Inspector Morse - The Daughters of Cain

A recently retired fellow of Wolsey College (aka Christ Church) is brought back to organise a fund-raising appeal but is found murdered shortly after speaking at a dinner for benefactors. His scout, the scout's wife and her daughter are all involved in a complex relationship which includes an English teacher, one of her pupils and a South African rugby hearty. The central action takes place on the day of a school visit to Stratford to see a performance of Macbeth, and the allusions perhaps run further to a parallel with three scheming females, although no cauldron is involved on this occasion! Lewis makes an above-average contribution to the deductive logic of this episode, and we learn that he is up for promotion, but financial stringencies look like blocking his chances. The episode is enlived by good views of Christ Church, Radcliffe Square and the interior of the pre-modernised Pitt Rivers museum. However, some of the medical aspects seem rather suspect. The teacher evidently has a pituitary tumour causing visual loss, with the absolutely classical difficulty with reversing the car out of the garage, but also has expressive dysphasia (only being able to utter lines from Macbeth before her unrealistically sudden death) which prevents her giving crucial details to Morse but does not fit with the neurological syndrome.

The immortal John Thaw is brillant in the morse series

A classic episode of inspector morse

What can you say beautifully filmed wonderful story with the usual twists and turns that are so fimiliar in Morse storys. The wonderful chemistry between the main characters of Morse and his sidekick seargentLewis (John Thaw and Kevin Wheatley) Daughters of Cain has you sat on the edge of your seat wondering who commited the murder and why. After watching this episode i personally realise what a great lost the acting world has suffered with the death of such a great actor as John Thaw.

The constant mis-fits of Morse and Lewis are joined by by just as unlikely characters as a school teacher and a 'char' (cleaning lady) both believably acted.

As the title implies 'Cain' in the bible killed his brother but reading the passages in Genesis will not spoil your enjoyment of this episode of 'Morse' as there are, as expected, many unexpected twists. The part of the plot about funding and political correctness is bang up-to-date. I had not seen a 'Morse' for some time and viewing this episode I reasise just how much John Thaw will be missed.