The creator of Inspector Morse, Colin Dexter, has written a clause into his will banning anyone else from playing the part of the detective after his death.
Dexter, the author of the Oxford detective novels, said that this was to prevent future actors from competing with John Thaw. “We never want to repeat what John has done.
“A lot of people connected with Morse didn’t want anyone coming along to say we will try and outdo dear old John. I said I’m not ever going to allow that, full stop.”
The news was revealed in an interview with Shaun Evans, the actor playing a young Morse in spin-off Endeavour, which focuses on Morse’s early career following his leaving Oxford University. Dexter was only convinced to consent to Evans’ playing the role as he would not be competing with Thaw’s more mature original.
“Shaun will be the last person to play Morse,” Dexter said, “That was made clear from the word go.”
It is expected that Dexter’s wishes will be enforced by his estate, who will retain the rights for 70 years after his death.
Fans of the show have been quick to express their thoughts on Dexter’s resolve for the future of Inspector Morse. Megan Eldred, a Geography student at Regent’s Park, told Cherwell, “It depends what Colin Dexter is trying to achieve and I think (and would hope) that he’s not saying that John Thaw was perfect, but he personified Dexter’s idea of the character and he doesn’t want that changed when he’s dead.










“The problem is, if he wants Inspector Morse to go down the path of programmes such as Sherlock, this is not the way to do it: people simply won’t watch reruns of a very old TV programme. The reason why Sherlock Holmes, for example, is so successful is that there have been so many adaptations which continue to update the story and which charm different audiences.”
Samuel Hurst, a third year PPE student, also has problems with Dexter’s clause. “It seems to be rather an inconsistent thing to say in my opinion. First of all, Shaun Evans now plays a young Morse. I realise Dexter accepted this because he felt that Evans would not be competing with Thaw, since the character is slightly different given the age in original Morse and Endeavour. Still, I don’t think this is consistent with what Dexter is saying, because people are always going to compare Evans with Thaw in numerous ways.
“As far as I am aware, the Inspector Morse of Dexter’s novels is not quite the same character we have come to love on screen. My Dad has read some of the books, and Morse is a bit of a womaniser and (partly due to that) less respectable than he appears on TV. I haven’t read the books, but if it is true, it’s strange that Dexter would get so caught up with portraying his character perfectly on screen when he’s not 100% in accordance with the paper version.
“It seems to me like he just doesn’t want the show to be spoilt by constant re-vamping etc. And that’s a good thing to want, as shows can get tired. But if that’s the case, just say you don’t want them to make the show, rather than banning the main character…”
