Saturday 9 February 2013

Well, Monday is going to be a sad day, the end of an era.  I hadn’t realized until I got my trusty TV guide today that it’s the last ever ‘Lewis’.

I guess the hints were there in last week’s episode when dear old Robbie was talking about retiring, but I just thought it was him musing about his future with Dr Hobson, not a serious warning of things to come.

Will Hathaway step up and take his job?  Will the next series be ‘Hathaway’? – hasn’t got quite the same ring to it as ‘Inspector Morse’ or ‘Lewis’ though, has it?

I loved ‘Inspector Morse’ – it was essential viewing in our house.  I happily remember the days of my aerobics class, followed by a Chinese takeaway from the pub in the village (yes, I know, probably undoing all the good work I’d done by exercising!) watching Inspector Morse solve crimes set amongst the beautiful dreaming spires of Oxford, accompanied by the ever-patient Lewis.

Lewis was the perfect match for Morse, the yin to his yang, the ordinary bloke to his intellectual.  I think Morse secretly wanted to be more like Lewis who had the loving wife and family waiting for him at home, while all Morse had was his work, Wagner records, crosswords, real ale and loneliness.

I’m pleased that Lewis got his own show, and it’s been great having the younger Hathaway accompany him as he’s obviously cast in the same intellectual mould as Morse, albeit perhaps less pompous with it.

Perhaps Hathaway could carry a show on his own, as I’m sure Laurence Fox is a good enough an actor to make this a possibility.  However, with the ‘Endeavour’ prequel also being made I can’t help but think this is unlikely.  Too many ‘Morse’ spin-offs would surely become unwieldy and lose some of the impact.  You could also ask how many murder mysteries can you actually set in Oxford, but that doesn’t seem to bother the makers of ‘Midsomer Murders’!!

So, farewell Inspector Robbie Lewis, we wish you well.  Thanks for the five or so years of two hour shows (even though the last series has annoyingly had each episode split in two).  Here’s hoping your relationship with Dr Hobson works out and you enjoy your retirement – you’ve earned it.

No comments:

Post a Comment