* ActorInspiredHeroism: Despite having previously said he didn't want to play cops again after ''Series/TheSweeney'', Creator/JohnThaw agreed to take the title role in this series on condition that Morse's ChivalrousPervert tendencies in the books were dropped for the TV series. As a result, they were also considerably played down in the subsequent novels.
* ActorInspiredElement: Like Morse, Creator/JohnThaw was a fan of ClassicalMusic.
* TheCastShowoff: The storyline in "Deceived by Flight", where Lewis goes under cover in a UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}} team, was devised by Colin Dexter to let Creator/KevinWhately show off his cricket skills. Lewis takes a wicket and a catch in the match but gets deliberately run out by a {{Jerkass}} team-mate after only scoring one run.
* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Creator/JohnThaw's favourite episodes were "The Dead of Jericho", "Masonic Mysteries" and "Promised Land".
* CreatorPreferredAdaptation: Colin Dexter has admitted he prefers the TV series portrayal of the young Geordie Sergeant Lewis to the elderly Welshman he used in the earlier novels.
* TheDanza: A retroactive example. Chief Superintendant Strange is never given a first name on this series, but ''Endeavour'' gives him the first name of James, after the actor who played him in this series, James Grout.
* DawsonCasting: There's a lot of it in "Last Seen Wearing" -- in particular, then 23 year-old Creator/ElizabethHurley as a 16 year-old student.
* PlayingAgainstType:
** When the series first started airing, people were surprised that how different Morse was from Creator/JohnThaw's previous portrayal of another police officer, Inspector Jack Regan in ''Series/TheSweeney''.
** Creator/PatrickTroughton as a [[NaughtyBirdwatching peeping tom]] in "The Dead of Jericho".
** Creator/GeoffreyPalmer as [[spoiler: the [[Monster/{{Morseverse}} very nasty]]]] Matthew Copley-Barnes, Master of Beaufort College in "The Infernal Serpent".
** Creator/RichardBriers as the scheming, immoral Sir Clixby Bream, Master of Lonsdale College in "Death is Now My Neighbour".
** Perry Fenwick, who is best known for playing MemeticLoser Billy Mitchell in ''Series/EastEnders'', has a brief appearance playing a LoanShark who beats up one of the suspects in "Last Bus to Woodstock".
* ReferencedBy: ''ComicBook/{{Viz}}'' has a parody called "John Thor as Inspector Norse" in which Morse acts like a Viking god while trying to solve murders.
* TouristBump: Oxford has benefitted ''a lot'' from the fact that the show and its spin-offs were filmed there, with much use of SceneryPorn. As a result, a mini-tourist industry in Oxford (a city already on the itineraries of many visitors to Britain thanks to [[UsefulNotes/{{Oxbridge}} the university]]) geared towards Morse fans has developed, including themed walks which go to various locations (and pubs) featured in the show. The Randolph Hotel even renamed its bar after Morse -- a fitting tribute to a character who loved a pint or two.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Malcolm Bradbury, who wrote the episode "The Wench is Dead", envisaged a spin-off series centring around Constable Kershaw, who only appeared in that episode as a temporary replacement for Sergeant Lewis. Then [[DiedDuringProduction Bradbury died]], and the eventual spin-off focussed on the [[SidekickGraduationsStick newly-promoted Inspector]] Series/{{Lewis}}, with a different character as ''his'' sidekick.
* WrittenInInfirmity: Morse has a slight limp in some episodes. This is a result of a childhood incident where Creator/JohnThaw broke his foot while running to catch a school bus. The ''Endeavour'' episode "Home" includes a nod to this: Morse is shot in the leg, and is told that the wound will result in a limp developing in later life.
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