History YMMV / InspectorMorse

** Morse and Lewis investigate a case related to a controversial erotic film. 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.

* CantUnhearIt: Creator/JohnThaw and Kevin Whately 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.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: A key plot point in "The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn" is the title character mistakenly thinking that Dr. Bartlett was corrupt rather than Donald Martin, due to their names having very similar-looking lip movements when pronounced. Following complaints from deaf advocacy groups that no remotely competent lip-reader would make such a mistake in the way depicted in the novel, the TV version of the story had Quinn slightly drunk and standing a great distance from the person whose lips he was reading, making his mistake much more understandable. Both versions also imply that Quinn later realised his mistake, confronted Martin, and ended up being murdered as a result, but the implication is much clearer in the TV version.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: 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.

* 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, 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.

* CantUnhearIt: Creator/JohnThaw and Kevin Whately as Morse and Lewis, to the point that Colin Dexter started writing the characters with the actors in mind.

* 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 relationship with his kids is... [[AbusiveParents not]] [[ArchnemesisDad that]] [[VillainProtagonist great]].

* SocietyMarchesOn: Sir Julius Hanbury in "Ghost in the Machine" is an avid collector of erotic art, as well as a photographer creating his own. The content is condemned far and wide as pornographic and disgusting, as if it were no different from him being a sexual predator, but to a modern eye it's scarcely offensive.

* 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), and 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.

** "Dead On Time" ends with the woman who was implied to be the love of Morse's life [[spoiler: committing suicide as part of a pact]].

* 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), and after building up and dropping hints for a long time. Today it's widely known precisely because it was mysterious for so long. And being used as the title of the {{prequel}} series, which is a bit of a giveaway.

** "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 famed 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.

* RetroactiveRecognition: [[Series/AnneWithAnE Marilla Cuthbert]] plays the mother of the titular murder victim in "Who Killed Harry Field?".

* NightmareFuel: "Service Of All The Dead". All of it.

* 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.