Home / Series / Inspector Morse / Aired Order /

All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 The Dead of Jericho

    • January 6, 1987
    • ITV1

    Morse is passed over for promotion and gets a new working partner in the shape of Lewis, who is not sure what to make of his new boss. Their first case together is a murder, when Anne Staveley, who was Morse's friend in a choral society, is found hanged in her house in the Jericho area of Oxford. The death looks like suicide, but Morse has his own reasons for treating the case as a murder investigation. A parking ticket and Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, come to his assistance.

  • S01E02 The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn

    • January 13, 1987
    • ITV1

    Someone at Oxford's Foreign Examination Syndicate is selling exam secrets. Nicholas Quinn, a member of the board, overhears something he shouldn't know about and is soon found dead at his cottage, poisoned with cyanide - but Nicholas was deaf. Then crossword compiler Philip Ogleby has his skull smashed in. During his investigations, Morse is attracted to Monica Height. She works for the Syndicate and may be mixed up in the corruption which led to Quinn's murder, and perhaps to Ogleby's as well.

  • S01E03 Service of All the Dead

    • January 20, 1987
    • ITV1

    Morse investigates murder on hallowed ground. A quiet country church is an unlikely setting for the killing, and a Vicar and his voluntary helpers are the unlikely suspects. Among them is Ruth Rawlinson, whom Morse is attracted to. Then it appears that a serial killer is at work.

Season 2

  • S02E01 The Wolvercote Tongue

    • December 25, 1987
    • ITV1

    Laura Poindexter, a rich American tourist, dies in the Randolph Hotel, Oxford, apparently from a heart attack, but Morse suspects foul play. Laura was due to return a historic jewel to an Oxford museum, and it has gone missing. Then Dr Kemp, who is a womanizing historian, dies of a fall, Lucy Downes is crushed to death in a telephone box, and Dr Kemp's widow appears to take a fatal overdose of Paracetomol.Morse believes the deaths are all linked.

  • S02E02 Last Seen Wearing

    • March 8, 1988
    • ITV1

    The schoolgirl daughter of rich parents has been missing for six months. Morse believes she has been killed, and his investigations show curious goings on at the missing girl's school. But before Morse can unravel the mystery, he finds another.

  • S02E03 The Settling of the Sun

    • March 15, 1988
    • ITV1

    Oxford is shocked when a a Japanese student dies in what seems to be a brutal ritual killing. Then Morse finds he has unwittingly given all his suspects a watertight alibi.

  • S02E04 Last Bus to Woodstock

    • March 22, 1988
    • ITV1

    A young secretary is found dead in a pub car park. Morse suspects murder and uncovers a complex web of relationships - passion and corruption, lies and unhappiness.

Season 3

  • S03E01 The Ghost in the Machine

    • January 4, 1989
    • ITV1

    Morse investigates the reported theft of erotic paintings belonging to Sir Julius Hanbury, a local baronet who is one of those standing for election as the new Master of Courtney College, Oxford. As well as the pictures, Sir Julius himself has also disappeared. Morse finds Sir Julius's dead body, and at first it looks like murder, but the new police pathologist, Dr Grayling Russell, believes he killed himself. Then there is another death which is undoubtedly a murder - but how is it connected with the late Sir Julius Hanbury?

  • S03E02 The Last Enemy

    • January 11, 1989
    • ITV1

    A body is found in the canal and the only clue to its identity points to a connection with one of the university's colleges. It happens that intense rivalry for one of the most prestigious posts in the university has led to murder. But which one of the highly respected contenders is the calculating killer?

  • S03E03 Deceived by Flight

    • January 18, 1989
    • ITV1

    Morse investigates when the annual match of the Claret's old boys' cricket eleven is brought to an abrupt end by the sudden death of a team member - and it seems that cricket was the last thing on their minds.

  • S03E04 The Secret of Bay 5B

    • January 25, 1989
    • ITV1

    Playboy architect Michael Gifford is found strangled in his car, and the only clues are a car-park ticket and his diary. Morse and Lewis uncover a love triangle involving the murdered man, and the list of suspects grows. Meanwhile, Morse considers asking Grayling Russell for a date.

Season 4

  • S04E01 The Infernal Serpent

    • January 3, 1990
    • ITV1

    Morse investigates a tangled web of university intrigue which surrounds the baffling murder of Dr Julian Dear, a college don and famous environmentalist who was killed just minutes before he was due to give a controversial lecture. It seems that the most respectable of academic families can have skeletons in the cupboard, and Morse has to put his job on the line to get at the truth.

  • S04E02 The Sins of the Fathers

    • January 10, 1990
    • ITV1

    Morse investigates the murder of Trevor Radford, managing director of the family-owned Radford's Brewery, who was attacked and killed while working late. Morse becomes immersed in the implications of a hostile take-over bid by another company. Then Helen Radford goes to the brewery to look for her missing husband Stephen and finds him also murdered.

  • S04E03 Driven to Distraction

    • January 17, 1990
    • ITV1

    The apparently motiveless murder of two young women points to a psychotic killer. Morse's speculations on what they might have in common leads him to a local garage owner, Jeremy Boynton, who knew them both, and who arouses his suspicions and dislike. Convinced that Boynton holds the key to the crime, Morse begins to hound him, despite having no firm evidence. Morse is also faced with the possible oss of his beloved red Mk II Jaguar.

  • S04E04 Masonic Mysteries

    • January 24, 1990
    • ITV1

    Morse finds himself at the top of the suspect list when his lady friend, Beryl Newsome, is stabbed at a dress rehearsal for the local amateur dramatic society's production of The Magic Flute. Then Lewis starts uncovering more incriminating evidence, and Morse becomes the target of direct attacks. Who is it that wants to get at Morse so badly?

Season 5

  • S05E01 Second Time Around

    • February 20, 1991
    • ITV1

    The mysterious death of a former deputy police commissioner brings Morse into reluctant contact with an old rival, Ch Insp Dawson. Morse and Lewis, in uneasy tandem with Dawson, spot a link with the unsolved murder of a young girl 18 years earlier. To find the latest killer they have to unravel the first case again.

  • S05E02 Fat Chance

    • February 27, 1991
    • ITV1

    Morse finds himself attracted to a female cleric when he is called upon to investigate the suspicious death of a woman deacon. St Saviour's College is about to appoint Oxford's first ever female chaplain, and emotions are running high among the more conservative clerics, but Morse & Lewis find it hard to believe such feelings could lead to murder.

  • S05E03 Who Killed Harry Field?

    • March 13, 1991
    • ITV1

    An artist, fun-loving drinker and raconteur, Harry Field seems like a man after Morse's own heart. But when Morse and Lewis investigate his mysterious death, they discover that he was not such a lovable rogue.

  • S05E04 Greeks Bearing Gifts

    • March 20, 1991
    • ITV1

    When the chef at Lewis's favorite Greek restaurant is found murdered, and a baby goes missing, Oxford's close-knit Greek community closes ranks. Matters aren't helped when Morse has a bad-tempered exchange with the shipping millionaire who owns the restaurant.

  • S05E05 Promised Land

    • March 27, 1991
    • ITV1

    The search for a retired 'supergrass' takes Morse and Lewis from Oxford to the Australian outback. Strangely, Lewis is less at home down under than Morse himself is.

Season 6

  • S06E01 Dead on Time

    • February 26, 1992
    • ITV1

    Morse investigates the apparent suicide of a terminally ill Oxford don and finds he has a personal connection with the family. As the case develops, Lewis worries that Morse's professionalism is being undermined.

  • S06E02 Happy Families

    • March 11, 1992
    • ITV1

    Business tycoon Sir John Balcombe is found murdered at his country house, Balcombe Castle, with no signs of a break-in. As a result, the dead man's wife and sons come under suspicion. Morse finds that the family is strangely untroubled, and several of his prime suspects have flawed characters and dark secrets - and then the Balcombe family suffers another killing. Meanwhile, Morse has to cope with journalists who try to turn his own personality into a story - and he also suffers from an unhelpful Chief Superintendant, covering for the station's usual boss, who puts pressure on him to crack the case in a hurry. In the end, though, Morse is vindicated and his various tormentors get their comeuppance.

  • S06E03 The Death of the Self

    • March 25, 1992
    • ITV1

    The strange death of an Englishwoman abroad takes Morse and Lewis to the city of Verona in northern Italy. Morse takes delight in open-air opera in the Roman amphitheatre and falls under the spell of Nicole Burgess, a glamorous opera singer. But Lewis is home-sick.

  • S06E04 Absolute Conviction

    • April 8, 1992
    • ITV1

    Morse and Lewis investigate the affairs of three people in prison for fraud, when one of them is murdered, and they are surprised by what they find at HMP Farnleigh, an open prison. Then someone tries to kill one of the two surviving fraudsters.

  • S06E05 Cherubim and Seraphim

    • April 15, 1992
    • ITV1

    Morse's step-niece commits suicide, and he takes compassionate leave. He starts to research her past to find the reason for it, and this confronts him with the generation gap. His investigation into the young girl's death leads him into an alien world of teenage hedonism: house parties, raves and designer drugs.

Season 7

  • S07E01 Deadly Slumber

    • January 6, 1993
    • ITV1

    The owner of a private hospital is found murdered in his car, after a series of anonymous threatening letters. Suspicion falls on a retired book-maker whose daughter suffered severe brain damage as a result of negligence during an operation some years before. Morse spends a lot of effort in investigating the possibility that the dead man was criminally negligent, and concludes that he was. While he does his best to bring the killer to justice, Morse does not seem very troubled that at the end of the day he is unable to nail him.

  • S07E02 The Day of the Devil

    • January 13, 1993
    • ITV1

    Morse and Lewis hunt a violent rapist who has escaped from prison. They find themselves drawn into an under-world of satanists, and some of them seem more respectable than others.

  • S07E03 Twilight of the Gods

    • January 20, 1993
    • ITV1

    A nasty but very rich business man and a world-famous opera singer are in Oxford to receive honorary degrees from the Chancellor of the University. However, the ceremony has to be abandoned when a sniper opens fire on the procession of dignitaries. The singer is seriously wounded, but was she the intended target?

  • Episodic Special

    SPECIAL 0x1 The Way Through the Woods

    • November 29, 1995

    A man suspected of being a multiple murderer is killed in prison while on remand awaiting trial, leaving the disappearance of a fifth woman unsolved. In the missing woman's effects was a postcard of a pre-Raphaelite painting, the background of which was painted in some woods near Oxford. Morse is assigned to a new murder investigation when what appears to be her body is found in the woods.

  • Episodic Special

    SPECIAL 0x2 The Daughters of Cain

    • November 27, 1996

    Murder strikes at the heart of the University when Dr Felix McClure, a retired college don, is found stabbed to death.Morse and Lewis suspect Ted Brooks, McClure's old 'scout' (or college servant), who left his job abruptly after one of McClure's pupils committed suicide. Morse discovers that McClure, the suicidal undergraduate, and his room-mate, Ashley Davies, were all in love with the same woman - who was Brooks's daughter. Morse and Lewis add to their list of suspects when they question the unusually close relationship between Ted Brooks's wife Brenda and the woman she cleans house for, a schoolteacher called Julia Stevens. Julia seems to be protecting Brenda from her husband's abusive behavior - but when Ted is found dead, it seems she may be hiding another kind of secret.

  • Episodic Special

    SPECIAL 0x3 Death Is Now My Neighbour

    • November 19, 1997

    A young woman is shot dead through her kitchen window one morning, and an anonymous valentine seems to be a clue to the killer's identity. Morse interviews the neighbours, including Geoffrey Owens, an aggressive journalist, and Adele Cecil, a music teacher - he is very taken with Adele and hopes she has nothing to do with the killing. Then, at the same time of day the next morning, Geoffrey Owens is also shot and killed, and Morse and Lewis deduce that the two murders are connected to a bitterly fought contest taking place at Lonsdale College, Oxford. The current Master of Lonsdale, the malicious Sir Clixby Bream, is retiring, and two of his dons, Denis Cornford and Julian Storrs, are vying for the Master's job, with their wives active behind the scenes.

  • Episodic Special

    SPECIAL 0x4 The Wench Is Dead

    • November 11, 1998

    Morse collapses during a conference on Victorian crime and is admitted to hospital. To pass his time in bed, he reads a book about the famous Oxford Canal Murder of 1859. A young woman was found dead in the canal, and the local police believed she was the victim of four rough boatmen who were carrying her by barge to London. A murder trial resulted in two of the men being convicted and hanged. Morse becomes convinced there was a miscarriage of justice and he enlists the help of a young police recruit, as Lewis is away on a training course. They trace the physical evidence from the crime, which is still stored in a local archive, and subject it to modern forensic tests. The results lead Morse to unearth an insurance fraud which was the motive for the framing of the boatmen - a fraud which is confirmed by a visit to a neglected grave in Ireland.

  • Episodic Special

    SPECIAL 0x5 The Remorseful Day

    • November 15, 2000

    After a year of baffled failure, the Thames Valley Police Force's investigation into the murder of Yvonne Harrison in a quiet Cotswold village is sparked into life with the promise of new evidence. Morse, who has been off sick, is under doctor's orders to cut back on his drinking or face the consequences, but what exactly is the state of his health when he returns to active service? And how will he react to Lewis heading the murder investigation?

  • Cast Interviews

    SPECIAL 0x8 Inspector Morse Rest in Peace

    • November 20, 2000

    This 96 minute exclusive to video tribute features the very best Morse clips and shows an array of guest statrs including Elizabeth Hurley, Richard Briers, Simon Callow, Sir John Gielgud and many more. Presented by James Grout, best known as Chief Superintendent Strange, who gives his own characteristic views on Morse.

  • Behind the Scenes/ Makings Of

    SPECIAL 0x9 The Last Morse

    • November 15, 2000

    A review, as well as a celebration, of the television series Inspector Morse (1987) as it concluded its 64-episode, 13-year run.

Additional Specials

  • Behind the Scenes/ Makings Of

    SPECIAL 0x7 The Mystery of Morse

    • January 6, 1993
    • ITV1

    Documentary on the making of the Inspector Morse series.