A peek inside the Morse coda

The Mystery! episode airing this month, based upon the most recent Inspector Morse novel, furthers our insight into the character's personality but lacks the finessing touch of his creator.

By ROBERT N. JENKINS

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 18, 2001

What's wrong with these pictures, all 33 of them?

Our protagonist is notable because he is bombastic, irascible, harsh to his loyal assistant -- and frequently 180 degrees off the mark when pontificating solutions to problems. Yet he is so popular that an estimated 1-billion people have watched his 33 television episodes.

How can this be? How can we want to watch, or read about, such an arrogant person?

Because all these traits prove that Chief Inspector Morse is human. Matching his genius at mysteries and at the London Times crosswords -- he ultimately does solve every case, and he times himself completing the puzzles -- Morse's frailties and failings are so large as to be life-defining in the real world.

The stories themselves are more than entertaining. Says Rebecca Eaton, executive producer for PBS's Mystery series:

The episodes "have the ingredients of classic detective stories. The plots are satisfyingly complicated -- not just murder jigsaw puzzles -- there is fabulously rich countryside." Morse himself, she says in a documentary about the series, "is a loner, brilliant, intuitive . . . He is not just a car-chase detective."

Then, too, the series' popularity is largely due to the performances of the actor who is Morse, John Thaw. Having lived inside the man's brain and body for 14 years, Thaw offers this view:

[Photo: PBS] Chief Inspector Morse (played by actor John Thaw) and his beloved classic Jaguar, on location in Oxford. In truth, this car barely runs, according to walking-touring guide Nuola Young.

"He is a poor policeman but a good detective: He would never be able to follow the rules . . . He's fallible as both a policeman and a human being," Thaw says in the documentary.

"He is saddened, disturbed and upset by the fact that a fellow human being can do this (commit murder), but he is interested that someone can do this -- he wants to know why . . .

"Morse is rather pompous, well-educated, intellectual. Yet he envies (his assistant) Sgt. Lewis, envies Lewis' certainties of life (such as) going home to his wife and two children.

"Morse has no friends, partly because of his arrogance -- he can't help but show his superiority . . . He falls in love -- he's a romantic -- but he's too self-centered: He can't give the last ounce ...

"I feel sorry for him."

Thaw has been bringing this humanity to author Colin Dexter's creation since the first Inspector Morse TV show, broadcast in January 1987.

Thaw and his partner in the entire series, Kevin Whately as Lewis, filmed their final episode last September all about Oxford, England. There are scenes in the city's bus station, railway station, landfill, boat ramp, a college's chapel and its quadrangle, in pubs given fictitious names and in the Randolph Hotel, which portrays itself.

Inspecting Oxford Mystery meets history as a bedraggled walking tour slogs through the rainy streets of Inspector Morse's Oxford. But ancient architecture, modern fiction and the undampened enthusiasm of the tour guide make the soaking worthwhile.

The episode is The Remorseful Day, based on Dexter's 1999 novel. Most fans of Morse will have read the book by now and thus know they have a reason to hesitate viewing the show. (I won't give away the ending here.)

But what those fans do not know is that the producers drained much of the emotional and dramatic impact by failing to follow faithfully the 379-page novel. The poignant ending -- in the book, so well entwined with the revelation explaining Morse's mysterious actions -- is clumsily foreshadowed and ultimately seems an afterthought in the television show.

The problem appears to be that Dexter no longer is the chief scriptwriter. Too bad.

Still, viewers who are not overly familiar with Morse may be swept up in the intricate plot, in which Morse pursues his familiar misjudgments even as more murders occur.

And everyone watching will get an unusual view of the interaction between Morse and Sgt. Lewis, the too literal realization of the word "sidekick."

Lewis understands that when Morse is doing his best work, Lewis can learn from him. They do trade ideas, though Lewis' comments are often derided. But at odd moments, Morse will call Lewis "old friend," and Morse insists that Lewis be his assistant on all cases.

Their relationship is never more central than in The Remorseful Day, which makes TV's rewriting, at Morse's expense, more startling.

Still, the issue is whether this is two hours of your time well-spent. A Dutch TV executive, commenting in the documentary, explains why she bought the Morse series for her viewers:

"The actors, the plots and characters are all multidimensional. After a night watching Morse, you don't have this empty feeling that you often have after watching TV."

That's true, even for The Remorseful Day.

AT A GLANCE

The Remorseful Day, part of the Inspector Morse series on PBS's Mystery!, stars John Thaw and Kevin Whately. Airs on WEDU-Channel 3 at 9 p.m. Thursday with repeat at 11 p.m. Feb. 25.

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