As a teenager living in a posh bit of Surrey, my husband moved in a very showbizzy set, and once went on a couple of dates with Melanie Thaw (daughter of actor John). Despite this, I do still permit him to watch “Morse” re-runs, and indeed the sequel “Lewis” and now the prequel “Endeavour”. I like a cerebral murder as much as the next woman – show me a don skewered on a ceremonial sword from ancient Mesopotamia and I’m hooked – but I particularly enjoyed the most recent episode of “Endeavour”, which is here on iPlayer for the next month.
“Home” reveals the stunning fact that there is life outside Oxford and its bucolic surrounding villages. Morse himself travels north to Lincolnshire to visit his sick father, and then down to London to inspect the mews flat of a dead don (there’s always a dead don – who knew the academic life was so lethal?). But more astonishingly, London comes to Oxford – in the form of an East End villain trying (as explained by the fabulous DI Fred Thursday) to keep breathing. Of course, said villain cannot simply buy a cottage by the Cherwell and retire peacefully; no, he and his menacing son take over a nightclub and start, well, menacing everyone. And bribing them too. I don’t want to give too much away, as it’s a corker of an episode, but as we come to terms with the Bribery Act here in 2013, it is a salutary reminder that dodgy deals have been around since deals began – after all, those ancient ceremonial swords don’t come cheap.
I hate money laundering 