Inspector Morse - Twilight of the Gods

This is the famous episode in which a Welsh opera singer specialising in Wagnerian roles (Sheila Gish) is shot during a procession to the Sheldonian where she was due to receive an honorary degree during Encaenia. In the same procession is a Lithuanian Jew, played in a marvellously overblown way by Robert Hardy, who is about to make a donation to found a new college in his name, to be built in Moghul architectural style. John Gielgud plays the Chancellor, who has the most amazingly patronising and bigoted views, particularly about foreigners, but clearly has a penchant for tradition and the 'Encaenia tea'.

In the early part of the episode Morse shows an uncharacteristic degree of good humour and bonhomie, but as he unravels the benefactor's past life he seems to become more irritable and disillusioned. This could be partly due to the fact that he clearly had great admiration for the Welsh diva and was gutted when her concert had to be cancelled after the shooting.

Lots of good views of the Sheldonian (inside and out), Christ Church and Brasenose (aka Lonsdale College) are on offer, and at the end of the episode the producer clearly could not resist a reference to Gotterdammerung - the scale model of the despised new college is seen in flames, like Valhalla, with the enduring image of the Radcliffe Camera towering above. Medical footnote - unrealistic scene where two units of blood are simultaneously transfused to the opera singer via a Y connection to a single Venflon - unorthodox practice even in a severely shocked patient!

Whilst I am a fan of Morse I do find I can watch him again and again because I always fall asleep before the end. I have seen this one about 4 times and still don't know what happens... Judge for yourself.

Another classic episode from Inspector Morse.

See if you can spot a genuine clue amongst all the cliches. Wagnerian opera with a Welsh diva, aerial shots of Oxford from a helicopter, a full academic procession round the Sheldonian and then a shot rings out. And of course, Morse and Lewis are on the spot.

I think this was one of the last Morse episodes and it has the feel of a swansong with the writer and director deciding on one last binge of Morse trademarks. How did they resist the temptation of Morse and Lewis in the red Jaguar chasing the villains round Oxford, darting through College quads 'Italian Job' style with the suspect plummeting off a bridge into the ISis? Obviously OTT but I bet it was on the ideas shortlist at the script meetings.

This is visual rather than visceral Morse. Easy on the eye and easy on the brain. Gielgud is wasted with a script making him such a bigoted and xenophobic Chancellor that he just couldn't have got the job in the first place unless Oxford really is as corrupt as the script implies. Hardy goes completely over the top (in keeping with the whole episode) as the millionaire Lithuanian Jew and some of the side characters such as the camp hair stylist and the gay voice coach making a pass at Lewis ensure that no cliche is left untouched - although Lewis manages to exit stage left before things reach that stage.

The episode is saved by the dialogue between Morse and Lewis (which introduced more humour as the series developed) and Oxford itself, so often the real star of the show. Thaw could give Hardy acting lessons in being bad tempered without becoming one dimensional and like so many of the later episodes a few plot twists don't turn it into the kind of complex and baffling plot that Dexter was so brilliant at writing. But to compare a really good story with genius is not fair and what this lacks in keeping the little grey cells baffled it makes up for in looking great.

this is a decent edition of Morse - and a rare opportunity to see him in a lighter mood, if only for a while. Only Robert Hardy's traditional ham acting is a let down.