FROM THE ARCHIVES:Millions regretted the end of Inspector Morse but not the man who played him, Brendan Glacken explained in this piece – JOE JOYCE.
INSPECTOR Morsefinally fades out tonight at 8 p.m. on UTV with a two-hour story suitably entitled Twilight of the Gods. It has all the favourite ingredients of a Morse mystery: a couple of murders, an opera singer, an undercurrent of genuine evil, a locale including Oxford University and, of course, Morse himself with his sidekick Lewis. It is also graced, incidentally, by the presence of John Gielgud, playing Oxford University Chancellor Hinksey.
So who will miss the melancholic Morse? Well, to judge by some recent interviews, John Thaw himself, who has played the morose detective right through seven series. Though on record as saying he has become “fond of the old blighter”, Thaw does not pretend he would like to go on playing the part for ever:
“I’m glad it’s coming to an end because it’s getting harder to bring something new to each film.” (Something new, of course, is the last thing most viewers would want or expect in Morse’s character.)
The truth is Thaw is – not too surprisingly – tired of his character, as he made clear when I met him at a press conference to launch the penultimate series in London almost a year ago: “Will I miss Morse? Yeah. There’ll be regrets – for maybe a day. Look: I am a professional actor. I act – that’s my job. But I can’t live my life forever doing Morse. I think a policeman retires at 50 – what, 55? Thank you. And I’m 50 now.”
Inspector Morse has been on the go for just over six years. When the opening film, The Dead of Jericho, was broadcast in January 1987, it was watched by almost 14 million people; the final episode of the sixth series drew 16.8 million viewers.
Little wonder then that Ted Childs, controller of drama at the cash-rich Central Television, describes Morse as "the jewel in our crown". The company had been looking for something along the line of the BBC's Miss Marple,when the late Kenny McBain, then producing Boon, came up with the idea of basing a series on the detective tales of Colin Dexter.
The decision to let each film run to an almost unheard-of two hours (at a cost of about £1.2 million sterling) turned out to be crucial in establishing Morse’s slow-moving and melancholic appeal, but the venture only really took off after the second series of four films.
But from the outset, every care had been taken to make Morse a quality product. First-class writers such as Julian Mitchell, Daniel Boyle and Anthony Minghella were assigned to it. The specially-composed music by Barrington Pheloung became an essential element (trivia experts will already know the theme music spells out Morse’s name in Morse code). The filming and location choices were painstaking. The characterisation was superb, the plotting intricate and satisfying, and the acting a joy.
And now it is all coming to an end. For millions of viewers, there will be sadness and regret. But no re-Morse.
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