Morse, Lewis, Endeavour and Oxford

Book excerpt: This is a comprehensive guide to the Oxford of Morse, Lewis and Endeavour. Nobody else has attempted it and it marks thirty-five years since the first Morse on ITV in 1987. The 2021 series of three Endeavour episodes may well be the last iteration of the Morse franchise. Lips are sealed on that. At the centre piece of this guide is a walk by the doyenne of Oxford Walking Tours, Heidi Boon Rickard. In eight stops in central Oxford, she covers the filming of the three series very well. Use it as your bible. It is essential and full of surprises. Tucked on to that is a short guide to the Jericho - ten minutes' walk from the city centre - of Morse (and Lewis). It is after all the scene of the very first TV Morse, 'The Dead of Jericho' and a district interesting in its own right. I know - I live there. But this is much, much more than a dry tourist guide. It is also an informative guide to Morse's creator Colin Dexter: his writings, his leisure activities, his pub-goings, and their place in the city. There is much exciting and stimulating reading in these ten extra chapters. They range from a revealing interview with Dexter to an analysis of the first Morse novel Last Bus to Woodstock to the reflections of his editor at Macmillan on their partnership to the inspiration he provided for the writer Cara Hunter and her 'New Morse', Inspector Adam Fawley. We also examine the credentials of Morse, the policeman, with the former Chief Constable of his force and a retired 'Morse' - and an Oxford DI. We compare the 'late Morse' with the 'early Endeavour' through the eyes of two academics. We enter the Morse Universe through the eyes of one of the biggest fans of the franchise and look at whether Oxford is missing many tricks in not developing Morse tourism. Imagine Stratford without Shakespeare, Bath without Jane Austen - then that would be Oxford without Endeavour Morse. And for the true believers we set out in two appendices the filmography of the Morse franchise and a fuller location guide to the settings for the three series. By the end, you should be thoroughly immersed in all the facets of 'Morseland'. Enjoy the journey. Start it with Heidi Boon Rickard in St Giles in the city centre just outside those great Oxford landmarks, the Randolph Hotel and the Ashmolean Museum.