Inspector Lewis - End of Story

One has to wonder. Certainly there are hints that something might come back in the way of their story, coming from the characters in addition to those in the press.

Chief Superintendent Innocent hints more than once that Lewis does love solving crimes, and that growing carrots or watching TV are not likely to satisfy him.

Lewis looks pretty happy, spending an evening on the couch with Hobson and a glass of wine. After a year or two of cooking dinner, is he going to feel the same?

Hathaway does like helping people, though things don’t always come out the way he might like. And there are the mental challenges of solving crimes. Can he really settle down to enjoy civilian life, after the excitement of police work?

What can I imagine for James? Would mystery writer cut it? For him, or for Lewis?

Detective Inspector Robert Lewis is a character from the prior, and very popular, Inspector Morse series. Lewis was the sergeant (or “bag man” who generally got the dirty or tedious jobs) to Morse in that story. The stories in the Morse series were based on the novels of Colin Dexter. Lewis is based on the character.

The Lewis series (Inspector Lewis in the US) began in 2006 with the pilot, and 2007 for regular episodes. The character of Dr. Laura Hobson also came from Morse. All the other characters in Lewis are new, including the police force, Oxfordshire Police.

The city and university environs of Oxford are real. The dreaming spires of this old university town, along with the insider culture, peculiarities and class distinctions that go with them, are worked into the mysteries.

In the UK, Lewis aired as one-hour episodes. In the US, Inspector Lewis has been aired on PBS as part of the Masterpiece Mystery series, in 90-minutes programs, with about 10 minutes taken out of each original UK version (including on the video copies).

Look for “full UK versions” to get the whole show when looking for DVDs, or get them from the UK to play on your “region free” DVD player.

Perhaps there will be another version of Lewis at some point in the future, less constrained by official police practice, and more along the lines of Miss Marple, or even the Castle series in the US, where the crime-solving can skim the edges of the rules, and not be hampered by them.

I like having a "Lewis Marathon" by watching my DVDs over and over.

It helps, too, to have the full UK editions, that have all the footage. Some of the sets (especially the older series) are edited to allow for space for the PBS intro. It's worth it to search out the original versions to get every bit, even if you have to get a region-free player to view them.

I watched just Series V recently, and it was refreshing. I know, they're setting up the ending that's coming in Series VI. Still, I enjoy Lewis and Hathaway taking a few friendly jabs at each other, because their association is good and they can.

Guess James never did give up smoking though.

A start at understanding Hathaway: Look at “Life Born of Fire” from Series 1, and “The Dead of Winter” from Series 3 in order to get much of what’s been revealed about Hathaway’s early life..

If he’s going to quit the police, where is this man headed?

“The Gift of Promise” in Series 4, brought up some interesting ideas, knowing that this young girl would have to grow up before she might be old enough to consider a guy like Hathaway.

I could see inklings of a meeting of minds. If a story line were built from this episode,  could James really settle down and help with the family publishing business?

Or, could a character like this young lady foreshadow the type of woman that James could settle down with?

The writers of Inspector Lewis can probably come up with something more satisfying. And it’s only speculation that another series involving any of these characters might ever be produced.

Check out Lewis on DVD in order to enjoy what you might have missed, and become familiar with a fan favorite British crime drama series.

Photo: Christ Church, Oxford. Credit: sxc.hu/saine