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Service of All the Dead
Julian Mitchell
20th January 1987
A stabbing at a church service leads to a whole series of deaths amongst the worshippers at St Oswald's
Discussing a murder weapon " I shall never understand these religious types" to which Max retorts "That's because you have no soul Morse" On entering the crypt after suffering vertigo on the tower "No, I'm not afraid of depths" On Lewis calling the murderer a bastard "Lewis – you're in church" When its suggested he likes jazz ".......(long stare)....music" On someone being evasive "As soon as someone doesn't want to discuss something, I do" Using precise forensic language "Max says there was enough morphine in his stomach to kill an elephant" "I'm not supposing anything until I've had at least 2 pints of beer" More importantly, without words – just a look or an expression, John Thaw perfectly tells us what Morse thinks about the whole world of CoE religion.
To Max "Does it mix easy sir – morphine and wine ?" to which Max goads Morse with "Now that's what I call an intelligent question " As a motive "Like a black mass. Big piece in the Sunday papers about black masses"
You may need to call on psychic powers as there's not a lot to go on, but try to focus on the first murder, and the date is quite important.
The vicar is played by John 'Morgus' Normington, but don't let that fool you into thinking he's a villain. Michael "Craddock" Goldie as a tramp, Norman 'Heironymous' Jones shows his face as Inspector Bell shows his face, and Harold "Gilbert M" Innocent as an uncredited arch deacon. There's a very brief shot in a mirror, and one line, from a pub landlord who I think is Richardson "Rogin" Morgan (credited as Ric Morgan, who seems to have his own IMDB entry) – can see a big nose, and it sounds like him.. Oh, and watch out for Maurice "Cockerill" O'Connell in a significant role...
Michael Horden produces a perfect cameo role as everyone's idea of a private school master. He's a Sir you know (though I still think his best role was as Badger). The woman working in the bookies is Gina McKee, before her days of becoming a big TV drama star.
Mr Dexter is chatting to a lady with a bike as Morse talks to the arch deacon about Rev Pawlin's reputation.
The most significant change, other than some names, is that Morse isn't involved in the case right from the start, and that the murders have occurred over a much longer time period which actually makes a lot more sense – given the TV timescale the murderer wouldn't have had time to have their tea. However, there's a nice little twist right at the end to show that Morse isn't always right.
As we're Church based the emphasis is on organ and choral music, so we get a variety of Bach, Weber and Verdi operas and religious works like Palestrina's Iste Confessor. Like Morse, not really my cup of tea.
Pretty poor really – there's no real clues as such, just a large body count. Although I don't usually notice such things, the direction is bloody awful with lots of prissy pointless angles and framing. Reading the book I find that the director also directed a Sherlock Holmes episode that I've always thought to be too arty farty for its own good as well. Not so much of a detective story as a 'who the hell hasn't died yet' story. ~~~
The third and final episode in
the first series doesn’t quite reach the profane heights of the previous
two stories, although for the first time, Sergeant Lewis offers his own
contribution to the swear-box: “If the bastard had only known...” (
“Lewis! You’re in church”, reproves Morse.)
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