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Inspector Morse

The Wench Is Dead

Season 7, Episode 7, Aired Nov 11, 1998

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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.

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR
Judy Loe

Adele
GUEST STAR
Juliet Cowan

Joanna Franks
GUEST STAR
Sarah Lam

Susan Ho

John Thaw

Chief Inspector Morse

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An interesting episode about Morse solving a historical crime with a new sidekick.

9.5

"Superb"

By relaineau, Oct 12, 2007

The hospital scenes are spiced up by Aline Mowat as Sister Nessie Maclean who provides strict control with a sense of humour. Lisa Eichhorn, however, plays a flat Dr. Millicent van Buren, author of the book on the crime. The role of Morse's girlfriend Adele who cares for him is again played with grace by Judy Loe. The plot about the young woman Joanna Franks(Juliet Cowan) found dead in the canal and subsequent trial is realistic with Liam Barr effectively playing the young boatman (Thomas Wootton) and Jeff Nuttall with a decent portrayal of the trial judge(Mr. Justice Benham). Matthew Finney is excellent as the young graduate intern who Morse enlists to help investigate the crime and evidence relating to it. This allows the introduction of interesting scenes at a local archive overseen by Susan(Sarah Lam), and subjecting the evidence to modern forensic tests by Dr. Laura Hobson (Clare Holman) who does it with flair. The visit to a grave in Ireland provides a fine ending for the story.moreless
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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (1)
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- Morse: To make an end is to make a beginning.
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NOTES (1)
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- This episode is based on Colin Dexter's book The Wench is Dead (1989).
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ALLUSIONS (2)
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- 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."
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- 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."
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