Morse (left) as played by John Thaw in the television adaption (with Kevin Whately as Lewis (right)).

Detective Chief Inspector 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 33 episode TV series produced by Central Independent Television from 1987–2000, in which he was portrayed by John Thaw. Morse is a senior CID (Criminal Investigation Department) officer with the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. Image File history File links Inspector_Morse. ... Image File history File links Inspector_Morse. ... Alice, a fictional character based on a real character from the work of Lewis Carroll. ... Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction that centres upon the investigation of a crime, usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. ... Cosette Dwyer is an amazing author. ... (Norman) Colin Dexter is the British author of the Inspector Morse novels. ... For other uses, see Television (disambiguation). ... John Thaw (left) as Inspector Morse John Edward Thaw CBE (3 January 1942 – 21 February 2002) was an English actor who achieved his first starring role in the military police television drama Redcap (1964 – 1966), and subsequently appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles. ... Charles Vincent, founder of the Metropolitan Police CID The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of all British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces to which plain clothes detectives belong. ... Thames Valley Police is one of the largest Home Office police services in England and the largest non-metropolitan one, covering 2200 sq mi (5,700 km²) and a population of 2. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Novels

Cover of "Last Bus To Woodstock", the first Morse novel by Colin Dexter

The Inspector Morse novels have been successful in both book and television serial form. Set primarily in Oxford with a vintage Mark 2 Jaguar car (originally a Lancia), a thirst for beer, intellectual snobbery and penchant for Wagner, Morse presents a likeable person despite his sullen temperament. Image File history File links Cover of Colin Dexters first novel Last Bus To Woodstock. Alf 13:22, 16 August 2005 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Cover of Colin Dexters first novel Last Bus To Woodstock. Alf 13:22, 16 August 2005 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... Lancia (Lan-cha) is an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and which became part of the Fiat group in 1969. ... Beer in the glass Schlenkerla Rauchbier direct from the cask Beer is the worlds oldest[1] and most popular[2] alcoholic beverage. ... Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813 – February 13, 1883) was a German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or music dramas as he later came to call them). ...

Morse dislikes spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. This is demonstrated by the fact that in every personal or private document written to him, he manages to point out at least one spelling mistake. His approach to crime-solving, he frequently asserts, is deductive and one of his key tenets is that 'the last person to see the victim alive was the murderer'. Dexter is a fan of cryptic crosswords, and Morse is named after champion solver Sir Jeremy Morse, one of Dexter's arch-rivals as a clue-writer in the crossword world. In every novel (except the first, Last Bus to Woodstock) the surname of the killer is taken from those of winners of the weekly Azed solving competition in The Observer.^[1] Indeed, for a while, Dexter wrote a weekly How to Solve Cryptic Crosswords column in the Observer's sister paper The Guardian. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ...

Morse's first name, "Endeavour", was kept a secret until the end of Death is Now My Neighbour (traditionally Morse claimed that he should be called 'Morse' or jokingly that his first name was 'Inspector'). The origin of his name is the vessel HM Bark Endeavour, as Morse's mother was a Quaker (Quakers have a tradition of "virtue names") and his father was a fan of Captain James Cook. HMB Endeavour was a small 18th century British sailing ship, famous for being the vessel commanded by Lt. ... Pendle Hill, a landmark in the history of the Society of Friends. ... James Cook, portrait by Nathaniel Dance, c. ...

Morse is an interesting and complex character to assess from a social and political viewpoint. In sharp juxtaposition to the Welsh (altered to northern in the TV series) working class background of his assistant, Lewis (named for another rival clue-writer, Mrs. B. Lewis), Morse is ostensibly the embodiment of white, male, upper-middle-class Englishness, with a set of prejudices and assumptions to match. He is, for example, frequently portrayed in the act of patronising women characters to the extent that some feminist critics have argued that Morse is a misogynist.^[2] Morse's relationships with authority, the establishment, bastions of power and the status quo are markedly ambiguous. Misogyny is an exaggerated pathological aversion towards women. ...

The titles of the books are:

• Last Bus to Woodstock, 1975
• Last Seen Wearing, 1976
• The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn, 1977
• Service of All the Dead, 1979
• The Dead of Jericho, 1981
• The Riddle of the Third Mile, 1983
• The Secret of Annexe 3, 1986
• The Wench is Dead, 1989
• The Jewel That Was Ours, 1991
• The Way Through the Woods, 1992
• The Daughters of Cain, 1994
• Death is Now My Neighbour, 1996
• The Remorseful Day, 2000

Inspector Morse also appears in several stories in Dexter's short story collection, Morse's Greatest Mystery and Other Stories (1993, expanded edition 1994).

Dexter killed Morse in his last book, The Remorseful Day. Morse dies in a hospital bed from complications of his neglected type 2 diabetes. See diabetes mellitus for further general information on diabetes. ...

Television

Main article: Inspector Morse (TV series)

The Inspector Morse novels were made into an extremely 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. Inspector Morse was a television series, based on the popular novels, also called Inspector Morse for the British TV network ITV. The series was made by Zenith Productions for Central (a company later acquired by Carlton). ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... It has been suggested that Channel 3 (UK) be merged into this article or section. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Carlton Television was the United Kingdom Channel 3 (ITV) licensee for London and the surrounding areas from 9:25am every Monday to 5. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Radio

An occasional BBC Radio 4 series (for the Saturday Play) was made starring the voices of John Shrapnel as Morse and Robert Glenister as Lewis. The series was written by Guy Meredith and directed by Ned Chaillet. Episodes included: "The Wench is Dead" (28 March 1992); "Last Seen Wearing" (28 May 1994); and "The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn" (10 February 1996). BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of chiefly spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ... John Shrapnel (born 1942 in Birmingham, England) is an English actor. ... Robert Glenister (born March 11, 1960 in London, England) is a British actor, the son of director John Glenister and the brother of actor Philip Glenister. ...

Further reading

Inspector Morse book cover.

• Bishop, David, The Complete Inspector Morse: From the Original Novels to the TV Series London: Reynolds & Hearn (2006) ISBN 1-9052871-3-5
• Bird, Christopher, The World of Inspector Morse: A Complete A-Z Reference for the Morse Enthusiast Foreword by Colin Dexter London: Boxtree (1998) ISBN 0752221175
• Goodwin, Cliff, Inspector Morse Country : An Illustrated Guide to the World of Oxford's famous detective London: Headline (2002) ISBN 0755310640
• Leonard, Bill, The Oxford of Inspector Morse: Films Locations History Location Guides, Oxford (2004) ISBN 0-9547671-1-X
• Sanderson, Mark, The Making of Inspector Morse Pan Macmillan (1995) ISBN 0330344188

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (549x722, 101 KB) Summary book cover - visual reference Licensing This image is of a book cover, and the copyright for it is most likely owned either by the artist who drew the cover or the publisher of the book. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (549x722, 101 KB) Summary book cover - visual reference Licensing This image is of a book cover, and the copyright for it is most likely owned either by the artist who drew the cover or the publisher of the book. ... (Norman) Colin Dexter is the British author of the Inspector Morse novels. ...

See also

• Jericho, Oxford
• Inspector Lewis
• Chief Superintendent Strange

Jericho is an historic area of the English city of Oxford. ... Robbie Lewis is the sidekick in the Inspector Morse crime novels by Colin Dexter and television series of the same name. ... Chief Superintendent Strange is a key character in the Inspector Morse television series. ...

References

1. ^ Jonathan Crowther, A–Z of Crosswords: Insights into the Top Setters and their Puzzles, Collins, 2006, ISBN 978-0-00-722923-9
2. ^ e.g. Review: Death Is Now My Neighbour by Val McDermid.

Val McDermid with Robson Green Val McDermid (born June 4, 1955) is a Scottish crime writer. ...

External links

• Official Inspector Morse website
• Morse's Oxford Online Tour (created by Oxford University)
• Classic Locations Oxfordshire
• Morse Mania
• Morse episode guide
• Detective Fiction Books
• Encyclopedia of Television
• Inspector Boozer - spoof Inspector Morse tribute site
• British Film Institute Screen Online
• Inspector Morse at the Internet Movie Database