Morse, Lewis, Endeavour – a guide celebrating 35 years on Screen

Morse owes its longevity to breaking the mould

After 35 years and three different iterations, the franchise has racked up 750 million global views and shows no sign of stopping, says John Mair

Thirty-five years ago, on 6 January 1987, the Morse franchise debuted on TV with The Dead Of Jericho, set in a then unfashionable area of Oxford. Today, Jericho is hip (I live there) and Morse is still going strong worldwide: it has been extended backwards and sideways, now runs to 100 films and the latest iteration, Endeavour, still gets an audience of 6 million-plus in the UK alone.

John Thaw, a veteran of police procedurals from his time on The Sweeney, brought Colin Dexter’s Thames Valley detective to life. The character was different to how Dexter had first written him, and so too was Sergeant ‘Robbie’ Lewis, playing Robin to the flawed Batman of Oxford.

Dexter loved the newer incarnation so much that he rewrote the later of his 13 novels around Thaw’s Morse. Thirty three episodes later, in 2000, Morse had a heart attack in the quad of his natural working milieu, an Oxford College. He died in the ‘JR’ (John Radcliffe hospital).

The city of Oxford itself is as much the star of the series as the actors on screen. The yellow Cotswold stone and magnificent architecture of the old colleges and the intrigue within them became the meat and veg of the series.

So what was the pitch that producer Kenny McBain and writer Anthony Minghella brought to their meeting with Dexter at an Oxford pub, where they planned to convince him of the project? They had already pre-sold the series and recce’d locations, but their major offer was a two-hour time slot, which was new to British television drama and allowed stories to develop at their own, slow pace.

Second, they promised great direction and writing. Some of the biggest names in British TV – directors like Danny Boyle, Julian Mitchell, John Madden and Jack Gold – have been behind the camera on Morse, with a cast of superb actors including Thaw and Kevin Whately (and later, Sir John Gielgud.)

The original Morse won seven Baftas, two National Television Awards and two Writers Guild awards, plus more in the UK and abroad. The makers – Zenith, Central, Carlton, and now Mammoth Screen – had an international hit on their hands. To date, 200 countries have bought some of the Morse films, with worldwide audiences approaching 750 million.

The franchise was very cleverly extended. When Morse ‘died’ in 2000 in The Remorseful Day, two years before the real-life death of Thaw, they went sideways and built another series of 33 films around the newly promoted Inspector Lewis and his sidekick Hathaway (Laurence Fox). Lewis ran from 2006 to 2015.

The franchise even went backwards in 2012 to the young Detective Constable ‘Endeavour’ Morse. Endeavour, too, has had a life of 33 films and while ITV and Mammoth Screen are being coy, expect a new three-part series later in 2022.

The Morse character is superbly drawn: an older, cynical detective inspector with an interrupted Oxford education, a liking for beer but not paying for it, and for women (always unrequited), crosswords and opera.

The police liked the series too. Clever coppers were rare at the time, especially in a provincial force like Thames Valley, and Peter Neyroud – Winchester and Oxford educated and a former TVP chief constable – recalls the sneers in the CID office about him: “Look what we’ve got, Morse and bloody Lewis.”

Similarly, Dermot Norridge, a former Oxford detective, recalls the cut-outs of Morse placed on the top table of CID dinners and in the office.

Inspector Morse Plaque at the Police Station

Rarely does a fictional television figure break through to public and professional acclaim like that – which is exactly what Inspector Morse and his TV iterations have done.

John Mair and Heidi Boon Rickard of Walking Tours of Oxford teamed up to produce ‘Morse, Lewis, Endeavour and Oxford – a guide to celebrating 35 years on screen. The book, is a great addition to our tours or can be purchased as a stand alone at Walking Tours of Oxford. Free P&P and signed by Heidi. Simply click on the BOOK NOW button.

Endeavour Series 8 Filming – March 2021

All photo’s ©walkingtoursofoxford. Please do not share individually but do share link to post for everyone to see!

In ‘Normal’ times, we would have already been treated to series 8 of Endeavour. We last saw our hero on TV screens in “Zenana” back on 23rd February 2020 and season 8 was confirmed at that time. Then Covid hit and England entered a full national lockdown on 23rd March 2020, exactly one month after that last episode airing on ITV filming, along with our entire way of life stopped.

Endeavour filming season 8 15/3/2021 Exeter College, Oxford. ©walkingtoursofoxford
Shaun Evans

Summer came and went and with that we enjoyed some normality and our Morse / Lewis and Endeavour tours resumed which continued to run through August / September and October before Lockdown 2 in November. It was a busy 3 months with most tours going out full. ‘Staycations’ became popular and as many had rewatched the programmes during those challenging ‘Stay at home’ months, we had visitors from all corners of the United Kingdom. The guides here at “Walking Tours of Oxford” also used those lockdown months to rewatch episodes; entire seasons – a love of all three programmes was reignited and we had time to reconnect and remember all those little moments and connections that run so deep.

As we now look towards a release from lockdown 3, we will be returning with our tours on 17th May (subject to government guidelines). It might be possible to operate some private tours prior to this date.

Tours will be smaller than before and college entry may not be possible but, in some ways, this has given us the freedom to explore the street scenes further and many of the colleges are still seen and talked about, albeit from the outside. We have invested is a state-of-the-art sound system, no other tour company offers this in Oxford, and we believe it enhances the tour experience as it means everyone can hear no matter how busy Oxford gets. Moreover, it allows for complete ‘social distancing’ between your individual group and others on the tour. Each person on our public tours is provided, at the time of the tour and free of charge, with a small headset and earphones. However, we do encourage our guests to bring their own earphones which can be used with the headsets. All equipment has been thoroughly sanitised between each use.

It was uplifting to see that filming had resumed on Mothering Sunday – 14th March 2021. Two guides made it in that day and met Shaun and the crew and were lucky to get some photos which we are sharing below. It was a little surreal to see the crew and cast all masked up in-between takes. Filming continued inside Exeter College, which has a long association with the Morse universe on Monday 15th March. Heidi, owner of Walking Tours of Oxford was able to witness some of the filming that day and a selection is here for you.

Tomorrow is a good day!

Come and join us to see just where all this took place along with other episodes of Endeavour Morse and Lewis. See the locations and hear the stories – all our guides are fully qualified – members of The Institute of Tourist Guiding and the Oxford Guild of Tour Guides.

Quote code NDVR8 at checkout for a 10% discount on our group Morse / Lewis and Endeavour Tours which is available for any tour date throughout 2021 but for bookings taken prior to 17th May. We anticipate that tours will get booked up so don’t delay and book today!

Filming on Merton Street, Oxford 14/3/2021. Endeavour Season 8. ©walkingtoursofoxford Jane Mead
Endeavour season 8 filming 14/3/2021. Merton Street, Oxford. ©walkingtoursofoxford Christine Bainbridge
Endeavour Filming season 8 15/3/2021. Exeter College, Oxford ©walkingtoursofoxford
Endeavour Filming season 8 15/3/2021. Exeter College, Oxford ©walkingtoursofoxford
Shaun Evans ‘getting ready for take’
Shaun Evans – filming in times of Covid. March 14th 2021. ©walkingtoursofoxford Christine Bainbridge