Welcome to a new post. I hope you enjoy this post.

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Hello everyone and welcome to a new post. In this second of two posts I will be looking at the changing furniture, decor, paintings etc from episode 16 (Second Time Around) to episode 33 (The Remorseful Day.).

Click HERE to read the first part of this post.

Let’s get started.

Second Time Around.

Morse’s new living room after the fire in the previous episode, Masonic Mysteries.

Morse has got himself a nice blue/grey armchair. The objects on the mantlepiece are all new as is the picture above the afore-mentioned mantlepiece. The wall paint is of a similar colour as to what it was before.

Where the drinks cabinet was is now a large, tall bookcase. A new, small picture is on the wall.

A brand new lamp and curtains. Morse has went for patterned curtain rather than a single coloured curtains he had before as can be seen in the pic below.

And a different painting above where the record player once was (and might still be as we don’t get a good view of that area).

But we can see that the new piece of furniture houses his LPs.

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Now on to the second episode of the fifth series, Fat Chance.

Fat Chance.

At around the 50 minute mark in the episode we get to see Morse’s living room.

In the previous episode, Second Time Around, we never got to see the wall behind the armchair. We can see, above, a new picture.

The bookshelf is the same place as in previous episodes. Morse has a collection of penguin books on the middle shelf. The colours of the penguin books denote a genre:

Orange and white – general fiction
Green and white – crime fiction,
Cerise and white – travel and adventure,
Dark blue and white – biographies,
Yellow and white – miscellaneous,
Red and white – drama
Purple and white – essays and ‘belles lettres’
Grey and white – world affairs.

I can see, orange and white, green & white, purple & white books on Morse’s shelf.

The painting above the fireplace and the ornaments are the same as the previous episode. I never mentioned it previously but Morse now has a new fireplace screen. It’s a rather bland one compared to the one he had previously.

Above screenshot from Masonic Mysteries.

We get a better look at the Penguin books while he is phoning Emma.

We can also see a P.D. James novel to the left of the Penguin Books. P.D. James created Detective Dalgleish.

While still on the phone with Emma, we see what looks like a boxset of Maria Callas.

I believe it’s the vinyl boxset pictured below.

At the end of his call to Emma, we see a closer look at some of the Penguin books.

Now, I can see yellow and white (miscellaneous), Red and white (drama) and possibly Grey and white (world affairs.).

At the end of the scene we get a better look of his bookcase. Strangely, for  a man who is not interested in pets, he has a dog ornament on the bottom shelf on the right as we look at it.. See picture below.

However, the dog ornament does look like iconic logo of HMV (His Master’s Voice) the music shop chain.

At around one hour and 15 minutes, Morse and Emma have an al fresco meal at Morse’s home. We get a few glimpses of Morse’s living room.

In the above we can see his bookcase and we get a good view of his curtains.

Now onto the next episode, Who Killed Harry Field?

Who Killed Harry Field?

No living room scenes.

Greeks Bearing Gifts.

At around one hour and 20 minutes, Morse is watching a video about the building of the Greek Trireme. he borrowed the tv from the police station.

In this scene we get a good look at Morse’s living room. The dog on the bookshelf has been turned to look in different direction from what we saw in the episode, Fat Chance. On the right we can see Morse has purchased a decanter set. The lamp is very similar to the one he had before the fire but is a different colour. His previous lamp was green as can be seen in the screenshot, below, from the episode Last Seen Wearing.

The fireplace is now more ornate than the previous one. Compare the one in this episode,

with the previous one as seen in the episode, Masonic Mysteries.

Strange that he replaced the fireplace as it looked undamaged after the fire.

During the same scene when Morse is watching the TV, we get a slightly better look at some other details.

On the far right we see the small alcove with a print, a horse ornament and something that I can’t make out. We also see a picture above the alcove but I am unable to identify it.

In the same scene as above we get to see the bookshelf from a different angle.

We can see a toy car. Sorry, I know nothing about cars so I can’t identify it. An type of old Jag?

Morse is phoning Lewis and we get to see a nice shot of Lewis’s living room.

Now on to the next episode.

Promised Land.

No scenes in Morse’s living room.

Dead on Time.

At around the one hour and five minute mark Lewis visits Morse while Morse awaits Susan.

We now get a better look at the area that is to the left of the living room door. It is where Morse kept his drink pre-fire. The poster of Turandot is rather a famous print and can be bought easily from eBay, Amazon etc etc.

If I remember correctly this poster was once seen in Morse’s office.

In the same scene we get to see some more item’s on Morse’s fireplace.

he now has a rather drab clock on the mantlepiece. previously he had various propeller prop clocks. We can see various opera glasses on the left. So, Morse is a collector of opera glasses it would seem.

In the same scene we get a glimpse of the dining room which comes off the living room.

We have seen the door before but never what was behind it.

When Susan arrives we get a different angle of the living room.

Behind Susan’s head we can see a writing bureau in the space where his record player was situated. The record player is now on a sideboard to the left of the living door door.

Up next,

Happy Families.

At around 40 minutes, Morse is being spied upon by the photographer and journalist.

Now this is strange. Behind Morse we see a glass door where before it was a solid door and behind that was the dining room as seen in the previous episode.

The phone is now on the side table rather than on the sideboard under the bookcase.

Here we see the the glass door adjacent to the fireplace where there should be a solid door.

In the same scene we see that there is a multitude of prints above the fireplace.

Pre-fire Morse only had one print above the fireplace as can be seen in the episode, Masonic Mysteries (below).

At around 44 minutes we get a better view of Morse’s record player and the writing bureau.

We also see in this scene where Morse keeps his drink. Previously we saw that he has a set of decanters on a side table next to the armchair. In this scene he removes a glass and a decanter from the drop leaf sideboard.

What is also new is this decorative chair in the foreground.

Again in the same scene we see the glass door.

If the actual flat at Castlebar was used did the owners change the door?

In the scene at one hour and 25 minutes we get a good view of the coffee table in front of the settee.

There are quite a few magazines. I would love to get a better look at what magazines Morse buys. We do know that he buys The Listener as was seen in the episode, Secret of Bay 5B. Maybe, Gramophone or BBC’s Classical Music Magazine.

In the same scene we see some big changes when Morse goes to answer his front door.

The bland fireplace screen has been replaced by a utilitarian fireplace guard.

When Morse goes to answer the door, we can see behind him two large bookcases..

 

We can no longer see the alcove. Also, the Penguin books have gone and the record player or tape deck is now on the far wall bookcase.

When Superintendent Holdsby enters the living room we can see what looks a piece of scrimshaw on the sideboard.

Next up, we have,

Death of the Self.

No living room scenes.

Absolute Conviction.

At around 43 minutes we get another shot of the glass door.

The dining table has gone and been replaced by a Welsh Dresser. We do get a good view of the print on the wall. I can’t identify it. I was thinking Greek or Roman. I would lean toward Roman with Morse’s love of Italy.

In the same scene Morse sits next to his writing bureau.

Not only has the phone moved to the bureau but it is also a different kind of phone.

Up next we have,

Cherubim and Seraphim.

Around 10 minutes we see Morse having breakfast.

So, there is still a table in that room but maybe not the large chunky one we saw in the Dead on Time episode. The fire guard we saw in happy Families has gone.

In the same scene the phone has moved again.

We also get a better look at one of the large bookcases on the wall behind Morse.

At the scene around 25 minutes we get a good view of the sideboard beside the living room front door.

The scrimshaw (circled) is now standing on its end. The curtains are now plain green while in the episode, Second Time Around the curtains were patterned (see pic below).

In the same scene while Morse is looking through a photo album we can see the fire has been lit.

This is the first time we have seen the fireplace being used and alight. Well, not counting the fire in Masonic Mysteries. 😜

Next, we have,

Deadly Slumber.

At the scene around 35 minutes we get a better view of the drinks cabinet which stand to the left of the front living room door.

The piece of scrimshaw has gone. However, this drinks cabinet is different to the one we saw in Happy Families and Cherubim and Seraphim; it’s taller.

Up next, we have,

The Day of the Devil.

No living room scenes.

Twilight of the Gods.

No living room scenes.

The Way Though the Woods.

In this episode, the living room has changed considerably.

The drinks cabinet that was on the left of the living room front door has been replaced by a tall bookcase. The coffee table has been replaced by a smaller one. On the coffee table there is an ashtray. Strange, as Morse doesn’t smoke though, of course, John Thaw did. There is a small cabinet at the window. There is now a Victorian style armchair on the left. Even stranger is that there is a typewriter to the left of the window as we look at it from this perspective. It looks like an electric typewriter. On the small occasional table in front of Morse we can see he has a new brown phone.

In the scene around 20 minutes we get a good look at Morse’s sound system.

This is situated where his Penguin Books were situated. See below.

 

The Daughters of Cain.

In the scene around three minutes we can see Morse’s new phone that we initially saw in the previous episode.

Also, behind Morse the chess set has returned.

Up next,

Death is Now my Neighbour.

No living room scenes.

The Wench is Dead.

In the scene around 51 minutes we see Morse has a brand new settee.

He also has new cushions. The previous ones were red. Also the curtains are different. These are pattered while the ones in The Daughters of Cain were plain.

In the same scene we see a few more changes. There is now a small occasional table to the left of the settee where once, pre-fire, stood a more sturdy piece of furniture. See screenshot from the Dead of Jericho below.

Post-fire there was no furniture in that space as can be seen from this screenshot from the Absolute Conviction episode.

Going back to the screenshot from this episode;

Notice in the background behind Kershaw’s head the Welsh Dresser has gone and been replaced with a bookcase. The bust on the occasional table looks like it might be of Julius Caesar.

At around the one hour mark, Morse is entertaining Dr. Millicent ‘Millie’ Van Buren.

The curtains on the front window have changed to these more patterned ones from the plain ones we last saw in the episode, Deadly Slumber (see below).

Going back to the screenshot from this episode.

Morse now has a dining table next to the front window.

In the same scene we can see that the tall bookcase that was adjacent to the front living room door has been replaced by something smaller and has a variety of bottles of alcohol laid out on it.

The drinks have now returned to where they were at the beginning of the series.

 

Finally,

The Remorseful Day.

In the scene at 13 minutes we can see Morse has bought himself a portable TV.

I never noticed this before but in my defence I haven’t watched this episode as often as I have watched all other Morse episodes.

In the same scene we can see the dining table and chairs, that were at the front window as seen in The Wench is Dead, have gone or moved.

In the same scene we see things have changed dramatically once again.

The red settee we saw in the episode, The Wench is Dead, has gone. As have the blue cushions.  The settee for the first time in the series is facing in the opposite direction looking toward the side windows. The armchair is the same but now has a throw over it. At the back of Morse we can see what looks like a Toby Jug or a figurine. That wasn’t there in the episode, The Wench is Dead as can be seen from this screenshot from that episode.

In the scene around one hour and 15 minutes we see a radiator behind the writing bureau. I don’t remember seeing that before.

And the above was the last scene set in Morse’s living room.

I hope you have enjoyed this wander through the changes in Morse’s home. Please leave a like at the bottom of the page and if you haven’t already please subscribe to this website.

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