* AdaptationDisplacement: The TV show is much better known than the original novels, and two changes they made -- Lewis being younger rather than older than Morse, as well as being from Newcastle Upon Tyne rather than Welsh and Morse's car being a [[http://www.radiotimes.com/shows/lewis/gallery/gallery-one/004/ Jaguar rather than a Lancia]] -- were eventually retconned by Dexter into his books.
* BizarroEpisode: "The Day Of The Devil" which centres around the manhunt for a Satan-worshipping serial rapist and MasterOfDisguise and features an unintentionally hilarious scene where said rapist dresses up as Satan and attacks some Satanists performing a black mass. For a series that's usually as laid-back and down-to-earth as Morse, this episode sticks out like a sore thumb.
** A lesser example is "The Wench Is Dead", as there is actually no criminal case occurring in the present day, and Morse spends much of the episode hospitalised and trying to solve a decades-old Victorian murder instead to pass the time. It's also the only episode of the series not to feature any appearance by Lewis.
* CantUnhearIt: Creator/JohnThaw and Creator/KevinWhately as Morse and Lewis, to the point that Colin Dexter started writing the characters with the actors in mind, which meant having to retcon Lewis into a younger Geordie more in line with his actor rather that the older Welshman he was originally written as.
* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/MorseVerse here]].
* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments:
** Morse and Lewis investigate a case related to the erotic film ''Film/LastTangoInParis''. In the end, Morse decides to watch it and see what the fuss is all about only to discover that it is no longer playing. Its replacement: ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians''. Lewis, who'd driven Morse to the cinema, decides to go bring his family for a night out, leaving Morse standing in the street, disappointed and bewildered.
** When Morse and Lewis are investigating a rave, Lewis grabs a random cap and starts bobbing along to the music, until Morse gives him a DeathGlare and he stops.
* GeniusBonus: Not only is the theme music rhythmically based on the morse code for "Morse", but composer Barrington Pheloung liked to hide the killer's name in the incidental music as well. After this became well-known, he started mixing in red herrings.
* HarsherInHindsight: Towards the end of the final episode, "The Remorseful Day", [[spoiler:Inspector Morse dies of a heart attack after solving his last case.]] Fifteen months after the episode aired, Creator/JohnThaw, who played Morse, passed away on 21 February 2002 in real life. [[spoiler:Also, in fiction, the same fate would later befall [[Literature/HerculePoirot another detective]], thirteen years after Morse, in the final episode of ''Series/{{Poirot}}''.]]
* HilariousInHindsight: "Deadly Slumber" features Creator/BrianCox as Michael Steppings, a self-made tycoon whose daughter was left braindead after a medical operation gone wrong, who is completely devoted to her care despite how hopeless her situation is [[spoiler:and targets the surgeons who maimed her as revenge]]. Thirty years later, Cox would star in the series ''Series/{{Succession}}'' as Logan Roy, a self-made tycoon whose regard for his kids is... [[AbusiveParents not]] [[ArchnemesisDad that]] [[VillainProtagonist great]].
* ItWasHisSled: Morse's first name is mentioned exactly once in the novels, in the second-to-last book ''Death is Now My Neighbour'' (it's also revealed - in different circumstances - in the TV adaptation of said book), after building up and dropping hints for a long time. Today it's widely known ''because'' it was mysterious for so long. Plus, the fact that it's used as the title of the {{prequel}} series, which is a bit of a giveaway.
* MagnificentBastard:
** "Masonic Mysteries": [[EvilGenius Hugo De Vries]] is a suave, impeccably polite criminal mastermind and MasterOfDisguise, deservedly regarded as "one of greatest [[ConMan conmen]] of the age." Arrested by Morse twelve years previously for swindling Oxford University out of nearly one million pounds, De Vries returns seeking revenge, brainwashing one of his former victims into believing Morse framed him. Murdering Morse's new LoveInterest Beryl Newsome, he carefully sets up events to [[FrameUp implicate Morse for the crime]] even leading to his temporary arrest, as well as murdering Morse's mentor Desmond [=McNutt=]. Engaging in a series of psychological attacks and ordeals that leave Morse questioning his grip on reality, De Vries also hacks the Thames Valley computer servers to further incriminate him, made all the more impressive by doing so in a time when most officers didn't even know such a thing was possible. Even when caught by surprise, De Vries improvises a masterful monologue performance that successful fools Morse, enabling him to escape by stealing Lewis's car. Cultured, extremely charismatic and utterly ruthless, managing to constantly stay ten steps ahead of everyone, no other antagonist came as close to so completely defeating Morse as De Vries.
--->'''Morse''': Now you see him, now you don't. That's De Vries all right.
** "Deadly Slumber": [[spoiler:Michael Steppings]] is an amiable, approachable [[SelfMadeMan self-made tycoon]] out for revenge against the Brewster family, whose corruption left his daughter brain dead. Spending a year preparing an intricate plan, he carefully built a case of their malpractices, even breaking into the Brewster clinic to gather information. Having arranged events to seemingly give himself a cast-iron alibi, he murdered Doctor Matthew Brewster and then arranged his own arrest so that he would be cleared as a suspect; whilst also setting the scene [[FrameUp to appear that the victim's son killed his father]] and tried to frame him, even subtly planting the idea in Morse's head. He then blackmailed him into confessing by threatening to expose his parent’s malpractices, so that Doctor Claire Brewster would know how it felt helplessly watching your child deprived of their life, something he considered "[[BestServedCold poetic justice]]". Ingenious and a masterful actor, [[spoiler:Steppings]] was nevertheless a genuinely genial figure, with Morse himself admitting that if he was monstrous it was only because he was made to be.
* MemeticMutation: (Pop culture version) It's now widely joked that Oxford is a deathtrap, especially for academics, thanks to the frequency of murders on the show. This is particularly true of the (thankfully) fictional Lonsdale College.
* NightmareFuel:
** "Service Of All The Dead". All of it.
** [[spoiler: Friday]] from "Greeks Bearing Gifts" is frightening in just how insane [[spoiler: she]] is, to the point that [[spoiler: she]] was willing to ''throw a baby off a balcony to its death''.
** John Peter Barrie from "The Day Of The Devil", a Satan-worshipping serial rapist and MasterOfDisguise, is by far one of the most disturbing and insane villains in the series.
** "The Way Through The Woods" ends with Lewis being threatened by the killer with a shotgun and forced to dig his own grave, only for Morse to intervene and in the ensuing struggle the killer [[spoiler: ends up ''[[BloodierAndGorier blasting her own face open with the shotgun.]]'' Her [[DarkAndTroubledPast reasoning]] for her killings also comes with a heavy dose of {{Squick}} too.]]
* ReplacementScrappy: Grayling Russell is sometimes seen as this for Max. While she isn't overwhelmingly hated by any means, she's definitely considered the least interesting of the show's three pathologists -- though admittedly wasn't helped by just getting four episodes, whereas Max and Laura Hobson went on to get more development in ''Series/{{Endeavour}}'' and ''Series/{{Lewis}}'' respectively -- and the sudden implication of a possible MayDecemberRomance between her and Morse in "The Secret of Bay 5B" wasn't exactly well-received.
* RetroactiveRecognition: Quite a few...
** Creator/ElizabethHurley plays [[DawsonCasting a schoolgirl]] in "Last Seen Wearing".
** [[Series/AnneWithAnE Marilla Cuthbert]] plays the mother of the titular murder victim in "Who Killed Harry Field?".
** Victor Ignotas from "Twilight of the Gods" is played by Creator/JohnBluthal, who would later be best known for playing Frank Pickle in ''Series/TheVicarOfDibley''.
** Mrs. Kane from "Last Bus to Woodstock" is played by Creator/ShirleyStelfox, who would later be best known for playing the first Rose in ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances'' and Edna Birch in ''Series/{{Emmerdale}}''.
* TearJerker:
** "Dead On Time" ends with the woman who was implied to be the love of Morse's life [[spoiler: killing herself as part of a suicide pact with her terminally ill husband who she had previously helped to die]].
** The entirety of "Deadly Slumber", from the circumstances which led to [[spoiler:Michael Steppings' motive for revenge]], to [[spoiler:his suicide and final message to Morse]], and finally [[spoiler:his beloved daughter, rendered braindead, finally being taken off life support]].
** [[spoiler: "''Thank Lewis for me...''"]]
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