Inspector Morse: The Wench Is Dead
The Wench Is Dead
- 32.
- Season: 7
- Episode: 7
- First Aired: 11/11/1998
Morse collapses during a conference on Victorian crime and is admitted to hospital. To pass his time in bed, he reads a book about the famous Oxford Canal Murder of 1859. A young woman was found dead in the canal, and the local police believed she was the victim of four rough boatmen who were carrying her by barge to London. A murder trial resulted in two of the men being convicted and hanged. Morse becomes convinced there was a miscarriage of justice and he enlists the help of a young police recruit, as Lewis is away on a training course. They trace the physical evidence from the crime, which is still stored in a local archive, and subject it to modern forensic tests. The results lead Morse to unearth an insurance fraud which was the motive for the framing of the boatmen - a fraud which is confirmed by a visit to a neglected grave in Ireland.
- Writers:
- Malcolm BradburyColin Dexter
- Director:
- Robert Knights
- Stars:
- Kevin Whately (Detective Sergeant Robbie Lewis)
- John Thaw (Chief Inspector Morse)
- James Grout (Chief Superintendant Strange)
- Recurring Role:
- Colin Dexter (Man at Conference)
- Clare Holman (Dr Laura Hobson)
- Guest Star:
- Nick Raggett (Stevens)
- Eamon Geoghegan (Mulvaney)
- Ian Coulson (Constable)
- Robert Atiko (MC)
- Neville Phillips (Chaplain)
- Jonathan Copestake (Philip Tomes)
- Jamie Christian (Constable Dean)
- Roger Llewellyn (Governor)
- Michael Culkin (Mr Sergeant Williams)
- Simeon Andrews (Mr Sergeant Lyons)
- Lisa Eichhorn (Dr Millicent van Buren)
- Matthew Finney (Detective Constable Adrian Kershaw)
- Alan Mason (Greenaway)
- Philip Quast (Benfield)
- Peter Glancy (Foreman of the Jury)
- Andy Grubb (Ward)
- Patrick Hannaway (Dr Willis)
- Osmund Bullock (Verger)
- Jeff Nuttall (Mr Justice Benham)
- Christopher Hargreaves (Constable Harrison)
- Juliet Cowan (Joanna Franks)
- Judy Loe (Adele Cecil)
- Sarah Lam (Susan Ho)
- Aline Mowat (Sister Nessie Maclean)
- Kieran Aherne (Charles Franks)
- Liam Barr (Thomas Wootton)
- David Keys (Walter Towns)
- Kim Durham (Alfred Musson)
- Paul Mari (Rory Jack Oldfield)
- Karen Staples (Mona)
- Louisa Lawrenson (Nurse Hall)
- Sara Carver (Nurse Fiona)
- There is currently no trivia. Add trivia!
- This episode is based on Colin Dexter's book The Wench is Dead (1989). edit »
- Morse: To make an end is to make a beginning. edit »
- When Morse says "To make an end is to make a beginning", he is quoting from T.S. Eliot's poem Little Gidding -
"What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from."
Or, as the poet Seneca puts it, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” edit » - The title of this episode is an allusion to a passage in Christopher Marlowe's play The Jew of Malta (circa 1589) -
"Thou hast committed
Fornication: but that was in another country,
And besides, the wench is dead."
edit »
The Wench Is Dead
The Bottom Line: "Cleverly plotted"10/12/07 02:06pm | report abuseAn interesting episode about Morse solving a historical crime with a new sidekick. ...Continue »
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