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Inspector Morse
1987 · TV series · 100 min episodes · 7 seasons
Created by Tony Warren, Colin Dexter
Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses.
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UK police have had various types of Jaguar over the years; there was a period where the original Mark 2 Jag could outrun the police, so they had to buy some as well. The Mark 2 became ubiquitous in police procedural TV shows, usually driven by criminals, but also Inspector Morse.
Some more fun examples to explore:
1. In the UK there was a TV detective series called "Inspector Morse". The composer of the theme music (Barrington PHeloung) included "Morse" in morse code in the theme. They then decided to start including clues in morse in the theme music behind episodes including red herrings so if you decoded the clue it might send you down the wrong avenue[1]
2. There are a number of cryptograms in the music of Alban Berg, including several suspected but which have never definitively been solved. An example which is like a crossword as you have put it would be in the violin concerto the choice of the famous corale and the way in which the text of the Bach cantata with the same corale ("Blessed are those who die in the Lord") refers to the dead child (Manon Gropius) the concerto was dedicated to. Getting that particular example to work is an amazing feat of musical architecture because the violin concerto is a serialist piece so he had to include the right part of the corale into the tone series for the piece in order to make it work[2]. It's also just an incredible piece of music in general
[1] https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/periods-genres/film-tv/inspector-morse-theme/ [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20171107012243/https://www.laphil.com/philpedia/music/violin-concerto-alban-berg
Always nice to see it get a mention, it made quite an impact on me at a formative age in the late 80s. As a bonus it then got me on to Thoreau, as he talks about reading Walden to his son in the book.
Oddly, I distinctly remember what in turn got me on to that then 15 year book in the the first place, a brief flash of the intriguing lotus-wrench cover in an episode of Inspector Morse, of all things.
Odd to think how a such a minor passing reference set me off so far down a road I probably would never have traveled otherwise.
>To go a bit on a tangent: I love TV shows where it really is shot where it is set, and the location is a big part of the show.
The Inspector Morse series[0] based on Colin Dexter's[1] novels is shot in and around Oxford, UK and is pretty darn good.
The follow-ons (Lewis[2] and Endeavour[3]) are also pretty good too.
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries[4] is also pretty good and is shot mostly on location, although the protagonist is something of a whiny little bitch. The same can be said for DCI Banks[5].
That said, Vera[6] and Y Gwyll[7] (Hinterland) are both good too, although the police force in Vera is a fictional fictional organization and is shot in various places in the north of England.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Morse_(TV_series)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Dexter
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_(TV_series)
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endeavour_(TV_series)
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inspector_Lynley_Mysteries
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DCI_Banks
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_(TV_series)
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinterland_(TV_series)
If you are content with the genre of normal drama, without special effects or stunts or expensive sets or glamorous stars, then there's a wealth of good stuff out there, often made for TV rather than cinema. For instance, all the Inspector Morse episodes are essentially standalone films, and all of them have exceptional acting and writing and stories (usually adapted from the novels). Many great 'mini-series' also (like 4-6 hours total). Look up an actor like Brian Dennehy and notice all the films he made for television. No matter how jaded you get with cinema, I don't think you tire of a good story. (Often in cinema they seem to want to make films that are brilliant despite an uninteresting story.)
I wish there were better options for watching televised plays. Outside of Shakespeare, the options seem sadly limited.
> 20 movie-length episodes per season
Is that a typo? Inspector Morse had a total of 33 episodes across 7 seasons and 5 specials. Seasons averaged about 4 eps each.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Inspector_Morse_episodes
>In the UK a series is usually only 6 episodes and few shows last more than two or three series
Inspector Morse (et al) come to mind as one that lasts longer. So many great British detective shows that go on for decades, with around 20 movie-length episodes per season (aka series).
But the confusion has been around a lot longer than spellchecks have been in common use.
-ize Vs -ize was a plot point in a 1987 episode of Inspector Morse: https://jeremybutterfield.wordpress.com/2016/12/13/ise-or-ize-is-ize-american-2/
Gradually! Some classic Jaguars had the pedals switched - including the famous one in the Inspector Morse TV series which led to a few accidents on set.
Porsche also made some race cars with the accelerator on the left to make it quicker to do 'Le Mans starts' - where the driver must run to the car and start it.