Review of Inspector Morse: Dead On Time / Happy Families

Introduction

A few months have passed and I have ventured forth bravely to watch another Morse offering. My second visit to the world of Morse finds the intrepid detective 5 years and 10 discs on from my previous sojourn. A lot has changed by the year 1992, Dr Grayling Russell is conspicuous in her absence and more importantly there has been a marked improvement in picture quality, but more of that later. What hasn`t changed is that Oxford remains the murder capital of the world and there remains only one man who can fight this ominous menace.

This two-disc set contains disc 21, Dead on Time and disc 22, Happy Families.

Dead on Time sees Morse investigating the death of man with degenerative terminal illness. On the surface a simple suicide, but when the deceased, Henry Fallon`s GP declares that he was physically incapable of committing the act, Morse is soon on the case. However Morse`s life is made infinitely more complex, when the grieving widow turns out to be Susan Fallon, Morse`s past fiancée. As the rekindling of a past relationship distracts Morse, it falls on Lewis to take up the strain.

Happy Families has Morse investigating a murder in the aristocracy. When Sir John Balcombe is found dead, the lack of reaction in his wife and children naturally causes Morse some suspicion. But his task is made more difficult by the ambitious police chief looking to make a positive impression. The press has turned up to place the high profile investigation under the microscope and it isn`t long before Morse`s idiosyncrasies are front-page tabloid fodder.

Video

These Morse discs are presented in the original 4:3 format. The transfer is much improved since the last Morse discs I saw. There is little grain, but on the whole the transfer is sharp and crisp. I would guess that the source material is from a different medium altogether and this is one of the better TV transfers. That said, Happy Families did display the occasional artefact and there was a touch of print damage on both discs.

Audio

Sound is once again presented in a DD 2.0 mono track. The dialogue is always clear, which is the important thing. The thoughtful music is once again present and of course both discs are subtitled.

Features

A quick cut and paste from my previous Morse review follows… Both discs come with a photo gallery, containing some twenty stills relevant to that particular production. Carlton has again produced well-presented discs, with nice animated menus, featuring the signature tune.

Conclusion

In my past Morse review, I stated a couple of reservations with the series. One, it didn`t pay to be a past acquaintance of Morse and two, Morse seemed to find his personal and professional life more often than not, colliding with disastrous consequences. In Dead on Time, the story saves time and combines both in one character. Susan Fallon is both past acquaintance and flame. Watching Dead on Time, I felt the mystery was swamped by Morse`s personal life, and pretty soon the story was getting tedious if not average. But the stunning ending more than made up for the interminable middle. It was a well thought out twist that I didn`t see coming and it was handled superbly. Sgt Lewis got to play more than second fiddle and his relationship with Morse is underlined here. Also there is great comedy relief in the form of William Bryce-Morgan and his razor-tongued Scottish butler.

Happy Families thankfully departs from what I perceive is the norm and no ghosts from the past are evident. This episode stays pretty faithful to the upper class murder mystery and the detective story in a mansion is hardly groundbreaking. The characters are fairly shallow too, with the dotty matriarch and the bickering brothers balanced by a flirtatious maid and an orphan with a fractured grip on reality. Martin Clunes makes an appearance as James Balcombe, one of the siblings battling for their mother`s affection (and control of the family business) The slimy reporters who harass Morse are grossly stereotyped, with one of them having the kind of greased hairstyle you see on the newly born. I`m afraid the presence of Morse and Lewis do little to resurrect this particular episode from its sheer tedium. It`s the kind of gumshoe hokum that is the staple of television schedules and has little to distinguish it. It`s also a good thing that Morse didn`t get involved in an inappropriate relationship during this episode, or the tabloid headlines would have been far more salacious.

I guess my Morse honeymoon is over and having seen four episodes, the novelty of the cantankerous detective and his easygoing sidekick is wearing off. I`ve also yet to reach the point where the characters and the show`s format are like a comfortable pair of old slippers. John Thaw and Kevin Whately are excellent in the characters, which they established so well and the sedate pace of the stories and the wonderful picturesque Oxford vistas are still there, but the stories themselves are a little lacking. Dead on Time takes a good while to get going, but is more than redeemed by the conclusion, but Happy Families was dull and hackneyed, despite the presence of Gwen Taylor, Martin Clunes and the late Charlotte Coleman (Four Weddings and a Funeral). The picture quality may be better, but the stories have declined somewhat since discs 9 and 10. This particular release is worth watching for Dead on Time but that`s about it.