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The Best Episodes of Inspector Morse

Every episode of Inspector Morse ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Inspector Morse!

Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse...
Genres:CrimeDramaMystery
Network:ITV1

Best Episodes Summary

"Deadly Slumber" is the best rated episode of "Inspector Morse". It scored 8.5/10 based on 860 votes. Directed by Stuart Orme and written by Daniel Boyle, it aired on 1/6/1993. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Second Time Around".

  • Deadly Slumber
    8.5/10860 votes
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    #1 - Deadly Slumber

    Season 7 Episode 1 - Aired 1/6/1993

    The owner of a private hospital is found murdered in his car, after a series of anonymous threatening letters. Suspicion falls on a retired book-maker whose daughter suffered severe brain damage as a result of negligence during an operation some years before. Morse spends a lot of effort in investigating the possibility that the dead man was criminally negligent, and concludes that he was. While he does his best to bring the killer to justice, Morse does not seem very troubled that at the end of the day he is unable to nail him.

    Director: Stuart Orme

    Writer: Daniel Boyle

  • Second Time Around
    8.4/10932 votes
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    #2 - Second Time Around

    Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 2/20/1991

    The mysterious death of a former deputy police commissioner brings Morse into reluctant contact with an old rival, Ch Insp Dawson. Morse and Lewis, in uneasy tandem with Dawson, spot a link with the unsolved murder of a young girl 18 years earlier. To find the latest killer they have to unravel the first case again.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Masonic Mysteries
    8.3/101,068 votes
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    #3 - Masonic Mysteries

    Season 4 Episode 4 - Aired 1/24/1990

    Morse finds himself at the top of the suspect list when his lady friend, Beryl Newsome, is stabbed at a dress rehearsal for the local amateur dramatic society's production of The Magic Flute. Then Lewis starts uncovering more incriminating evidence, and Morse becomes the target of direct attacks. Who is it that wants to get at Morse so badly?

    Director: Danny Boyle

    Writer: Julian Mitchell

  • Dead on Time
    8.3/10936 votes
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    #4 - Dead on Time

    Season 6 Episode 1 - Aired 2/26/1992

    Morse investigates the apparent suicide of a terminally ill Oxford don and finds he has a personal connection with the family. As the case develops, Lewis worries that Morse's professionalism is being undermined.

    Director: John Madden

    Writer: N/A

  • Driven to Distraction
    8.2/10908 votes
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    #5 - Driven to Distraction

    Season 4 Episode 3 - Aired 1/17/1990

    The apparently motiveless murder of two young women points to a psychotic killer. Morse's speculations on what they might have in common leads him to a local garage owner, Jeremy Boynton, who knew them both, and who arouses his suspicions and dislike. Convinced that Boynton holds the key to the crime, Morse begins to hound him, despite having no firm evidence. Morse is also faced with the possible oss of his beloved red Mk II Jaguar.

    Director: Sandy Johnson

    Writer: Anthony Minghella

  • The Ghost in the Machine
    7.9/10938 votes
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    #6 - The Ghost in the Machine

    Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 1/4/1989

    Morse investigates the reported theft of erotic paintings belonging to Sir Julius Hanbury, a local baronet who is one of those standing for election as the new Master of Courtney College, Oxford. As well as the pictures, Sir Julius himself has also disappeared. Morse finds Sir Julius's dead body, and at first it looks like murder, but the new police pathologist, Dr Grayling Russell, believes he killed himself. Then there is another death which is undoubtedly a murder - but how is it connected with the late Sir Julius Hanbury?

    Director: Herbert Wise

    Writer: Julian Mitchell

  • Promised Land
    7.9/10828 votes
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    #7 - Promised Land

    Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 3/27/1991

    The search for a retired 'supergrass' takes Morse and Lewis from Oxford to the Australian outback. Strangely, Lewis is less at home down under than Morse himself is.

    Director: John Madden

    Writer: Julian Mitchell

  • The Death of the Self
    7.9/10928 votes
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    #8 - The Death of the Self

    Season 6 Episode 3 - Aired 3/25/1992

    The strange death of an Englishwoman abroad takes Morse and Lewis to the city of Verona in northern Italy. Morse takes delight in open-air opera in the Roman amphitheatre and falls under the spell of Nicole Burgess, a glamorous opera singer. But Lewis is home-sick.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Deceived by Flight
    7.8/10888 votes
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    #9 - Deceived by Flight

    Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 1/18/1989

    Morse investigates when the annual match of the Claret's old boys' cricket eleven is brought to an abrupt end by the sudden death of a team member - and it seems that cricket was the last thing on their minds.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Anthony Minghella

  • The Infernal Serpent
    7.8/10930 votes
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    #10 - The Infernal Serpent

    Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 1/3/1990

    Morse investigates a tangled web of university intrigue which surrounds the baffling murder of Dr Julian Dear, a college don and famous environmentalist who was killed just minutes before he was due to give a controversial lecture. It seems that the most respectable of academic families can have skeletons in the cupboard, and Morse has to put his job on the line to get at the truth.

    Director: John Madden

    Writer: N/A

  • Last Seen Wearing
    7.7/10981 votes
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    #11 - Last Seen Wearing

    Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 3/8/1988

    The schoolgirl daughter of rich parents has been missing for six months. Morse believes she has been killed, and his investigations show curious goings on at the missing girl's school. But before Morse can unravel the mystery, he finds another.

    Director: Edward Bennett

    Writer: N/A

  • Last Bus to Woodstock
    7.7/10926 votes
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    #12 - Last Bus to Woodstock

    Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 3/22/1988

    A young secretary is found dead in a pub car park. Morse suspects murder and uncovers a complex web of relationships - passion and corruption, lies and unhappiness.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Sins of the Fathers
    7.7/10839 votes
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    #13 - The Sins of the Fathers

    Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 1/10/1990

    Morse investigates the murder of Trevor Radford, managing director of the family-owned Radford's Brewery, who was attacked and killed while working late. Morse becomes immersed in the implications of a hostile take-over bid by another company. Then Helen Radford goes to the brewery to look for her missing husband Stephen and finds him also murdered.

    Director: Peter Hammond

    Writer: N/A

  • Happy Families
    7.7/10850 votes
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    #14 - Happy Families

    Season 6 Episode 2 - Aired 3/11/1992

    Business tycoon Sir John Balcombe is found murdered at his country house, Balcombe Castle, with no signs of a break-in. As a result, the dead man's wife and sons come under suspicion. Morse finds that the family is strangely untroubled, and several of his prime suspects have flawed characters and dark secrets - and then the Balcombe family suffers another killing. Meanwhile, Morse has to cope with journalists who try to turn his own personality into a story - and he also suffers from an unhelpful Chief Superintendant, covering for the station's usual boss, who puts pressure on him to crack the case in a hurry. In the end, though, Morse is vindicated and his various tormentors get their comeuppance.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Absolute Conviction
    7.7/10798 votes
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    #15 - Absolute Conviction

    Season 6 Episode 4 - Aired 4/8/1992

    "Absolute Conviction" is an episode of the British television detective mystery show Inspector Morse dramatized on ITV. It was first broadcast in 1992.

    Director: Antonia Bird

    Writer: N/A

  • The Day of the Devil
    7.7/10771 votes
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    #16 - The Day of the Devil

    Season 7 Episode 2 - Aired 1/13/1993

    Morse and Lewis hunt a violent rapist who has escaped from prison. They find themselves drawn into an under-world of satanists, and some of them seem more respectable than others.

    Director: Stephen Whittaker

    Writer: Daniel Boyle

  • The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn
    7.6/101,095 votes
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    #17 - The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 1/13/1987

    Someone at Oxford's Foreign Examination Syndicate is selling exam secrets. Nicholas Quinn, a member of the board, overhears something he shouldn't know about and is soon found dead at his cottage, poisoned with cyanide - but Nicholas was deaf. Then crossword compiler Philip Ogleby has his skull smashed in. During his investigations, Morse is attracted to Monica Height. She works for the Syndicate and may be mixed up in the corruption which led to Quinn's murder, and perhaps to Ogleby's as well.

    Director: Brian Parker

    Writer: Julian Mitchell

  • Who Killed Harry Field?
    7.6/10808 votes
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    #18 - Who Killed Harry Field?

    Season 5 Episode 3 - Aired 3/13/1991

    An artist, fun-loving drinker and raconteur, Harry Field seems like a man after Morse's own heart. But when Morse and Lewis investigate his mysterious death, they discover that he was not such a lovable rogue.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Twilight of the Gods
    7.6/10787 votes
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    #19 - Twilight of the Gods

    Season 7 Episode 3 - Aired 1/20/1993

    A nasty but very rich businessman and a world-famous opera singer are in Oxford to receive honorary degrees from the Chancellor of the University. However, the ceremony has to be abandoned when a sniper opens fire on the procession of dignitaries. The singer is seriously wounded, but was she the intended target?

    Director: Herbert Wise

    Writer: Julian Mitchell

  • The Dead of Jericho
    7.5/101,316 votes
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    #20 - The Dead of Jericho

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 1/6/1987

    Morse is passed over for promotion and gets a new working partner in the shape of Lewis, who is not sure what to make of his new boss. Their first case together is a murder, when Anne Staveley, who was Morse's friend in a choral society, is found hanged in her house in the Jericho area of Oxford. The death looks like suicide, but Morse has his own reasons for treating the case as a murder investigation. A parking ticket and Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, come to his assistance.

    Director: Alastair Reid

    Writer: Colin Dexter, Anthony Minghella

  • The Wolvercote Tongue
    7.5/10986 votes
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    #21 - The Wolvercote Tongue

    Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 12/25/1987

    Laura Poindexter, a rich American tourist, dies in the Randolph Hotel, Oxford, apparently from a heart attack, but Morse suspects foul play. Laura was due to return a historic jewel to an Oxford museum, and it has gone missing. Then Dr Kemp, who is a womanizing historian, dies of a fall, Lucy Downes is crushed to death in a telephone box, and Dr Kemp's widow appears to take a fatal overdose of Paracetomol.Morse believes the deaths are all linked.

    Director: Alastair Reid

    Writer: Julian Mitchell

  • The Last Enemy
    7.5/10839 votes
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    #22 - The Last Enemy

    Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 1/11/1989

    A body is found in the canal and the only clue to its identity points to a connection with one of the university's colleges. It happens that intense rivalry for one of the most prestigious posts in the university has led to murder. But which one of the highly respected contenders is the calculating killer?

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Peter Buckman

  • Greeks Bearing Gifts
    7.5/10748 votes
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    #23 - Greeks Bearing Gifts

    Season 5 Episode 4 - Aired 3/20/1991

    When the chef at Lewis's favorite Greek restaurant is found murdered, and a baby goes missing, Oxford's close-knit Greek community closes ranks. Matters aren't helped when Morse has a bad-tempered exchange with the shipping millionaire who owns the restaurant.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Secret of Bay 5B
    7.4/10788 votes
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    #24 - The Secret of Bay 5B

    Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 1/25/1989

    Playboy architect Michael Gifford is found strangled in his car, and the only clues are a car-park ticket and his diary. Morse and Lewis uncover a love triangle involving the murdered man, and the list of suspects grows. Meanwhile, Morse considers asking Grayling Russell for a date.

    Director: Jim Goddard

    Writer: N/A

  • Cherubim and Seraphim
    7.3/10816 votes
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    #25 - Cherubim and Seraphim

    Season 6 Episode 5 - Aired 4/15/1992

    "Cherubim and Seraphim" is an episode of the British television detective mystery show Inspector Morse dramatized on ITV. It was first broadcast in 1992. Cherubim and Seraphim are both Biblical words and their origin is described in Christian angelic hierarchy.

    Director: Danny Boyle

    Writer: Julian Mitchell