ITV1 are planning to bring back Inspector Morse, looking into a prequel to the much-loved series.
The show’s creator, Colin Dexter wrote a short story for the Daily Mail about the early years of Morse studying at Oxford, attracting the attention of bosses at ITV.
Dextor told the Witney Gazette: “ITV came to me and said it would be marvellous if we could do something with those stories. I was not terribly enthusiastic at first, but I thought it would be a nice story to tell.”
Dexter said the story focused on Morse studying at St. John’s College, Oxford: “Morse did wonderfully at language and literature, but did not very much like philosophy or ancient studies, so he dropped out and joined the police,” he said.
ITV have confirmed that the drama hasn’t been commissioned yet, but are very interested in the idea. The crime drama ran from 1987 to 2000 and is widely regarded as having changed the face of TV drama.
If commissioned, the new one-off drama is expected to be broadcast to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the first Morse next year.
The final episode of Inspector Morse, shown on 15 November 2000, seeing the detective die of a heart attack, was watched by 12.6 million viewers, a 50% share of the audience. John Thaw who played the logical detective died nearly a decade ago.
Maybe they’ll adopt a Batman Begins style and give Morse a gritty reboot.
