Before I continue, in case you didn’t know, I have written a book on the Endeavour series. It has a colour (color) version, a B&W version and lastly a kindle version.

The book is only available from Amazon and can be purchased on Amazon.com. Click HERE to visit the Amazon page.

I hope this post finds you all well, mentally as well as physically.

Before the post begins please take time to read the following.

Please consider helping with the running of my website by making a donation via Paypal.

Donors without PayPal accounts can still donate using a credit or debit card.


>Also consider becoming a Patron through Patreon from as little as £5 per month. With Patreon you set up how much you wish to pay monthly. There are three tiers, $5, $10 and $15. It’s like paying for a magazine subscription.

Here is my Patreon account where you can read more about it, https://www.patreon.com/morseandlewisandendeavour

Thank you.

——————————————————

————————————

Hello everyone and welcome to a new post. As many of you will know I have written a book on the Lewis series. That book was published some three and a half years ago. I had thought about writing a second edition but decided that would put myself under a lot of pressure as did with the Endeavour book where I was spending thirteen hours a day working on it. I decided that writing updated reviews of the Lewis series would mean less pressure. If you want a physical copy of the book it is still available on Amazon.

Another two reasons for deciding to write website posts for the Lewis series rather a second edition were, (1) On the website I can include photos, screenshots, maps and much more. Adding a lot of maps, photos etc to a second edition Lewis book would make the book not only overly large but also prohibitively expensive. This takes me to the second reason. (2) My book could be financially out of people’s budgets and couple that with many people not wishing to buy from Amazon it all made sense to create Lewis reviews on my website. This post is more than a simple transfer of information from the book. I have included new sections and new information. Enjoy.

—————————————————-

Pilot Episode also known as ‘Reputation’.

From the website TVTropes it mentions that; “”Retribution” is an unofficial title which appears in the actual scripts”of the Lewis pilot episode.

(Chronologically, episode one.)

Synopsis.

DI Lewis returns to Oxford after two years’ absence and is reluctantly assigned by his new boss, DCS Innocent, to the murder of an Oxford mathematics student who is shot while participating in a sleep study. The key-code used to access the sleep lab is assigned to a fellow maths student, Daniel Griffon, but Daniel’s maths tutor has provided him with an alibi. Daniel is a maladjusted young man who will soon inherit his father’s automotive empire. He is disruptive and has no respect for his uncle who now heads the company. The future of the company rests however on an impending deal with Japanese investors who insist that family unity is all important at this time. When two other murders occur, Lewis must decipher a cryptic clue left in an old case file by his former boss, Chief Inspector Morse.

————————————-

Background Story.

The Lewis series ran for ten years, from 2006 to 2015. It has nine series and like the original Morse series it finished on 33 episodes.

DI Lewis returns from the British Virgin Islands where he had been on secondment. The last Morse episode, The Remorseful Day, was broadcast in 2000. Of course, Morse died in that episode. Lewis started it’s series in 2006 though it was filmed in 2005. So, we should use 2005 as a start point for this series as Lewis in the episode asks Laura if she knew about Morse looking into a juvenile case five years previously.  Val, Lewis’s wife, died three years before Lewis’s secondment so that places her death in 2002. Val was killed in London in a hit and run.

We have to assume that Lewis couldn’t cope with Val’s death and after one year and he was sent on secondment.

We learn that his daughter has moved to Newcastle, following her boyfriend, Tim and that his son has moved to Australia ‘to find himself’.

Rebecca Front’s character Ch. Supt. Innocent took over at Oxford Police Station in the year 2000. She says she arrived just before John Griffon’s death and that was five years previously. So we have to assume that Strange retired not long after Morse died.

We also learn in this episode that James Hathaway attended Cambridge University reading Theology. He had been training to be a priest before being ‘kicked out’ of the seminary where he had been for less than a year.

Hathaway is a keen rower and was accomplished in his field. He rowed for the Cambridge team in the Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race. He was known as ‘Attaway Hathaway.’

————————————————

The timings in relation to things like the sections on the identification of the locations are based on the British DVDs. When I give a time, for example ‘2m’ this signifies that the information I have written about will be between two minutes and two minutes and 59 secs.

————————————————

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Where’s Colin?

• 18m Colin is the porter who shows Lewis and Hathaway where Danny Griffin’s room is. The location is Wadham College.

Directed By:

Bill Anderson: Also directed The Dead of Winter (2010), – Counter Culture Blues (2009)- Allegory of Love (2009)- Music to Die For (2008)

Written By:

Russell Lewis (story) Also Fearful Symmetry (2012) … (screenplay) – Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things (2011) … (screenplay) – Falling Darkness (2010) … (screenplay) – The Dead of Winter (2010) … (screenplay). Created and wrote all episodes of the Endeavour series. He also wrote the Morse episode The Way Through the Woods (1995).

Stephen Churchett (screenplay) Also wrote the Lewis episodes, Intelligent Design (2013) Allegory of Love (2009), Dark Matter, (co-wrote) The Gift of Promise, Wild Justice. Also played Richard Seager in Intelligent Design (2013).

First broadcast in the UK: 29 January 2006

Viewer Ratings. (in millions): 11.31m

——————————————-

SYNOPSIS

DI Lewis returns to Oxford after two years’ absence and is reluctantly assigned by his new boss, DCS Innocent, to the murder of an Oxford mathematics student who is shot while participating in a sleep study. The key-code used to access the sleep lab is assigned to a fellow maths student, Daniel Griffon, but Daniel’s maths tutor has provided him with an alibi. Daniel is a maladjusted young man who will soon inherit his father’s automotive empire. He is disruptive and has no respect for his uncle who now heads the company. The future of the company rests however on an impending deal with Japanese investors who insist that family unity is all important currently. When two other murders occur, Lewis must decipher a cryptic clue left in an old case file by his former boss, Chief Inspector Morse.

REVIEW.
(warning, this review will contain spoilers)

Jags out of ten:

 

———————-

MUSIC.

(The music I mention is based on the British DVDs. Because of copyright there may be different music on those DVDs sold outside the UK.)

Muse ‘Hysteria’ from the Absolution album. Music being played in Danny Griffin’s rooms as he works on a whiteboard:

The Lewis theme starts after the Muse track stops.

At around 19 minutes when Lewis and Hathaway go to interview Danny for the first time, he is listening to Art Brut song Formed A Band.

Concerto in E-flat Major for Trumpet and Orchestra: II. Andante: Hummel. (reprised at 1 hour and 8 minutes when Jessica walks alongside the river.)

—————————————-

LITERARY REFERENCES.

58m. Hathaway says, “something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” A reference to Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.

1h15m. Dr Jekyll says to Lewis, “To thine own self be true.” says Polonius in Hamlet. A quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The whole storyline reeks of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

“Time waits for no man.” First appeared about 1395 in Chaucer’s Prologue to the Clerk’s Tale.

ART

Nothing worth mentioning.

LOCATIONS. 

(For locations of colleges and pubs see the appropriate sections below).

Start of episode Radcliffe Camera then Wadham College, Parks Rd, Oxford, OX1 3PN.

The arrow points to what is shown as Danny’s room.

2m – Regan Peverill is seen cycling down the High Street close to All Souls College.

2m – Regan is seen cycling over Magdalen Bridge.

2m – Danny Griffin is seen driving his sports car down St Giles the A4144.

3m – Regan gets off her bike and enters the Pretorious Laing Institute (The Sleep Clinic) which is Brunel Univeristy Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH.

4m – Danny is driving his sports car toward the Griffin’s home, Gaddesden Place, Great Gaddesden, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP2 6EX.

9m – Lewis arrives back in the UK after a two-year stint abroad. He arrives at Heathrow Airport.

10m – Hathaway and Lewis are seen driving down St Giles toward the Martyr’s Memorial.

Map of route Lewis and Hathaway take.

1st scene.

10m – Lewis looks up at the Radcliffe Camera while being driven by Hathaway. 2nd scene.

3rd scene. The gates of All Souls College.

10m – The first thing Lewis does when he arrives back in Oxford is visit the grave of his wife Val. This is St Laurence Church, Church Rd, Cowley, Middlesex UB8.

11m – St Giles opposite St John’s College is where DI Knox is being Breathalysed.

12m – Lewis and Hathaway arrive at the Pretorius Institute. Brunel University Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH.

16m – Police HQ is Ealing Services for Children with Additional Needs’ and is called Carmelita House, 21-22 The Mall, London W5 2PJ.

22m. Ivor Denniston tutorial room.

The room in which Denniston holds a tutorial is at the back of Wadham College. From my time staying at Wadham I recognise it as above the cloisters looking on to the Cloisters garden.

————————————————–

25m. Hathaway and Lewis going to Regan’s room.

This is part of the newer student accommodation at Wadham College. The tall  building in the far background is part of New College.

40m – Hathaway is trying to solve the anagram left by Morse. Hathaway and Lewis are parked in Catte Street. They walk down toward New College Lane and stop below Hertford Bridge, popularly known as the Bridge of Sighs. It’s a skyway joining two parts of Hertford College over New College Lane.

42m – Dr Jekyll bumps into Lewis in a supermarket. It was apparently filmed in a Sainsburys Supermarket in Watford.

48m – Lewis’s flat. Ambleside Walk, Uxbridge UB8 1XE

51m – Rowing club. College boat houses, Corpus Christi and St John’s College.

59m – Denniston’s house; I believe it’s Woodville Gardens in Ealing.

1h1m – Lewis parks in Oriel Square and then attends Jessica’s attempt to get the Endeavour scholarship.

1h3m – Jessica and Lewis walk and talk at and around Radcliffe Square.

1h6m – Lewis and Hathaway cross Broad Street.

They stop outside Trinity College, Broad Street.

1h8m – Jessica walking along the river opposite Abingdon Road.

1h9m – Car is broken into at Slough Railway Station car park.

1h13m – Lewis standing on Magdalen Bridge.

1h13m – Dr Jekyll and Lewis walking through the Botanic Gardens.

PUB LOCATIONS.

End of episode: The Trout Inn.

OXFORD COLLEGES USED AS LOCATIONS.

At 18 seconds we get an establishing shot of Wadham College where Danny Griffin is studying.

18 Minutes.

Lewis and Hathaway enter Wadham College directed to Danny Griffin’s room by a porter played by Colin Dexter.

We can only assume that Danny’s room is in Wadham College.

22 minutes and 25 seconds.

Lewis enters a college looking for Ivor Denniston.

The arrow in the photo below points to where Lewis enters what would be Wadham College cloisters.

37 minutes and 30 seconds.

Danny is entering Wadham College from Parks Road.

38 minutes and 30 seconds.

Lewis and Hathaway are talking to Hal Bose.

This is Wadham College Cloisters that are behind the main quadrangle.

53 minutes.

Lewis is walking and talking with Hal Bose.

This is the back quad of Wadham College.

Wadham College and It’s place in the Morse Universe.

——————————————

Fictional Colleges.

I don’t believe a fictional name of Wadham College is mentioned.

Actors who appeared in Lewis Pilot Episode and/or Endeavour or Lewis.

Sophie Winkleman as Regan Peverill appears in the Endeavour episode Apollo, S6e2 as Isobel Humbolt.

Danny Webb as Tom Pollock played DS Arthur Lott in Pilot episode (also known as The First Bus to Woodstock) of Endeavour

Jack Ellis as Rex Griffon also appeared as a police officer in the Morse episode Settling of the Sun.

Claire Holman as Laura Hobson appeared in the Morse episodes The Way Through the Woods, The Daughter’s of Cain, Death is now My Neighbour, The Wench is Dead and The Remorseful Day.

Alex Knight appear as DI Knox. He also turns up in another Lewis episode, The Dead of Winter as a bus driver.

Michael Hobbs also appeared in the Endeavour episode, Trove as a returning officer.

———————————————-

CONNECTIONS OTHER THAN ACTORS TO THE LEWIS, ORIGINAL MORSE SERIES AND PREVIOUS ENDEAVOUR EPISODES.

Near the beginning of the episode in Danny’s room we see two photos of Danny’s father, Johnny.

The character of Johnny Griffon appeared in the Endeavour episode, Trove.

Johnny Griffon is ‘seen’ twice in the Endeavour episode. Once as a judge at the beauty contest below and then at a photoshoot.

 

The sign Hathaway holds at the airport,

Turns up in the final episode of the Lewis series, What Lies Tangled.

Also, the shirt Lewis wears when returning from the British Virgin Islands is also the same shirt he wears in the final episode.

 

—————————————-

The name of the American Regan Peveril is a nod to the John Thaw character, Jack Regan from the British crime show, The Sweeney.

———————————————-

Rex Griffon around the 35 minute mark mentions that he dropped off his Japanese guests at the Randolph. This is the famous Randolph Hotel which appeared in the Morse series and has a bar named the Morse Bar.

—————————————–

Wadham College also makes an appearance Daughters of Cain. (Morse), The Wench is Dead. (Morse), and Who Killed Harry Field. (Morse).

————————————————

Hathaway runs down information on the juvenile case involving Danny Griffon and investigated by Morse. Hathaway tells Lewis, “It seemed important to you, so I ran it down.” Hathaway does a similar thing in the Lewis episode, Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things. Hathaway collected and collated photographs that were taken at  a Gaudy.

 

The Trout Inn appeared in The Morse series: The Wolvercote Tongue and Second Time Around.

Tenuous Links.

At around one hour and 25 minutes when Lewis is laying out the case to Denniston we see a pencil drawing of an amphitheatre, maybe the Rome Coliseum. in the Morse episode, Death of the Self, the amphitheatre in Verona is used as a location.

Maybe even more tenuous than above, is that in the Morse episode, Second Time Around we see a drawing of another amphitheatre. in Morse’s home.

An etching by Piranesi with a very long title “Veduta dell’Anfiteatro Flavio detto il Colosseo” from Views of Rome 1776. I think it is more easily called “Aerial View of the Colosseum in Rome 1776” by Piranesi.

——————————————-

Daniel Griffon owns a gun which was handed down to him by his father, Johnny. In the Endeavour episode, Scherzo, the young boy who points a gun at Endeavour was also left the gun by his father.

—————————————

The actor Angela Griffin appeared in the 8th and 9th series. Tenuous link is the family Griffon in this episode. Different spellings but…

Latin phrases.

“Transire suum pectus mundoque potiri” (“Rise above oneself and grasp the world”). Archimedes.

Tropes. 

(A significant or recurrent theme; a motif)

In the Lewis series, cyclists are often in danger. Regan Peverill is a cyclist. She is killed.

With Russell Lewis having wrote the story of the episode there are of course some of his favourite tropes within the episode. Incest: Danny and Jessica (almost). Gunplay, A Woman scorned (sort of), Regan Peverill. She was scorned by Ivor Denniston about the work she had done on the Goldbach’s conjecture. Serial Killer: Ivor Denniston. A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is typically a person who murders three or more persons. Ivor killed three people, four if you count his wife.

Miscellaneous.

The monitor in the sleep institute shows a date of 17/07/05.

Though this episode was broadcast in 2006, it was filmed in 2005.

—————————————–

Lizzy McInnerny (Kate Jekyll), and Kevin Whately between takes.

——————————————

In Regan’s room, we see a photo/postcard on the shelf on the right.

This is a photo of Dos Teh Sey. She was an Apache. She was the wife of Cochise. In the same photo above of Regan’s room we can see a tartan Loch Ness Monster. 😉

——————————————-

Jessica’s attempt to kill herself, drowning helped by placing large stones in her bag, is reminiscent of the way my all time favourite author died, Virginia Woolf. She drowned helped by placing large stones in her pockets.

————————————

Deleted scene that I appeared in. 😜

——————————————–

In Russell Lewis’s original storyline, the pathologist was a new character called Dr. Woodley. As development on the episode progressed, Laura Hobson was brought back as the pathologist. The producers had wanted to bring back a character from Inspector Morse (1987), but they had realized that, aside from Kevin Whately and Clare Holman, all the regular actors on that series had either died or retired from acting. (From IMDB)

————————————————-

It was intended that Chief Supt Strange played by James Grout would appear, either as the superintendent or at least in a transitional scene in a nursing home after his retirement. But Grout was too ill to work, so the character of Strange was written out, and Supt Innocent was created instead. From IMDB.

—————————————————–

Kate Jekyll was intended to be a recurring character and, in the longer term, a love interest for Lewis. For various reasons–including Kevin Whately’s objecting to killing off Valerie Lewis only to immediately replace her with a substitute character–she never appeared again in the full series. (from IMDB)

—————————————

Morse’s crossword. So, I have been racking my brain to connect these crossword answers with episodes of Morse. Here goes. Some are tenuous.

ROUND ROBIN: Second Time Around (S5E1).

WHALER: Fat Chance (S5E2).

SAFE:

FLAME: An old flame, Susan Fallon from Dead on Time.

KEDGEREE: There is a character called Kerridge in the episode, The Last Enemy. (Very Tenuous).

BULB:

NAVY: DCS Strange was in the navy.

ATLANTIS: Promised Land (S5E5). Twilight of the Gods (S7E3).

CLERGY: The Day of the Devil (S7E2). The Service of All the Dead (S1E3).

GAZUMP:

ACERBITY:

PUFF PASTRY: In the UK puff pastry is slang for someone who is weak. Craven can mean lacking in courage. The Craven family in Last Seen Wearing.

TRACK: The Way Through the Woods (1st Special).

TOP UP: Beer.

NAVIGATOR: Driven to Distraction (S4E3)

If you are able to connect any of the above clues to Morse let me know in the comments section.

————————————————–

Here is another view of the crossword where we can see some of the clues.

I decided to solve a few random clues to find out if the answers had any connection to Morse.

29d – I extravagantly praise dad’s attempt to make some dough (4,6). –  Puff Pastry.

4d – Bars Deter Distraught Songbird. (9) – Redbreast.

7d – Mouthpiece of wheelwright (9) – Spokesperson.

As you can see the above clues have no connection to Morse. I decided that I wasn’t going to find any so I stopped.

——————————————————-

Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle states that there is inherent uncertainty in the act of measuring a variable of a particle. Commonly applied to the position and momentum of a particle, the principle states that the more precisely the position is known the more uncertain the momentum is and vice versa.

Lewis’s Family.

We learn that his daughter has moved to Newcastle, following her boyfriend, Tim and that is son has moved to Australia ‘to find himself’.

In the supermarket Lewis tells Kate that he has one of each and that they have “grown and flown.” he also mentions that his son went to Australia after Val died. His daughter went to Manchester and is working as a nurse. She followed her boyfriend, Tim, to Manchester.

At 44 minutes, Lewis, as he enters his flat, hears a message from his daughter, Lynne.

Love Interest?

Kate Jekyll

Morse Remembered.

Lewis is almost run down by a red Type 2 Jag, like Morse’s car, outside the airport. (It’s not Morse’s jag, just a lookalike).

15m – Lewis says to Dr. Jekyll “Fifteen years working with a crossword fanatic.”

Around the 25-minute mark, Hathaway mentions that Morse was involved in Danny Griffin’s charge of juvenile damage.

27 minutes. Lewis asks Laura if she remembers Morse getting involved in Danny’s juvenile charge.

29 minutes. Lewis is looking through the case file of Danny Griffin and mentions that you can still see the beer glass stain left by Morse on the crossword.

30 minutes. Trudi Griffon mentions Morse’s name when she remembers his involvement in Danny’s case.

33 minutes. Tom Pollock mentions that his daughter, Jessica, is applying for the Endeavour award.

One hour and 2 minutes; Lewis asks the reception about the Endeavour award. She tells him it was an anonymous bequest.

One hour and 8 minutes. Lewis realises that what was written by Morse may not be a crossword clue. Lewis says, “So, Polo could be Pollock. No there are two L’s in Pollock. Morse would never get that wrong.”

1 hour and 15 minutes. Lewis mentions Morse when he discovers that Polo refers to Polonius.

One hour and 19 minutes. Trudy mentions that Morse listened to Danny Griffin and Trudy says that Morse’s colleagues must miss him. Hathaway replies that they did.

The final scene at the Trout Inn is an indirect link to Morse. Lewis telling Hathaway that he’s driving so he is on Orange Juice. This often happened to Lewis.

IN MEMORIAM.

Stephen Churchett (1947 – 2022) wrote the screenplay for this episode. He also wrote the Lewis episodes, Intelligent Design (2013) Allegory of Love (2009), Dark Matter, (co-wrote) The Gift of Promise, Wild Justice. Also played Richard Seager in Intelligent Design (2013).

————————————–

Barrington Pheloung (1954 – 2019) who wrote the music for Morse, Lewis and many of the Endeavour episodes.

——————————————

Chris Burt (1942 – 2020) Chris produced the Morse and Lewis series.

—————————————

Colin Dexter (29 September 1930 – 21 March 2017). Without Colin there would be no Morse or Lewis or Endeavour.

THE MURDERED, THEIR MURDERER/S AND THEIR METHODS.

Ivor Denniston shot Regan Peverill with Danny Griffin’s gun. He shot her because she believed she had found flaws in Denniston’s theory that won him the prestigious Fields Medal. If she was correct, it would have destroyed Denniston’s reputation as he had only made inroads into Goldbach’s Conjecture while Regan thought she had solved the problem.

———————————————-

Danny Griffin received an email from Regan stating that she had solved the Goldbach problem. Danny now believed that Ivor had killed Regan and the proof was in the email. Visiting Denniston, Danny tells Denniston that he believed he killed Regan. Denniston shot Danny with Danny’s own gun and then set it up to look like suicide using his car to transport Danny’s body.

———————————————-

Tom Pollock was shot by Ivor Denniston, again with Danny’s gun, in the hope Danny would be blamed. Tom Pollock was not the intended victim. Denniston thought he was shooting Rex Griffon who he believed, as did Danny, that Rex was having an affair with Danny’s mother. However, it was Tom Pollock having the affair with Trudi Griffin.

————————————

Annie Denniston. Ivor killed his wife with poison.

British Phrases and COLLOQUILASISMS.

Rumpy Pumpy – Sex.

CAST

Charlie Cox (Danny Griffon),

Sophie Winkleman (Regan Peverill),

Colin Starkey (Bernard Beech),

Jack Ellis (Rex Griffon),

Jemma Redgrave (Trudi Griffon),

Dennis Matsuki (Mr. Tanigaki),

Flora Spencer Longhurst (Jessica Pollock),

Danny Webb (Tom Pollock),

Laurence Fox (DS Hathaway),

Kevin Whately (DI Lewis),

Rosalyn Wright (Air Stewardess),

Alex Knight (DI Knox),

Clare Holman (Dr. Laura Hobson),

Lizzy McInnerny (Kate Jekyll),

Rebecca Front (Ch. Supt. Innocent),

Marc Elliott (Hal Bose),

Michael Maloney (Ivor Denniston),

Michael Hobbs (Club Secretary),

Adam Smethurst (Locksmith),

Janet Maw (Secretary).