After the success of 'Inspector Morse', which first aired a quarter of a century ago, and the spin off 'Lewis' the only place left to go for this successful franchise was Morse's early years as a young detective constable. The story follows the young Morse as he gets involved in his first cases in Oxford; an investigation into a missing fifteen year old school girl and the apparent suicide of a university student. While dealing with the latter case he finds himself visiting the home of the student's tutor and here he meets the man's wife; a beautiful singer of whom Morse was quite a fan. The girl's body is found in a nearby wood and as the case progresses it is clear that some of the most powerful people in the land are somehow involved as well as more than one local policeman.
Having enjoyed both 'Inspector Morse' and 'Lewis' I was interested to see how this would turn out; as it happened it turned out very well. Shaun Evens did a fine job as Morse, largely because he made no attempt to act like John Thaw's Morse, Roger Allam did well as Morse's boss, DI Thursday and Flora Montgomery brought just the right amount of vulnerability to the role of Rosalind Stromming. This story nicely introduced the characters of Morse and DI Thursday; they could go on to be a great team should a full series be commissioned and on the strength of this I wouldn't be at all surprised if we don't see more of this young Morse. Like all good who-dun-its there were plenty of suspects and although I didn't guess who the killer was once the case was solved one could see that the clues were there.
Having enjoyed both 'Inspector Morse' and 'Lewis' I was interested to see how this would turn out; as it happened it turned out very well. Shaun Evens did a fine job as Morse, largely because he made no attempt to act like John Thaw's Morse, Roger Allam did well as Morse's boss, DI Thursday and Flora Montgomery brought just the right amount of vulnerability to the role of Rosalind Stromming. This story nicely introduced the characters of Morse and DI Thursday; they could go on to be a great team should a full series be commissioned and on the strength of this I wouldn't be at all surprised if we don't see more of this young Morse. Like all good who-dun-its there were plenty of suspects and although I didn't guess who the killer was once the case was solved one could see that the clues were there.