Following the murder of Andrew Lewis, Detective Sergeant Morse informs DCI Fred Thursday in 1972 that Lewis' cousin, Robbie, a young police cadet in Newcastle, is handling the arrangements on behalf of his family.
Lewis is a sergeant on the staff of the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England, and in Inspector Morse is assistant to the eponymous Detective Chief Inspector Morse. Although Lewis's given name is Robert (Robbie), he is rarely referred to as anything but "Sergeant Lewis" or "Lewis".
In the novels Lewis is Welsh; in the TV series he is Geordie. His background and personality – a working class, easygoing family man – is frequently contrasted with that of Morse – Oxford educated, RP-accented, and a life-long bachelor. Morse frequently uses these differences to insult or demean Lewis, perhaps from Morse's point of view in a playful manner, but Lewis is often not amused by the jabs. In his frustration, Lewis is often more in step with their joint superior Chief Superintendent Strange, himself an evident supporter of Lewis; however, despite a great respect towards Strange, Lewis is always unflinchingly loyal to Morse and follows his lead. Morse's dying words, said to Strange, are, "Thank Lewis for me."
In Inspector Morse, Lewis is often shown following a hunch that Morse criticises, and in the end Lewis is usually proved correct, or at least more correct than Morse. Near the end of the television series, Lewis moves on in his career and takes a promotion. With the end of Inspector Morse and the death of its star, John Thaw, Lewis's adventures had seemed to come to an end.
In the episode "The Dead of Jericho", Lewis tells Morse "It's also my birthday". The first victim is killed on 11 June, and this utterance occurs a few days to a week later. This puts Lewis' birthday in mid-June.
Lewis does not make an appearance in the episode "The Wench is Dead", because he is attending an inspector's course.
In the pilot episode, Lewis returns to Oxford from a two-year stint training police in the British Virgin Islands, following the death of his wife Valerie in a hit-and-run collision in London. Lewis still must work partly in the shadow of the now-five-years-dead Inspector Morse, who sometime prior to his death had worked a case involving one of the murder suspects as a juvenile. In the new series, Lewis gains his own junior, Detective Sergeant James Hathaway (played by Laurence Fox), a Cambridge-educated man who joined the police after giving up training for the priesthood. Another staple of the series, pathologist Dr. Laura Hobson (played by Clare Holman), who appears late in the Morse series, continues on through all of the Lewis episodes as a witty part of the team, with a cynical sense of humour and as a romantic interest to him. In the second series, DS Hathaway discovers that career criminal Simon Monkford inadvertently killed Mrs. Lewis when he lost control of a get-away car after a bank robbery; Monkford pleads guilty to manslaughter.
After Robbie retires (and before he returns to work at the request of their superior, Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent, played by Rebecca Front), Hathaway gains his own assistant, Detective Sergeant Elizabeth (Lizzie) Maddox (played by Angela Griffin). Maddox is black, married, smart, and usually very matter of fact, and occasionally shows a sense of humour in her work with James (and Robbie). In one episode, she is almost killed (an attempted murder by the villain of the episode).
The popularity of the one-off episode spurred the continuation of the story into a total of nine series comprising 33 episodes, the most recent airing in 2015. In the latest series, Lewis had retired from the police force, but is brought back as a consultant to work with Hathaway, who is now a detective inspector himself.
Casting
Two notable differences between the Lewis from the novels and Whately's portrayal is that Lewis in the novels is Welsh and in his early sixties. However, Colin Dexter has stated that the younger Lewis is an improvement on the character he created.[citation needed]
Norman Colin Dexter was an English crime writer known for his Inspector Morse series of novels, which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as an ITV television series, Inspector Morse, from 1987 to 2000. His characters have spawned a sequel series, Lewis, from 2006 to 2015, and a prequel series, Endeavour, from 2012 to 2023.
Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM, is the eponymous fictional character in the series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter. On television, he appears in the 33-episode drama series Inspector Morse (1987–2000), in which John Thaw played the character, as well as the (2012–2023) prequel series Endeavour, portrayed by Shaun Evans. The older Morse is a senior Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officer with the Thames Valley Police in Oxford in England and, in the prequel, Morse is a young detective constable rising through the ranks with the Oxford City Police and, in later series, the Thames Valley Police.
John Edward Thaw, was an English actor in television, stage and cinema, best known for his starring roles in the television series Inspector Morse as Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse and in The Sweeney as Detective Inspector Jack Regan.
Kevin Whately is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Neville "Nev" Hope in the comedy drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet; Robert "Robbie" Lewis in the British crime drama Inspector Morse (1987–2000) and Lewis (2006–2015); and Jack Kerruish in the drama series Peak Practice (1993–1995), although he has appeared in numerous other roles.
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman as his partner, Detective Sergeant George Carter. It was produced by the Thames Television subsidiary Euston Films for broadcast on the ITV network in the UK between 2 January 1975 and 28 December 1978.
Lewis is a British television detective drama produced for ITV, first airing in 2006 (pilot) then 2007. It is a spin-off from Inspector Morse and, like that series, it is set in Oxford. Kevin Whately reprises his character Robert "Robbie" Lewis, who was Morse's sergeant in the original series. Lewis has now been promoted to detective inspector and is assisted by DS James Hathaway, portrayed by Laurence Fox, who was promoted to inspector before the eighth series. The series also stars Clare Holman as forensic pathologist Dr. Laura Hobson, likewise reprising her role from Inspector Morse; and, from the eighth season, Angela Griffin as DS Lizzie Maddox.
Detective Chief Superintendent Jim Strange is a fictional character in the television series Inspector Morse, played by James Grout. The character also appears, as a Police Constable and Detective Sergeant, in the prequel series Endeavour, portrayed by Sean Rigby. Although Strange does not appear in every episode of Inspector Morse, he is present in the whole series from beginning to end. He is absent from only a few of the intervening episodes. Strange's first name is never revealed in the Inspector Morse series.
Inspector Morse is a British detective drama television series based on a series of novels by Colin Dexter. It starred John Thaw as Detective Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. The series comprises 33 two-hour episodes produced between 6 January 1987 and 15 November 2000. Dexter made uncredited cameo appearances in all but three of the episodes.
James Hathaway is the fictional CID Detective Inspector working with Inspector Lewis in the ITV television series Lewis. He is played by Laurence Fox. Hathaway holds the rank of Detective Sergeant until the penultimate series of Lewis in 2014, in which he is promoted to the rank of Inspector following a brief break from the police.
The Dead of Jericho, published in 1981, is a work of English detective fiction by Colin Dexter. It is the fifth novel in the Inspector Morse series. In 1987 it was adapted as the first episode of the highly successful television series inspired by the novels, also called Inspector Morse.
Last Bus to Woodstock is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the first of 13 novels in his Inspector Morse series.
The Jewel That Was Ours is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the ninth novel in Inspector Morse series. This novel was written by Dexter after he wrote a screenplay for an episode titled The Wolvercote Tongue in series 2 of the television programme Inspector Morse.
Last Seen Wearing is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the second novel in the Inspector Morse series.
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the third novel in Inspector Morse series.
The Daughters of Cain is a crime novel by Colin Dexter. It is the eleventh novel in the Inspector Morse series.
The Way Through the Woods is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the tenth novel in the Inspector Morse series. It received the Gold Dagger Award in 1992.
Endeavour is a British television detective drama series on ITV. It is a prequel to the long-running Inspector Morse series. Shaun Evans portrays the young Endeavour Morse beginning his career as a detective constable, and later as a detective sergeant, with the Oxford City Police CID. Endeavour is the third of the Inspector Morse series following the original Inspector Morse (1987–2000) and its spin-off, Lewis (2006–2015).
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