Inspector Morse

[quote]If Morse and Olivia Benson were ever in the same room, the universe would fold in on itself under the weight of their asserted sexual magnetism.

Marry me, OP

Got money?

Thaw probably rolled out of his mother's birth canal looking middle age. He also died fairly young though he looked ancient.

John Thaw, aged 20, in Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962). One of those men who aged into their looks.

John Thaw's daughter has a recurring role as the reporter on "Endeavour."

I always found John Thaw incredibly sexy as Morse. IIRC the women who fell for Morse were always of a certain age. It's not like young chicks were ever chasing after him.

Leo McKern's daughter also appeared on Rumpole.

Most of the women are of a certain age, but not all.

Morse is often shown to have a weak stomach for blood.

Was this ever shown on Endeavour?

Love Morse. Zero interest in Endeavour. A bit like the Inspector Montablano prequel series.

I enjoyed both Endeavour and Young Montalbano.

Skinny Shaun becoming Morse? Hard sell, even though one "Endeavour" showed him looking into his rear-view mirror and seeing Thaw as his reflection.

Knowing that Morse never marries kind of cast a pall for viewers over any potential romance for Endeavour.

Of both shows, I prefer Thursday and Lewis.

I'd just like to mention that about a 1/2 dozen of the original books by Colin Dexter are absolutely brilliant and a joy to read and re-read. The plots become quite convoluted but there's always a wry sense of humor. Dexter, of course, couldn't have been more thrilled with Thaw's casting.

When we visited Oxford for the first time almost 25 years ago my husband and I took a guided bus tour of the Morse locations on a rainy day that was great fun. Of course, much of it was simply a tour of Oxford, but neverhtless, we really enjoyed it.

It's been 30 years since 8 read the Morse books. May be time to pick them up again.

My favorite Morse books, in no particular order are:

Last Seen Wearing

Dead of Jericho

The Secret of Annexe (sic) 3

The Riddle of the Third Mile

The Way Through the Woods

The Jewel That Was Ours

Last Bus to Woodstock (which I believe was the very first, written in 1975)

Lewis got a bit cheesy/Midsomer Murders-ish - the episode with Juliet Stevenson leaps to mind.

Morse and Endeavour are a bit more psychological, although I love the Lewis character. Poor old Kevin Whately is saddled with the stink of a radicalised Lawrence Fox.

It's inconceivable that the Shaun Evans character could ever become the John Thaw character, but I enjoyed both series, although the latter is always one of my favorites. The creepy, doomy atmosphere of Oxford in the 80s is the real star of the original series, despite how fine Thaw and his supporting players are.

"Service of All the Dead" and "Last Bus to Woodstock" are my two favorite episodes (and are based on the best two books in the series), although I also think very highly of "The Wolvercote Tongue" (with the poor professional tour guide for whom you feel so sorry), 'Last Seen Wearing," and "The Dead of Jericho." I enjoyed almost every episode in that series, although some of the weirder hairstyles in the 80s become very distracting.

I've seen every episode of "Inspector Lewis," too, and I just don't think those are as good as "Inspector Morse"--Lewis is just not as interesting a central character (he was brought in to make Morse seem a bit less piquant, but he's too bland to carry the series himself). "Endeavour" was better, until the last few seasons where it got too over-the-top.

Has anyone seen the 1970s cop show "The Sweeney," starring Thaw and Dennis Waterman? I watched it on Britbox a couple of years ago. Even then, Thaw looked about the same. And again he played a rough, gruff guy who was somehow catnip to the ladies. Unfathomable to me.

John Thaw had a certain appeal to women who didn’t like ‘em pretty.

He holds little appeal for gays.

Morse appealed to ladies who likes cerebral, cultivated and sensitive men in a profession of "protector". Plus a lot of ladies who liked him maybe liked the challenge.

R19 and r20, Only in the world of fiction. Just like our sit-coms with fat husband/pretty wife.

I was shocked to learn of how Laurence Fox has become a Right-Winger.

R20 in the books Morse has a magnetism some women, especially distressed ones, respond to. Many references to his piercing blue eyes and charm in spite of the slight beer belly.

It's worth noting that women he's dating often tire of him, dump him or prefer someone else (Service Of All The Dead, The Dead of Jericho, Last Bus, Dead On Time etc). I think in the last episode he leaves part of his estate to Adele Cecil. I like how they held her over as his girlfriend from the previous episode. Of course, it didn't last and she emigrated. I don't remember any relationship where Morse himself ended it.

He did get more sex in the books though

R22, The books be as they may, John Thaw? Can't see the charm in the actor's curmudgeonly, irascible approach to the character.

Yep, John Thaw.

John Thaw was voted “the most handsome man on television” as per my parents’ VHS tapes when Morse first came out! His intelligent performance of a detective was quite unlike anything else seen in police procedurals up until that point in the 1980s.

So yeah, for a certain demographic of over-45s women, he had appeal.

Similarly, Robbie Coltrane was a Thinking Woman’s sex symbol in the 1990s when Cracker was first released.

Loved "Inspector Morse" to bits but only tried to read one of Dexter's novels, Dead of Jericho, and couldn't get into it. I was a teen so it's definitely time to try again, I didn't have the patience back then that I do now.

Love that Americans are discovering The Sweeney! I'm assuming R18 is American.

That show was HUGE back in the day. Today it might seem antiquated but gives a good insight into sexism but also how gritty/tatty London was in the 1970s.

The Sweeney was the antecedent upon which the acclaimed 2006 UK TV show "Life on Mars" was primarily based. That was immediately obvious to any Brit watching the show but I'm pretty sure Americans were unaware of it.

The Morse of the books is funnier (although still quite gloomy) and seedier than the TV version.

In Daughters of Cain he falls in love with a teenage prostitute - they changed that character & the scenario significantly for the TV episode, unsurprisingly.

I love the books - definitely worth a read.

I second R28 the books are worth a go. Didn't so much like Service Of All The Dead and The Secret Of Annexe 3 as the plots are ridiculous and too convoluted. The rest are well worth your time, and Morse of definitely a bit different in book form. It's interesting how Dexter's novels are influenced by Thaw's performance after the show debuted.

Fun fact: Annexe is the only novel of the 13 not adapted for the show, as it wouldn't work on screen.

R28 again, thanks for reminding me Morse and the girl fell in love! I'd seen the episode before reading the book and thought that made no sense. In the episode doesn't he have a vague kinship with the dying teacher?

Yes, I am American, R26! I've been hearing about The Sweeney for years and finally went for it. I had watched all of "New Tricks" and was looking for something else with Dennis Waterman.

I did hear that "Life on Mars" was somehow related.

What's the least good Morse episodes?

What a strange question, r31. Why would you ask?

I've seen the late (1992) Morse series entry titled, Cherubim and Seraphim twice but so long ago that much of it is only a vague memory nevertheless it may interest some here to know that it's cast featured a supporting roll by Sorcha Cusack, now well-known for her turn on the ongoing Father Brown series.

The episode also included the very sexy & younger version of Jason Isaac. And Anna Chancellor turned up there too several years before she permanently stayed in my memory via her role on MI5, aka Spooks.

DL oldies here (and I probably mean those over 70, like me!) may remember the upthread-mentioned Dennis Waterman from the 1960s short-lived American sit-com FAIR EXCHANGE. The premise of the series was 2 families, one in NY and one in London, whose teenaged daughters do a high school gap year swap with each others' families.

Dennis played the younger brother of pre-LAUGH-IN Judy Carne, though his scenes were all with the American girl played by Lynn Loring. I can't remember the names of the rest of the cast but the NY parents were played by the great Eddie Foy, Jr. and Audrey Christie (who played Natalie Wood's mother in SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS a few years earlier).

It was a charming show and really felt, at least to little gayling me, like the London scenes were authentically shot in the UK. I don't know why I remember Dennis Waterman from this series so many years ago and I never followed his subsequent career. He was a cute nerdy kid back then. I should look for it on youtube, it's probably there.

New Endeavour series starts on Sunday 26th Feb on ITV in the UK. Its the final ever series. It will be interesting to see how they anchor this to the old Morse. The chances of a scene with Shaun Evans butt naked are pretty slim which is a shame as I would kill to see if he is hung like a bull as speculated.

I enjoy Endeavor, even when it started circling the drain in its last third and got stupider and stupider but casting Shaun Evans as "young John Thaw" was quite ridiculous. I know, he's young MORSE but it would have made more sense to find a burly young actor rather than a skinny twink like Shaun Evans...who I like but, he's all wrong for the role.

Really, someone like a Pedro Pascal type would have been good....unconventionally attractive and masculine and sturdy.

Sure, r20, just like women fell all over themselves for Poirot.

Thaw's Morse is too jowly, too balding, too old-looking to be any kind of sex symbol!

You’re not correct, R37. Thaw was never a “sex symbol”, but back in the day quite a few of my female relatives found him attractive. He was referred to as “the thinking woman’s crumpet”.

Poirot was too cartoonish to be attractive to anyone - although Dvid Suchet in his youth was quite striking.

^That odd looking link shows a young David Suchet, in case anyone’s interested.

I'm reading "Death is Now My Neighbour" but not getting into it I'm afraid. I recall the video featuring Richard Briers from Good Life/Good Neighbours playing a creepy villain, in contrast to being Felicity Kendall's nice guy husband.

I had a crush on Lewis when I first saw the series years ago. As I understand it, from the books Morse is supposed to be the younger of the pair!

OP, thank you for sharing what most of us already knew.

So glad you are catching up.

R40 Yes, Morse is younger than Lewis - even though he keeps saying things like “When you get to my age, Lewis….”.

The books might be an acquired taste. Maybe start with the first one and get a feel for the book Morse rather than the TV one - they are similar but have significant differences.

Last Bus to Woodstock was the first, iirc.

God, I’d totally forgotten that Robbie Coltrane died last year. I finally managed to rent the Cracker dvds in the early 00s after hearing about it for years and was blown away, it was every bit as good as people said.

The last Endeavour series will be sad. I’m afraid they will ruin it trying to link the two series. Jim Strange and Dr deBryn carry over, no problem, Chief Super Bright will retire, but Thursday is the key. He can retire too but how will they explain that he was never mentioned in the Morse series?

Endeavour “ends” in 1971 according to IMDb (I thought it was much later than that) and Morse started in 1987, a 16 year gap. Maybe it will be okay. I hope they do a flash forward with the original characters, like they did in the premiere with the rear view mirror. Brief, effective, touching.

[quote]I'm reading "Death is Now My Neighbour"

Sounds like a sequel to "Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?"

My favorite thing...when people insist that someone ISN'T attractive/desirable because of their own personal taste because of course they speak for EVERYONE and their taste is impeccable.

No, bitch. It's not.

R45, Same goes for the insistence that someone IS a "sex symbol."

Tom Courtenay was great in that film, R4. I really like it. Courtenay's had such an interesting variety of roles through all these decades. He really stood out for me in "Doctor Zhivago," too.