Episode Guide · Inspector Morse
The Best Episodes of Inspector Morse, Ranked
Inspector Morse ran across seven broadcast series plus five later specials, all feature-length, all set in and around Oxford. Rather than picking a "best season" from runs as short as three or four episodes, here's a top seven, balancing fan reputation, mystery quality, atmosphere, and character development — plus one honourable mention.
Looking for the books instead? See the Inspector Morse reading guide.
The Top Seven, Ranked
Masonic Mysteries (1990)
Morse becomes the prime suspect in a murder seemingly designed to destroy him. Tense, personal, and brilliantly performed.
Get the DVDDead on Time (1992)
An investigation becomes deeply personal when Morse encounters a woman from his past. One of John Thaw's finest performances.
Get the DVDSecond Time Around (1991)
The murder of a retired senior police officer reopens a troubling case from 18 years earlier. Complex, intelligent, and emotionally weighty.
Get the DVDThe Wench Is Dead (1998)
Confined to hospital, Morse investigates a Victorian murder from his bed. An unusual and wonderfully absorbing change of pace.
Get the DVDService of All the Dead (1987)
A beautifully atmospheric church mystery filled with secrets, suspicion, and classic Oxford gloom.
Get the DVDDeath Is Now My Neighbour (1997)
Two apparently connected shootings lead Morse into the competitive world of Oxford academia — and reveal something important about Morse himself.
Get the DVDThe Way Through the Woods (1995)
Morse reopens a supposedly solved murder after the prime suspect dies without revealing where the victim's body was hidden. Haunting and especially well constructed.
Get the DVDHonourable mention: The Remorseful Day (2000). Essential viewing as the series finale, though it earns its place more for its emotional significance than for the mystery itself.
Related guides
