a crossword prize at a summer school in Lonsdale College, and while he is dining with a group of overseas students, a young Japanese man dies in what seems to be a brutal ritual killing. It turns out that Morse has unwittingly given all his best suspects a watertight alibi. Morse is attracted to Jane Robson, although she is plainly a neurotic woman who suffers from mood swings and even temper tantrums. He finds that Jane's grandfather was a prisoner-of-war in the hands of the Japanese during the second world war, and he begins to suspect a complicated conspiracy.
- 03
A young secretary is found raped and murdered in the car park of an Oxford pub. Morse and Lewis find that the girl was last seen getting into a car, while hitch-hiking with another woman, but neither the woman nor the driver of the car will come forward. Morse uncovers a complex web of relationships - passion and corruption, lies and unhappiness.
- 04
Morse investigates the reported theft of erotic paintings belonging to Sir Julius Hanbury, a local baronet who is one of those standing for election as the new Master of Courtney College, Oxford. As well as the pictures, Sir Julius himself has also disappeared. Morse finds Sir Julius's dead body, and at first it looks like murder, but the new police pathologist, Dr Grayling Russell, believes he killed himself. Then there is another death which is undoubtedly a murder - but how is it connected with the late Sir Julius Hanbury?
- 05
A body is found in the canal and the only clue to its identity points to a connection with one of the university's colleges. It happens that intense rivalry for one of the most prestigious posts in the university has led to murder. But which one of the highly respected contenders is the calculating killer?
- 06
Morse investigates when the annual match of the Claret's old boys' cricket eleven is brought to an abrupt end by the sudden death of a team member - and it seems that cricket was the last thing on their minds.
- 07
Playboy architect Michael Gifford is found strangled in his car, and the only clues are a car-park ticket and his diary. Morse and Lewis uncover a love triangle involving the murdered man, and the list of suspects grows. Meanwhile, Morse considers asking Grayling Russell for a date.
- 08
Morse investigates a tangled web of academic intrigue around the baffling murder of Dr Julian Dear, who was a college don and a famous environmentalist. Dear was killed just minutes before he was due to give a controversial lecture. It soon appears that the most respectable of academic families can have skeletons in the cupboard, but Morse has to put his job on the line to get at the truth.
- 09
The mysterious death of a former deputy police commissioner brings Morse into reluctant contact with an old rival, Chief Inspector Dawson. Morse and Lewis, in uneasy tandem with Dawson, spot a link with the unsolved murder of a young girl 18 years earlier. To find the latest killer they have to unravel the first case again.
- 10
Morse finds himself attracted to a female cleric when he is called upon to investigate the suspicious death of a woman deacon. St Saviour's College is about to appoint Oxford's first ever female chaplain, and emotions are running high among the more conservative clerics, but Morse & Lewis find it hard to believe such feelings could lead to murder.
- 11
An artist, fun-loving drinker and raconteur, Harry Field seems like a man after Morse's own heart. But when Morse and Lewis investigate his mysterious death, they discover that he was not such a lovable rogue
- 12
When the chef at Lewis's favorite Greek restaurant is found murdered, and a baby goes missing, Oxford's close-knit Greek community closes ranks. Matters aren't helped when Morse has a bad-tempered exchange with the shipping millionaire who owns the restaurant.
- 13
The search for a retired 'supergrass' takes Morse and Lewis from Oxford to the Australian outback. Strangely, Lewis is less at home down under than Morse himself is.
- 14
Morse investigates the apparent suicide of a terminally ill Oxford don and finds he has a personal connection with the family. As the case develops, Lewis worries that Morse's professionalism is being undermined.
- 15
A nasty but very rich business man and a world-famous opera singer are in Oxford to receive honorary degrees from the Chancellor of the University. However, the ceremony has to be abandoned when a sniper opens fire on the procession of dignitaries. The singer is seriously wounded, but was she the intended target?
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He's smart, he's good looking, and he's got a great sense of humor.
