The
lowdown: 'The Dead of Jericho' was the first of 33 telemovies
starring the late John Thaw as Detective Inspector
Morse, of the Thames Valley
Police in Oxford. The series was broadcast on ITV1 between January 1987
and November
2000, and also featured
Kevin Whately as Detective Sergeant Lewis (who has returned in his own
ITV series called,
imaginatively, 'Lewis').
Morse is refined and cultured, likes doing crosswords, listening to classical
music - particularly
Wagner - and driving his
classic Jaguar Mark 2. In fact, he is very much the steotype of somebody
who would not normally
choose the police as a profession,
which merely adds to the Morse character's likeability. Morse insists that
people only
call him 'Morse', and his
first name was only revealed in one of the later episodes, as 'Endeavour'
(his father was a great
admirer of Captain Cook).
Morse died of diabetes-related complications in the final episode, 'The
Remorseful Day'. Sadly,
John Thaw himself died less
than two years after this episode was broadcast.
Patrick Troughton featured
in 'The Dead of Jericho' as George Jackson, an elderly man who does odd
jobs for his neighours
and enjoys watching the
woman across the road, Anne Staveley, with his binoculars. Morse and Staveley
both sing in a local
choir and have become good
friends, although Morse is hoping that they will become more than just
friends. However, Staveley
is found hung in her home,
and although suicide seems the most likely cause of her death, Morse believes
that it could have
been murder. Jackson sees
the opportunity to make some easy money by blackmailing a man who was seeing
Staveley, but
somebody has other plans,
and he is soon found brutally murdered in his own home. Again, Patrick
Troughton is marvellous
as the creepy neighbour
you would not want living next door, in one of his last acting roles (he
died less than three months
after 'The Dead of Jericho'
was first broadcast).
The
verdict: The Inspector Morse series is one of the best British
detective shows of all time, and remains a firm favourite
of the genre's fans. Thaw
and Whately are superb as Morse and Lewis, and the series regularly attracted
the cream of the
British acting profession
as guest stars. The setting of Oxford also provides the viewer with some
beautiful scenery, and
the series regularly featured
the famous university. Sure, the early episodes look somewhat dated now,
but the series is
still enjoyable after all
these years and is highly recommended.
Trivia:
The author of the Morse novels, Colin Dexter, had brief cameos in nearly
every episode of the series.
Quotes:
Jackson:
(to Staveley): ''I'm
telling you, I don't spy on nobody! Spy?
I think it's a bloody insult!'
Jackson:
(trying to blackmail somebody): 'Don't you threaten me,
mush.
I could make
things very black for you. I could, just you remember that.' |
Video
Clips:
Peeping
Tom (3.8mb)
Lewis
interviews Jackson (8.0mb)
Blackmail
(4.6mb)
The
payoff (9.0mb) |
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